It is where a pilot can ill afford to make a mistake but where dogfights are so often decided - down on the deck, at treetop level, where the margin for error is zero.

On 26th July 1944, lieutenant Art Fiedler had the number four position in a flight of P-51Ds, tasked with performing long-range bomber escort. The bombers were jumped by 64 Fw190s, the most feared fighter in the German arsenal. Fiedler winged over and dived on the attacking Germans, breaking their attack and initiating a wild, swirling dogfight that tumbled its way toward the earth. Fielder claimed two kills in the intense, low-level fight. However, in doing so, he witnessed first-hand the grim and grisly reality of low-level dogfighting.

On 15th May 1952 captain James Kasler led a two-ship element in a flight of four F-86E Sabre jets. Kasler spotted three silver MiG-15s heading in the opposite direction, at an altitude of about 1,000 feet. He dived in behind the lead MiG, shredding it with his 50-calibre machine guns. Kasler’s wingman claimed the second MiG, but the third enemy fighter got the drop on him.

Kasler broke into the enemy’s attack and scared it off the hunt. A chase began. Kasler did not know it at the time, but the MiG was leading him right into a trap, directly over the Chinese air base at Antung. Flak burst everywhere, but neither the Americans nor the Korean pilot was hit. The chase continued to the sea but with a thick black haze over the coast, it was impossible to distinguish the ground from the sky. The planes were so low that Kasler did not realise what kind of danger he was in. Kasler chased the MiG into the mud. He barely avoided the same fate himself. The maneuvering kill made him an ace.

On 20th May 1967 colonel Robin Olds and backseater lieutenant Steve Croker led two flights of four F-4Cs over North Vietnam. Their mission was to provide MiGCAP for the F-105 strike force that was targeting a rail yard near the Kep airfield. Nearly 20 miles from the target area, the flight was bounced by 16 MiG-17s. The intense dogfight spiralled its way down to the deck. Olds lost a wingman to enemy fire and claimed the last two kills of his career.