All language subtitles for The Proof Is Out There Military Mysteries 2024 S01 E04_track3_[eng]

- [Rudy] The following
program contains footage

of military operations.

Viewer discretion is advised.

Tonight, on The Proof Is Out
There: Military Mysteries.

A World War II photo that
set the internet on fire.

Is that a Korean man
fighting for the Nazis?

- It sparked one of the

weirdest mysteries
of World War II.

- [Rudy] The bird that helped
us take out Bin Laden.

Why have we never seen anything
like this chopper before?

Or since?

- This is some sort of
secret stealth tech.

- [Rudy] A viral video
spawns the legend

of a Ukrainian
Ace fighter pilot,

but who's the man
behind the mask?

- "The Ghost of Kiev,"
all of a sudden,

told the Ukrainians,
"We can win this.

We can fight back."

- [Rudy] And our secret
weapon of the week.

Is this a boat, a plane,

a missile launcher,
or all three?

- People were probably
thinking this is ridiculous.

Then, years later,
it's no longer a joke.

(dramatic music)

- [Rudy] In the modern history
of war, there are films.

- Shazam.

- [Rudy] Photos,

recordings,

and documents that
raise questions.

- So, everything about this
story is one big mystery.

- This particular footage has
caused a lot of controversy.

- [Rudy] What's
really happening?

- [Joe] There's so
little information.

- Nothing like this has
been attempted before.

- That's where we come in.

Our mission, investigate the
battlefield's strangest images,

sounds, and more.

- [Tim] This photo
blows my mind.

- You can imagine how
terrifying it would be.

- [Rudy] We'll analyze
each with military experts

and try to come up with answers.

- I'm Ronnie Adkins, former
US Army Intelligence Analyst.

- I'm Rudy Reyes, Recon
Marine war veteran.

The proof starts now.

(dramatic music)

Good evening everybody,
and welcome.

Now, let's jump into it.

Still photos played a
huge part in World War II.

Not only did they help
win over public opinion,

but they provided most of the
Allies' intel about the enemy.

- And after a peculiar
photo of a prisoner of war

taken right after
D-Day was found,

it ignited a mystery.

Did a captured Korean soldier
fight with the Nazis on D-Day?

It's June 1944.

The Allied invasion of
Normandy is a success.

In the days following
D-Day, more than 200,000

members of the German
Army surrender,

or are taken prisoner
in Western France.

One of them is this man,
captured in this photo.

He's clad in a German
Wehrmacht uniform,

but he looks to be
of Asian descent.

World War II historian,
Sayuri Shimizu says

that's why the photo
has become famous,

or, at least, internet famous.

- It sparked one of

the most curious,

and, in some ways, weirdest
mysteries of World War II.

- [Ronnie] Military historian
Martin K.A. Morgan says

the tale wraps around the globe.

And stretches the
boundaries of believability.

- The theory that
eventually emerges

is that the man
in the photograph

is named Yang Kyoungjong.

He was born in Korea in 1920,

and then, ultimately,
conscripted

into the Japanese Imperial Army.

- [Ronnie] Some background here,

Japan had annexed
Korea years earlier.

In the 1930s, a series
of border wars broke out

between Japan and Soviet Russia.

Kyoungjong, serving
the Japanese,

is now, allegedly, fighting
against the Soviets.

- He ended up
fighting in Manchuria.

That's where the Japan's
front line going for,

engaging the Russian Red Army.

- [Ronnie] And the legend
has it that he was captured

by the Red Army in
1938 and conscripted.

Which means that, as a prisoner,

he was forced into
military service.

- And is sent to a gulag.

In 1942, in view of the
immense human casualty

as the Red Army has suffered,

he is then put into
Red Army hands,

where he is then captured by
the Germans in 1942 or '43.

- The Germans then capture him

and the Germans
don't conscript him,

but the Germans had
a program by which

people and prisoner of
war camps could volunteer

to serve in a support
unit in the Wehrmacht.

This circuitous path that
leads a Korean born man

to appear wearing a German
uniform in Normandy in 1944.

- [Ronnie] It's a
heck of a theory.

Is it all true?

Is he the most captured
soldier of all time?

And did he complete
an incredible journey

to fight at D-Day?

And, if not,

then who are we really
looking at in this picture?

- You know, Ronnie,
the conscription part

makes sense to me.

Throughout millennia,

conquering armies have
conscripted the conquered.

- Yeah, I mean,
the Romans did it.

Genghis Khan would do it

when he was conquering
his territories.

They actually had to
outlaw this practice

at the 1949 Geneva Convention.

- So I believe that this
could have really happened.

But let's see if our experts

can draw a more
accurate picture.

(tense music)

- [Ronnie] The first
thing that's tough

to get your head around
is the idea that the

race obsessed Nazis
would even let

an Asian soldier
into their army,

but the truth may
really blow your mind.

- Despite their ideological
pretension of racial purity,

by that time, Germany,
like the Soviet Union,

and like Japan, they were all
so desperate for manpower.

They were willing to recruit
whoever they could recruit.

Toward the end, it became a
really diverse motley crew.

- [Rudy] So, that puts
us at a definite maybe.

But the odds of a
single soldier fighting

in not one, not two, but
three armies in World War II

still sounds so out there.

Professor Anand Toprani digs
into the origins of the story.

- According to the
historian Steven Ambrose,

a paratrooper had captured,

or soldiers who we
thought were Korean.

And then, Ambrose's story
was tied to this picture

to create the idea
that, actually,

this was a Korean soldier.

- [Rudy] Bestselling
author Steven Ambrose

tells this paratrooper story
in his 1994 book, "D-Day."

And while he never
references the photo,

others start to make
their own connections.

- And then people in Korea
start using the internet

to try and see if they can
identify who this person was.

They come up with a
name, Yang Kyoungjong.

- [Rudy] But hold your fire.

Professor Toprani's
doubtful a Korean soldier

would've made it as far as
the Eastern Russian front,

much less France.

- The Japanese would've
conscripted a lot of Koreans

to serve in various roles,

but would they have
conscripted them to serve in

elite Japanese army units that
were fighting the Red Army?

But, even then, let's
assume that that's the case.

Somehow, this person
ends up in Soviet hands,

isn't killed by the
Soviets, is sent to a gulag.

Well, why would you have
released them from the Gulag?

They could actually do
important labor in the Gulag.

And that's what
most Gulag prisoners

were doing during the war.

And then, somehow,
this person ends up

in German hands on
the eastern front,

but then is sent to
the western front

to serve as cannon fodder.

It just, again,

it just doesn't make
a whole lot of sense.

- He supposedly went
through all the

major military inflection
points of World War II.

At the risk of
sounding too facetious,

he was the Forrest
Gump of World War II.

- [Rudy] And Martin Morgan
looked for documentation

to support the story that
the man in the picture

is Yang Kyoungjong,
from Pyongyang.

And he came up with this.

- Yang Kyoungjong never lived.

There is absolutely
no proof whatsoever

that anyone of Korean birth

served in the German military
during the Second World War.

- [Rudy] So if the
legendary Korean Nazi

didn't actually exist,

then who are we
really looking at?

- I don't think this man
is Korean or Japanese.

I believe the man
to be Turkestani.

People from Georgia or
Turkestan are the product of

the Turko-Mongol amalgamation.

To this very day,
you can see people,

from that part of the world,

who present Asiatic features.

- [Rudy] The Turkestani
soldiers were nationalists

who long resented
their Soviet rulers,

so they'd made common
cause with Germany.

- There were Turkestanis
serving as Hiwis, or volunteers,

within the ranks of the
German 353rd Infantry Division

that was fighting the
American Seventh Core,

in Normandy, during the
second week of June 1944.

There are other
Turkestanis who are

captured and processed by the
American military in Normandy

at about the same time that
this photograph was taken

where you can see the patch.

It's just that he's
not wearing the patch.

(tense music)

- So we've got one viral
photo and two theories.

What do you think, Rudy?

- I like Marty Morgan's take.

It's clean. It's simple.

Our mystery man was
actually part of the

Turkestani Battalion
stationed in Normandy.

- Now, people, when you
normally think of riding

in a Black Hawk Helicopter,

there's a few words
that come to mind.

- Yeah.

Loud, not quiet, and
absolutely deafening.

- One thing you don't
think of is stealth.

And that's our mystery.

Has the US invented a helicopter
that can't be seen and heard?

And did we use it to take out

one of history's
biggest bad guys?

May 4th, 2011, the Pentagon.

It's two days after the day
we took out Osama Bin Laden,

the terrorist behind the

9/11 attacks on
the United States,

including this very complex.

His death had people inside
the Pentagon celebrating,

but also worried
about this photo.

The photo is all
over the internet

and appears to show
the tail section

of an American helicopter

that crash landed
during the mission.

And it's not the only image.

People, this isn't any
ordinary Black Hawk helicopter.

Those are badass enough.

But this one's
clearly been modified.

Let's take a closer look.

- The thing that was
really interesting

about this helicopter,
which was kind of unique,

is they put a
specialized, sort of,

ring around the rotor blades.

- [Rudy] And check this out.

The skin appears to be
a high-tech material

with a special finish.

Your standard bird doesn't
come with that nice touch.

And the general shape of
what's left of the craft

is highly unusual
for a Black Hawk.

- The edging of the
aircraft is very smooth.

There's no points where
you have lines or rivets

that connect the the body
of the aircraft together.

You have sort of these
very smooth edges

that, then, sort of
kind of slope quickly.

So you have all this
speculation running.

This is some sort of
secret stealth tech.

- [Rudy] Stealth helicopters
have been a dream of

the military going
back to the Cold War,

for obvious reasons.

- Helicopters are
really, really loud.

You can hear a helicopter
from miles away.

(tense music)

- [Rudy] That wasn't gonna
work on the Bin Laden raid.

Navy Seals needed a
way to penetrate

120 miles into Pakistan

to Bin Laden's compound.

- For the United States, that
was really going out for him,

this had to remain

the quietest operation
that they had ever,

like, conceived of.

'Cause they knew for a fact that

if Bin Laden caught any whiff
of this, he would vanish.

- Okay, so as far
as the mystery,

did we invent a
stealth Black Hawk?

You look at the material,
you look at the shape,

and the answer is probably yes.

So, Rudy, how much of a
game changer would that be?

- Quite a bit, Ronnie.

Surreptitious insert
allows one to stay dark

until you gain initiative
with speed, surprise,

and violence of action.

- Our folks tell
us this was likely

a one-time custom job for
the Bin Laden mission

or even a mission like it.

But that brings up
a second mystery.

How did it work, and
why did it crash?

(tense music)

- The Bin Laden raid was
one of those missions,

where you, instead of
asking for permission,

you ask for forgiveness.

So, in order to be
swift and stealthy,

this helicopter

did have a special coating
on it to deflect radar.

- [Rudy] We think the paint
is a light emitting film

that you find on stealth
aircraft, like the F-117.

Radar detects things
by emitting energy,

which is reflected back by
any object it encounters.

This coating actually
absorbs most of that energy

bouncing back a much
smaller radar signature.

So, the reading appears
more like a small bird

rather than a large aircraft.

But what about a
helicopter's moving parts?

- This is a stealth helicopter

and because it doesn't
have those protrusions,

or those rivets, and the way
the rotors are put together

causes reduced noise.

But, most importantly,
increased speed and swiftness.

- [Rudy] Those rotary
blades are outfitted

with this unique
circular shield,

which not only muffles the
sounds of the rotating blades,

it actually makes the
chopper less detectable

since it's hiding the rotors

in complex angles
and metal components

that would otherwise bounce back

a helicopter shaped
energy signature.

Also, the tail rotor

appears to have

one more blade than a

Black Hawk's typical four,

which would allow

for a slower, quieter
spinning rotor

that still maintains
a Black Hawk's

typical speed of
175 miles per hour.

Pretty cool, unless
it's coming for you.

So, why did it crash?

Joseph Assad says that traces
back to one small oversight

in an otherwise meticulously
planned operation.

- One of the primary reasons

that the helicopter
crashed on landing

was the SEAL team
had been practicing

on a chain link fence
around the compound,

which would've
allowed for airflow.

- [Rudy] But
the real compound

had walls of solid concrete,

and that made all
the difference.

- This helicopter crashed

because of

a vortex that it got
into in the compound

caused by the rotor wash.

And it caused the pilots to
lose control of the aircraft,

and it caused it to spin, and
end up hitting the ground.

And the assault force got out
and went after the mission,

'cause that was most
important to them,

even more than their own lives.

Mission failure
would've been worse.

- [Rudy] So it
may well be that

this stealth chopper's first
mission was also its last.

Still, for a one hit wonder,
that was quite a hit.

(tense music)

This chopper going
down the way it did

is a reminder of how essential
the right training is.

A simple thing like chain link

versus solid wall makes
all the difference.

- Yeah, but let's remember,
only the best in the world

could have completed this
mission with one bird down.

- What do a missing submarine,

one of the richest
men in the world,

and nuclear missiles
have in common?

- They all play a major
role in our next incident.

What sank the USSR's
K-129 submarine?

It's 1974.

Out in the vast Pacific Ocean,

a massive ship just unearthed

a section of a
nuclear submarine.

Behind this declassified
film is the story of

a tragic and mysterious
Soviet naval incident.

It began six years
earlier, in 1968,

when the Soviet
sub K-129 set sail

from the east coast of Russia

and disappeared in the Pacific,

sending shock waves
through Moscow.

- They don't know if the
Americans have captured it.

They don't know if the
Americans have sunk it.

They don't know if
there's a technical issue.

- [Rudy] The Soviets
scramble to find their sub.

Meanwhile, the Americans
start hunting for it too.

- And that's when
things get interesting.

Because the Americans
really want this ship.

Because of geography,
our listening systems

are basically all
around the Pacific.

So, by using this
kind of technology,

the Americans are able to get
a much better sense of where

this ship probably is,

and it's not where the
Russians were looking.

- [Rudy] That American
underwater listening technology,

known as the SOSUS system,
eventually detects an

acoustic sound that can only
be attributed to a submarine.

It's 4,900 meters
below the surface,

and 2,000 miles from Hawaii,

and it's confirmed to be
the wreck of the K-129.

Jackpot.

- So, if the Americans
could have recovered K-129,

it would've been a treasure
trove of golden information.

- [Rudy] So, we knew
where the sub was,

but the question remained,

how did it sink in
the first place?

- Ronnie, take a
look at this map.

- Okay.

- This is the last
known position of K-129.

You can see it's about 2,000
miles away from Hawaii.

Now, in between, we've
got these subsurface

land masses and mountains, known
as the Musicians Seamounts,

named after classical composers,

like Mozart, Beethoven,
those type of guys.

So, this terrain subsurface
was very treacherous

and tricky to navigate.

However, it's understood
that Soviet submarines

used this terrain to hide
out and get close to the US.

- So, when the boats
last heard from,

it looks like it could have
been headed towards Hawaii.

And, of course, all of Hawaii's
Air Force and naval bases.

- Prime strategic targets.
- [Ronnie] Exactly.

- And that leads us
to our first theory.

Were the Soviets
getting in position

for a surprise attack
on the United States?

(tense music)

According to former US
Navy nuclear engineer

and author Kenneth Sewell,
the K-129's disappearance

reveals a sinister plan

that could have triggered
a third World War.

- It became very obvious that
the mission of the K-129

was to destroy Pearl Harbor

and make it look like
the Chinese did it.

- [Rudy] At the time, the
USSR and Communist China

had an ideological
split and are enemies.

But what was Sewell's proof?

For starters,

he interviewed colleagues
and family members of

the K-129 crewmen who told
him the sub was carrying

10 to 15 extra men.

- Based on our research,
we discovered that the

extra riders on the
submarine were KGB commandos.

These were handpicked, they
took control of the K-129

because it sailed straight
past its patrol box

and approached Pearl Harbor.

- [Rudy] Sewell believes

satellite images and chemical
analysis of the oil slick

at the wreck site indicate
K-129 had surfaced

and initiated a nuclear
launch procedure.

That's when, he says,
the captain of the sub

most likely stepped
in and saved the day.

- I believe that, essentially,

the captain understood this
was an unauthorized launch

and he knew this was
a rogue element.

I think he put the wrong code in

and that caused the
missile to fail,

and sank the submarine.

I think he is the man that
prevented World War III.

- [Rudy] But is there
really enough evidence

to support that thesis?

Defense policy
analyst Sarah Kreps

says the extra crew on board

may not have been
anybody special.

- I do think that the
Russians and Soviets

have kind of a history of
questionable quality control.

It wouldn't surprise me
that they just decided,

"Look, we need to
add these personnel.

We're gonna just do it."

That almost seems more
sort of incompetence.

- [Rudy] Fine.

But if the rogue attack
theory isn't correct,

what's the real answer?

A competing theory, still held
by many Soviet Navy brass,

is that the subs
disappearance was

accidentally caused
by the Americans.

- The Americans
always had attacked

submarines waiting off
port from Soviet sub pens

to pick up the boomers and
follow them into the deep ocean.

So that, if it did look like
a war was going to happen,

they could be neutralized
as quickly as possible

before they could launch.

- [Rudy] While the
Americans claimed they had

no submarines within 300 miles
of the K-129 at any time,

Peter Zeihan says Soviet
intelligence claimed

to have photographic
evidence to the contrary,

and this is it.

- The Soviet Union's
favorite theory, of course,

is that the USS
Swordfish, which they say

was the vessel that was
assigned to trail it,

got too close and
there was a collision.

Now, the Soviets did
show satellite photo

of the Swordfish in Japan
undergoing repairs.

- [Rudy] But Professor
Zeihan says this is likely

just misinformation designed

to cover up an
embarrassing accident.

- Every time they have
a military mishap,

they attempt to blame
it on the other side.

- [Rudy] The US
has always denied

responsibility for the wreck.

But, in 1974, a full six
years after the sinking,

the CIA uses a salvage ship,

built by eccentric
billionaire Howard Hughes,

named the Glomar Explorer,
to raise the sub.

How much of the
sub they recovered

is the source of intense debate.

- You get some crazy theories.

And the idea that the
project to recover the sub

was really about tapping
communication lines.

Or that the CIA managed to
recover the entire submarine

with that 17,000 foot
long cable with a claw.

I mean, that is some
serious arcade game.

- [Rudy] Officially, at least,

the US says it recovered a
30 foot section of the K-129.

Recently, we gave the Russians

that declassified film
we showed you earlier.

In it, the Glomar's
crew respectfully buries

the remains of six
Soviet sailors at sea.

And while there will always
be competing theories

about what really happened,

today, the official
Russian Navy's explanation

for the sinking is much simpler.

And, frankly, more embarrassing.

The sub flooded when
the crew accidentally

left the snorkel mast up

when they submerged
below periscope depth,

allowing seawater into
the diesel engine.

- So you would get
catastrophic destruction of

the diesel engine
and you would get

thousands of pounds of water

coming into the
submarine very quickly.

Then it compounds and
things go south from there.

I'm just guessing that's
just what happened

to the sorry souls
on board that ship.

(tense music)

- Okay, so Rudy, why do
you think this sub sank?

- So, I think there's still
too many unanswered questions

for me to put my mind
on a final answer.

But get this, in 1994, Boris
Yeltsin, the Russian President,

he confirmed, on the
K-129, they had 98 crew.

That's 15 more than normal.

And he never explained why.

- Yeah, and if that's
not juicy enough for you,

consider this.

Today, whatever
the Glomar pulled

from the bottom of
the deep is rumored

to be behind a locked door
in, of all places, Area 51.

- The internet is chock
full of insane Nazi stories

involving evil plans

pulled straight from
a bad sci-fi movie.

- Like one conspiracy
theory that claims

Hitler's rocket
scientists helped him

build a secret base on the moon.

- While that seems unlikely,

the Nazis did have a
secret base way up north.

And the question is,

what was the purpose
of the Nazi base?

October 14, 1944.

Deep in the frozen Arctic
waters outside of Greenland,

a small American
Coast Guard task force

is on a crucial mission,

to intercept a giant Nazi
supply ship, the Echsterstein.

- What we see here, in this
photo, is when the United States

successfully captures
the Echsterstein.

- [Rudy] And while this footage

captures a triumphant
moment for the good guys,

the real question is, what
was the supply ship supplying?

Turns out, the Nazis
had been establishing

bases in Greenland since 1942,

uncomfortably close to the US.

- The Nazis begin putting
assets into Greenland

and they start
building, basically,

sort of, these mysterious bases.

Nobody really knows
what they're for.

- [Rudy] But why Greenland?

A land with limited
population due to

its seriously inhospitable
terrain and weather?

Did they know something about
some long lost secret treasure?

Was this part of Hitler's goal
to secure ancient artifacts?

Or was there
another explanation?

The Nazis not only had
bases up here on the Arctic,

they were also thinking
of building naval bases

in other remote
corners of the Earth.

They even planted the Nazi flag

all the way down in Antarctica,

in an area known
as New Schwabia,

but they never built
anything there.

- Yeah, New Schwabia
conspiracy theories

are still running rampant too.

Some people, including
many flat Earthers,

believe that there
are Nazis still there.

- But, unlike those stories,
these bases in Greenland

actually were real.

What were the Nazis looking for?

(tense music)

Investigative journalist Tim
McMillan lays out one theory.

The Nazi interest in
Greenland may have stemmed

from disturbed Nazi
leader, Heinrich Himmler.

- He set off, or commissioned,
numerous ventures

for searching for
both lost artifacts,

like the Arc of the Covenant.

Or, in addition to
proving, what he believed,

this theory that there was a
lost race of Germanic people

that inhabited Europe

prior to the early part
of the first century.

- [Rudy] Remember, the
Nazis had no qualms

about building bases
anywhere they could.

In fact, that was
kind of the point.

- There are some in Egypt.

There are some all over
Africa, Madagascar.

There are places
where they set up

and it's very remote operations.

That is in line with the
German idea of global conquest.

- [Rudy] But journalist
Joe Pappalardo

says building bases in
Greenland actually made sense,

and it had nothing to do with

spooky tales of
ancient civilizations.

- So Greenland is a perfect
location for a Nazi base.

It's on the way

to Europe from
the United States.

So its strategic location
means everything.

- There is a much more
reasonable explanation,

and that is the weather.

- [Rudy] That strategic value,

and the solution
to this mystery,

is found in the skies above.

- The intention for
these research stations

was to collect
meteorological data.

- [Rudy] While it might
not seem like the most

important component for
turning the tides of war,

weather is a major
factor in planning

all military operations,
land, sea, and air.

The side with the most
meteorological intelligence

has a distinct advantage
on the battlefield.

And remember, this
was before the age of

Doppler radar satellites.

Predicting the weather
was no easy feat.

In fact, you often needed
feet on the ground.

- Weather in the
northern hemisphere

travels from west to east.

And, ultimately, the Allies,

because they were
west of Nazi Germany,

were much better able to
predict weather patterns

as they moved eastward.

The Nazis needed to have that
same information if they were

going to be able to
successfully monitor weather.

- [Rudy] These
bases primarily had

small German teams
of around a dozen,

including a handful
of Nazi officers

backed by a larger
group of enlisted men.

The bases were packed full
of measuring instruments

and data recording equipment,
but were low on firepower.

And when the US realized what
Hitler was up to in Greenland,

thousands of troops entered
the arctic circle after D-Day

to neutralize the Nazi threat.

- The Americans move in

and they begin securing the
eastern coast of Greenland.

They enlist the help of
local indigenous groups

who were allied with
the the Americans.

And, literally, traveling
and fighting on dog sleds.

- Ultimately, the Americans
and their new allies

are successful in
taking down a number of

these secret Nazi bases and

chasing away the
German presence.

(tense music)

- Okay, I get it.

The Nazis needed to build
their own weather stations

and Greenland was the
perfect spot for that.

- Yep, after losing
this conflict,

the Nazis could only gather
weather data from U-boats.

Not surprisingly, just
seven months later,

the Germans would lose the war.

- In the early months
of the war in Ukraine,

a legendary ace fighter pilot

gained worldwide internet fame

for defending the
skies of his homeland.

- He even had an awesome
nickname, "The Ghost of Kiev."

But the big question,

what's the truth behind the
legend of "The Ghost of Kiev?"

(dramatic music)

February 2022.

Just days into the Ukraine War,

smartphone video appears to
capture a 21st century dog fight

in the skies above Kiev.

An SU-35 fighter jet, Russia's
most advanced war plane,

is streaking across the sky.

It's a solid tactical aircraft.

Then, a heat-seeking
missile chases it down,

blasting it into bits.

Another plane appears, this
one, a Ukrainian MIG-29.

It's a multi roll
fighter, but older,

and inferior to the SU-35.

As the video continues,
the MIG pilot then performs

a series of barrel rolls

as a kind of end zone dance.

This Maverick-like cockiness

only adds to the
pilot's mystique.

- It had a classic romanticism.

And when you have video
evidence to support it,

it starts to perpetuate
this legend and it got legs.

One Ukrainian MIG-29 pilot
against the Russian hordes.

- [Rudy] Then the Ukrainian
Department of Defense

retweets the video, seemingly
verifying it is real.

The clip goes viral,

and the superstar pilot is
dubbed "The Ghost of Kiev."

- "The Ghost of Kiev,"
all of a sudden,

told the Ukrainians that, "No.

We can win this,
we can fight back."

And he led by example.

That's something that no one
thought was going to happen.

- [Rudy] One day after the
dogfight video goes public,

former Ukrainian President,
Petro Poroshenko,

shares an image of
the unnamed pilot,

claiming the Ghost shot down
six planes in a single day.

Other photos pop up on the
internet, like this one.

Showing the supposed Ghost
in front of his plane

with the Ukrainian
insignia on his uniform,

and the Ukrainian flag flying
proudly in the background.

But, hang on.

An Ace is a pilot who achieves
five air to air kills.

Even Maverick didn't
accomplish that

until the second Top Gun movie.

Of the 60,000 US fighter
pilots over the years,

less than 1,500 became Aces.

So, what's the truth
behind "The Ghost of Kiev?"

Is he a real life combat
Ace or just a mighty myth?

- The footage is incredible.

But, my first question is,

could an old Ukrainian MIG-29

go head-to-head against
Russia's advanced SU-35?

- Well, the SU-35
should be superior

in just about every way.

But, remember, these MIGs
are smaller, they're lighter,

and they're just as
fast as that SU-35.

They both reach speeds of
about 1,500 miles an hour.

Now, another problem
with the SU-35

is it's a little bit hyped up.

Aviation experts say that it
might look good in an air show

and if you look at this video,

it's performing an
Immelmann turn here.

It's gonna go up into
its turn, turn around,

and then keep going straight.

And then it's gonna
perform a capability

known as super maneuverability.

That being said, this wow factor

doesn't necessarily
translate into real life.

(tense music)

- At first glance, the video

of the purported "Ghost of Kiev"

shooting down a Russian
jet seems plausible.

- [ROnnie] Former Green Beret
Mark Sauter breaks down

the famous dogfight video to
determine its authenticity.

- It passed the
initial sniff test,

but there were clues.

Doing barrel rolls as an
exuberant celebration

of shooting down the
Russian jet could happen.

But, a wise pilot
would probably not

be fooling around doing a stunt

when there could be other
aircraft on his tail.

And then, this is most
telling, here it is.

The plane literally disappears.

And that shows you
that this is fake.

- [Rudy] Forensic
video analysis reveals

that this is actually a sequence
from the 2013 video game,

Digital Combat Simulator World.

Okay, so we know this
one video is fake,

but that doesn't prove "The
Ghost of Kiev" isn't real.

Which brings us back to that
photo of the alleged Ace.

Historian Alex Wellerstein
studies wartime photography.

- There have been photo
manipulation, in wartime,

going back to the Civil
War in the United States.

If you really want a
myth to be effective,

you don't just have one
picture or one video,

you establish a sort
of trail of evidence

that makes it look like

this is something that
really exists in the world.

- [Rudy] In this instance,
a tool called noise analysis

reveals that some of the
photos are clearly faked,

with the pilot's face,
uniform insignia,

and the Ukrainian flag being
added to another photo.

- And, those, you actually
can, pretty easily,

see the evidence
of manipulation.

You can run them through
special filters that show you

which of those
pixels don't really

go with the other pixels and
see where a face was added,

or where a flag was
added, and so on.

- [Rudy] But, by now,
the legend has taken on

a momentum of its own.

And major media outlets claim
to have identified "The Ghost"

as Major Stephan Tarabalka,

credited with shooting
down 40 planes.

The Ukrainian Defense
Ministry then confirms

he's been tragically killed in
action during an air battle

and awards him the title,
"Hero of Ukraine."

But experts, like former
intelligence officer

Joseph Assad, have doubts.

- I believe that Ukraine had,

not just their
intelligence organizations,

but an army of cyber warriors

that were broadcasting
and amplifying

a lot of the messages,
and a lot of the images,

and videos that we were
seeing coming outta Ukraine.

- The Ukrainians
made a big decision.

Instead of denying or
refuting this video,

and the general story
of "The Ghost of Kiev,"

they decided to go with it.

To the point where the
Ukrainian Ministry of Defense

retweeted this bogus video,

thereby, giving it a stamp
of accuracy for many people.

- I think the myth

of "The Ghost of Kiev"
had its utility and,

ultimately, proved to be
a smart bit of propaganda.

(tense music)

- On May 2nd, 2022,

Ukraine's Air Force
Command finally came clean

admitting on
Facebook that, quote,

"The Ghost of Kiev
is a superhero legend

whose character was
created by Ukrainians."

- The myth may be debunked,

but the patriotic spirit
behind it lives on.

- It's secret weapon time.

Every week, we take a look

at a mysterious
weapon from history.

And truth be told,
some of these deserve

to be left in the idea phase.

- This one's a Cold War
relic that's half plane

and half boat.

It reappeared a few years
ago and people wondered,

what was this weapon
supposed to do?

June 2020.

This video shows one of the most

peculiar oddities
in aviation history

floating into the ocean for
the first time in decades.

Look closer at this video

and try to make
sense of the design.

Those jet engines up
near the nose cone.

And are those rocket launchers
on top of the fuselage?

This is the Project 903,
Lun-class Ekranoplan.

And to understand
how it wound up here,

we need to rewind,

oh, about 60 years.

(tape rewinding)

- It all started back
in the '60s when the US

branch of the
intelligence community

figured out that the Soviets
were developing this system.

And it was,

to put it bluntly,
just a monster.

- [Ronnie] Now, sea planes
had been around since 1912,

but this was something
entirely different.

The Americans got their first
glimpse of the ekranoplan

when a spy satellite
took this photo

at the Kaspiysk Base in 1967.

Take a closer look
and see how it dwarfs

the cyclone class patrol
ship right next to it.

- It's a bit of a, sort
of Frankenstein vehicle

that is kind of the envy
of the United States.

- [Ronnie] Footage
would later emerge

of another model in action.

The American's nicknamed
the ekranoplan,

the "Caspian Sea Monster."

But this thing was no
joke, it was a problem.

And a puzzle.

- When the CIA first
caught wind of it,

the first thing
you're thinking is,

what is this?

What is it gonna be used for?

People were probably
thinking, this is ridiculous.

Then, years later,
when you start seeing

a actual working ekranoplan,
you have to make sure

that you have a firm grip

of what they intend
to do with this

and what are its capabilities.

- [Ronnie] How much
of a game changer

are we talking about?

Well, in this footage of a
later, more advanced model,

you can see it firing missiles

from the top of its
peculiar airframe.

Pretty freaky, huh?

That second ekranoplan
was designed

to launch a attacks
on surface ships.

Hard to judge whether or
not that would've worked.

- Maybe the Soviets
were trying to develop

a platform that flies low
enough to defeat radar,

but out of the water
to defeat sonar.

Modern anti-ship missiles,

like the US Navy's
harpoon system,

sort of fly in that dead space.

- Let's dig in to see
just what this thing was,

and what happened to it.

(tense music)

Author and geopolitical analyst
Peter Zeihan says the key is

what you're seeing here,
as the plane flies.

People, that's its
maximum intended altitude.

- Now, the whole idea of this
was that it would be able to

fly at incredibly low
altitudes, well below radar.

And that would allow
it to, theoretically,

sneak into the envelope of

the American carrier
battle groups.

And then, once it got
to pointblank range,

it would launch a variety
of cruise missiles

with nuclear warheads

that would blow the
entire formation to hell.

- [Ronnie] On top of
the cruise missiles,

the ekranoplan had 23
different mounted gun turrets.

But, probably, its
most impressive feature

was its use of ground
effects aerodynamics,

which is the reduced
drag an aircraft's wings

generate when it's
close to the surface.

A cushion of air
would allow the craft

to fly just 13 feet
above the sea's surface

at a speed of 200 to 250 knots,

making it virtually undetectable
to both radar and sonar.

- It is, for lack of a better
term, like a hovercraft.

In this case, a very
large hovercraft

that is designed to
glide over water.

- [Rudy] So, did the
plane perform as hoped?

Well, not exactly.

- Now, in the end, it
didn't prove feasible.

There are a number
of obvious problems.

The engineering for keeping

something like this
running is spectacular.

And if one wave gets
a little bit too high,

the whole thing
goes into the water.

- [Ronnie] That
meant the ekranoplan

couldn't fly in rough weather.

Plus, it was a
beast to navigate.

Too heavy, too unstable.

- The mechanics of
keeping this thing aloft

and also being able to serve
an operational function,

in terms of firing
missiles, was just limited.

And so, it turned out

just the physics of
this couldn't work out.

- [Rudy] So, how did this
once promising warship

end up collecting barnacles
in the Caspian Sea?

- At the collapse
of the Soviet Union,

the resources necessary
to continue the programs

just aren't there anymore.

The hybrid sea vessel
was just abandoned.

Left in place, beached, and
left to the elements to reside.

Somewhat of a tragic
ending if you consider

all the work that went
into it for decades.

(tense music)

- Now, before anyone gets
worried, there's no indication

the ekranoplan is
rising from the dead.

- The truth, it's
moved to a museum.

Well, that's it
for this episode.

I'm Rudy Reyes.

- And I'm Ronnie Adkins.

Thanks for joining us.

And, until next time,
keep your powder dry.

- And your head on a swivel.

Goodnight.

(dramatic music)