Welcome folks to the eighty-third episode of the lessons from the cockpit show! I am your host Mark Hasara, a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force and former KC-135 pilot.

Captain John Markle was an F-4 Phantom II pilot in the famous 550th Tactical Fighter Squadron in the spring and summer of 1972, some of the most intense periods of the air campaign over North Vietnam. The LINEBACKER ONE campaign began on 10 May 1972, and John was flying in the famous OYSTER flight, shooting down a MiG-21 Fishbed that day. John also tells us about his shoot-down and Recovery on another mission. 

This episode of the Lessoons from the Cockpit Show is financially supported by www.wallpilot.com, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. You can choose from the 154 Ready-to-Print aircraft profiles of your favorite airplanes, which are printed and vinyl in four, six, and eight foot lengths you can peel off and stick on any flat surface. We have learned these graphics are also water proof! Wall Pillot also does Custom Aviation profiles. If you have a favorite airplane you want to put your name on, from a favorite unit, with a cool weapons load, then fill out the custom form and we can draw it up for you. These are highly detailed and exhaustively researched profiles of aircraft, so detailed you can read the stenciling on the weapons!

This F-4D Phantom II was the jet everyone wanted to fly in the 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron. It had the best engines which made this jet faster, but most importantly had the COMBAT TREE Identification Friend or Foe system in its radar. Aircrews flying this jet had a greater advantage over North Vietnamese Air Force pilots because COMBAT TREE could identify enemy aircraft 30 to 40 miles away.

This F-4E Phantom II was part of the famous 388th Tactical Fighter Wing stationed at Korat Royal Thai Air Base in Thailand. This F-4E is armed for a Surface-to-Air Missile or SAM Hunter-Killer mission, carrying electronic countermeasure pods and CBU-52 cluster bombs used to destroy the SAM Site SA-2 launchers.

The Republic F-105G Wild Weasel was used in the most intense mission of an air campaign, hunting SAM sites across North Vietnam, an extremely dangerous mission. The electronics in the F-105G showed where the SAM radras were operating from and the crews would fire a Shrike or Standard ARM anti-radiation missile at the site. F-4s armed with cluster bombs would then come in and destroy the launchers. This F-105G had three MiG kills during the Vietnam air campaign, one when the pilot ejected its bomb rack which the MiG chasing it ran into and destroyed it!

Thanks for downloading this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit show! This and previous shows can be found on my YouTube Channel at @markhasara or on the Lessoons from the Cockpit Show YouTube channel. We will be back in two weeks with another episode. I will be on the road next week for the Tanker Weapons School’s 25th anniversary.

 

Welcome to all my listeners out there to the 81st episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast I am your host Mark Hasara and I'm a veteran of four Wars, an initial Cadre member of the kc-135 weapons school, and curriculum director at National Defense University's Joint Combined Warfighter School

One of the great experiences of hosting this show and being a member of the Red River Valley Association is being in contact with these Vietnam heroes. Today we are talking to one of my childhood heroes! Air Force Colonel Chuck DeBellevue was the highest scoring Ace of the Vietnam War, destroying six MiGs while flying F-4 Phantoms in the 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron, the famous Triple Nickel. On today's show Chuck's going to talk about not only knocking down MiGs, but flying Forward Air Control missions and going after nasty air defense sites. Wait till you hear about him getting hit by an 85 or 100 mm shell!

This episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit show is brought to you and financially supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These are highly detailed and exhaustively researched profiles of famous aircraft printed on vinyl in four, six, and 8 ft lengths you can peel off and stick to walls or any flat surface. The vinyl prints are even waterproof, a good friend has his unit patches on the rear window of his truck for over a year. So go to wall pilot.com, order a couple of our 144 Ready-to-Print graphics. If there's a favorite airplane you want your name on, from a particular unit, with a cool weapons load, fill out the custom request form on the website at wallpilot.com.

Chuck talked about flying a famous F-4D Phantom II now on display in the quad at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. This is the famous F-4D tail number 463 Chuck flew on several of his MiG CAP missions, equipped with the Combat Tree IFF interrogation system, and some super duper engines. F-4D tail 463 had a great crew chief in Staff Sergeant Reggie Taylor, keeping 463 in top shape..

Two of Chuck's kills with then Captain Steve Ritchie in the front seat were accomplished in a 58th Tactical Fighter Squadron F-4E deployed from Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. Here is a cool picture of Chuck and Steve just after landing from the MIGCAP mission with all of the external tanks punched off! This version of the Phantom has the 20mm Vulcan Cannon in the nose.

 

This F-105G Wild Weasel was assigned to the 17thWild Weasel Squadron flying out of Korat Royal Thai Air Base and accompanied every package into North Vietnam, particularly going anywhere in Route Pack 6 and the Hanoi and Haiphong area. This F-105G Wild Weasel tail number 320 has the distinction of three North Vietnamese MiGs destroyed, one by Vulcan cannon, one by AIM-9 Sidewinder, and supposedly a MiG-17 when the pilot punched off the centerline multiple ejector bomb rack!

This F-4E Phantom II flew with the 34th Tactical Fighter Squadron, carrying Surface-to-Air Missile and Suppression of Enemy Air Defense missions. F-4Es flew as the wingmen with the F-105F/G Weasels launching an anti-radiation missile at the radar, and F-4Es dropping CBU-52 cluster bombs to destroy remnants of the site.

 

This and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit show can be listened to and downloaded from the podcast website at Lessons from the Cockpit.show. All episodes can be found there with the show notes. Episodes are also found on my YouTube channel @markhasara. Become a member of our All Ranks Club, a coin-holding member of our shAll Ranks Club,and every member who joins will get unpublished chapters from my book Tanker Pilot and the history of air refueling. There were 31 chapters unpublished I will send to everyone who joins the All Ranks Club monthly for $8, or yearly for $80. Paying members of the All Ranks Club also receive some of the cool graphics we are making, 7 inch profiles you can stick on water bottles, walls, or even your vehicle. All Ranks Club members will also have a one to two hour Zoom meeting with me to just talk aviation. Go by www.lessonsfromthecockpit.show to join.

Next week we meet another Vietnam MiG destroyer Captain John Markle, who flew in formations with Chuck DeBellevue. We look forward to talking to you next week on the Lessons from the Cockpit show.

 

Welcome to the seventy-second episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit show! I'm your host Mark Hasara, former KC-135 pilot and aviation geek!

My wife Valerie and I attended Air Mobility Command's Airlift Tanker Association 2023 Symposium at the Gaylord Texan resort in Grapevine Texas. The A/TA Convention aero and cyberspace Industry Exposition was fantastic and I wanted to mention a few things I experienced while walking the Industry Floor... like the Remote Vision System 2.0 now being retrofitted in the Boeing KC-46 Pegasus tanker. General Mike Minihan, commander of Air Moility Command gavve an incredile speech on the status of the Mobility Air Forces or MAF. Did you know airlifters now have the capaility to become strike aircraft with new palletized weapons systems?

The Lessons from the Cockpit show is supported by the ook Tanker Pilot, now on Genneral Mike Minihan's Leadership Library reading list. Tanker Pilot gives you a behind the scenes look at the planning and execution of air refueling operations during four wars and numerous other global evvents. Thirty-two pictures taken are included, taken during the events descibed in the book.

Our show is also supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. There are 138 Ready-to-Print extremely detailed and exhaustively researched aircraft profiles of famous aircraft from World War II to modern fifth generation fighters and bombers. Wall Pilot creates custom aircraft profile drawings of your favorite aircraft with your name, tail number, flying unit, and weapons load in four, six, and eight foot long vinyl prints you can peel off and stick on any flat purpose.

One of the aircraft profiles auctioned off for the A/TA Scholarship fund was this 60th Air Mobility Wing KC-10A Extender from Travis Air Force Base. Aircrews, maintainers, and loaders signed a copy of this print for auction which was sold to a collector of custom aviation art.

The other aircraft profile auctioned off for the A/TA Scholarship fund was the 437th Airlift Wing C-17A Globemaster III named "Spirit of the Candy Bomber" in memorial of Colonel Gail Halvorsen, the Berlin Candy Bomber who passed away at the age of 101 last year. General Mike Minihan attended the memorial service for Colonel Halvorsen last summer to rename C-17A tail 87-7178 "Spirit of the Candy Bomber".

General Mike Minihan was the previous commander of the 19th Airlift Wing located at Little Rock Air Force Base Arkansas. This C-130J is assigned to the Air Force Reserve Component based at Little Rock AFB.

The best assignement of my Air Force career was flying with the 909th Air Refueling Squadron out of Kadena Air Base, Okinawa Japan. The 909th flew both KC-135A and -135R Models while I was assigned to the unit for five years in 1990 through 1995.

Attending Tailhook 23 this past August I brought this F-14D Tomcat print of BANDWAGON 101, the VF-31 Squadron Skipper Commander Paul Haas personal jet he flew during Operation Iraqi Freedom's Shock and Awe air campaign.

My very good friend Captain Steve "Moose" Laukaitis was the Deputy Carrier Air Wing Commander of CAG Eight during the Shock and Awe air campaign and this was the VFA-87 War Party F-18C+ Hornet in his Air Wing on USS Theodore Roosevelt.

Thanks for downloading and listening to this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit show, found on my webbsite at www.markhasara.com

Welcome to the seventy first episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit Podcast! I'm your host Mark Hasara, retired KC-135 pilot and 24 plus year veteran of the US Air Force.

The C-17 is arguably one of the world's best heavy lift aircraft. Lee Hunt flew The Moose as the C-17 is nicknamed during major theater air campaigns and humanitarian missions. Lee tells listeners about his experiences flying the first end of runway cargo drop to planning missions to the Pegasus Runway in Antarctica. One of the best parts of our discussion is Lee's insights on how John Boyd's Observation - Orientation - Decision - Action or OODA Loop applies to cockpit resource management.

This episode is supported by the book Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit found in all four formats on Amazon: hardback, softback with lack and white pictures, Kindle and Audible. Tanker Pilot gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at global air refueling opertions and the planning and execution of four major air wars... Desert Storm, Kosovvo, Afghanistan and the Shock and Awe campaign over Baghdad.

Wall Pilot creates custom aviation graphics for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These are incredily detailed profiles of aircraft printed on vinyl in four, six, or eight foot long images of your favorite aircraft from WW II P-51s and ME-109s to modern airlifters and fighters like the C-17 and F-35. Go to www.wallpilot.com to pick from the 137 Ready-to-Print graphics or fill out the survey for a custom profile of your favorite plane with your name, tail number and weapons load on the aircraft.

For over twenty years Lee Hunt flew the C-17 supporting airlift to places like Afghanistan and Antarctica. This 437th Airlift Wing C-17 was renamed "Spirit of the Candy Bomber" after Colonel Gail Halvorsen the Berlin Candy Bomber passed away in 2022.

 When 1st Lieutenant Gail Halvorsen flew air resupply missions during the Soviet Blockade of Berlin in 1947 the Douglas C-54 Skymaster was the work horse of the US Air Force airlift fleet. This C-54 participating in the Berlin Airlift was assigned to the Troop Transport Command's Atlantic Division during the Berlin Airlift.

Thanks for downloading and listening to this episode with Lee Hunt. I really appreciate all of you taking the time to listen and we've now gone over 21,000 downloads. This and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast can be found on my website at www.markhasara.com under the PODCAST pulldown.

Next week's episode will cover the ongoing conflict between Hamas and the state of Israel. 

Welcome to the seventieth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast. This one is going to be a little different.

  For a long time I've contemplated doing TWO podcasts; the current Lessons from the Cockpit on aviation and another called On the Nation's DIME, looking at current events around the world analysed using The DIME. DIME is an acronymn for Diplomatic, Informational, Military and Economic... the elements of national power our government uses to analyse how powerful or weak a nation state or organization is absed on those four elements. Our government also uses the DIME as a format for creating operations and plans called Flexible Deterrent Options or FDOs to stop potential conflicts from happening or begin movement of troops and material to a region if and when war seems likely. This episode takes a look at current events in North Korea, Russia and Ukraine and potential flexible deterrent options to keep from going to war.

This episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is financially supported by the ook Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit found in all four formats on Amazon: hardback, softback, kindle, and audile. The softack version has the pictures in color and kindle and audible have a extra file which downloads with the 32 pictures.

Aircraft involved in many of the Flexibble Deterrent Options are available at Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These very detailed aircraft profile illustrations are printed in four, six, and eight foot long prints on vinyl you can peel off and stick to any flat surface. Wall Pilot also creates custom aircraft profiles with your name, unit emlems, tail codes, and weapons loads in the same sizes. These prints are so detailed the AIM-9 Sidewinders have the stenciling and arming T-Handles on the missiles. Go to Wall Pilot and order one or two prints for your walls as this keeps the podcast funded.

US Air Force bombbers showing up in your region sends a very clear message to our potential adversaries, particularly when teamed with other nations airpower. This B-1B Lancer is from the 77th Weapons Squadron, part of the US Air Force Weapons School at Nellis AF Nevada.

Low observable aircraft like the F-117 deployed to South Korea when Kim il Sung died in 1994 as a deterrent to his son Kim Jung il burying his Dad in Soeul. The F-117s flew missions in and around the Korean Peninsula for three weeks in the summer of 1994.

The F-22 Raptor is the best, ar none, air superiority fighter in the world. A squadron of Raptors showing up in your area can e a big deterrent to our adversaries. This F-22 Raptor is from the Hawaii Air National Guard. 

Lockheed F-35s from the 388th Fighter Wing at Hill AF Utah are now flying missions in the Middle East, and one of their tasks is defending our Reaper drones from the Russian Air Force SU-27s and Iranian F-4 Phantoms. This F-35 is from the 34th Fighter Squadron "Rude Rams", the first F-35 unit to deploy to the Middle East region.

Thanks for downloading and listening to this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast found on my markhasara.com webbsite.

Welcome to the sixty-ninth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! I'm your host Mark Hasara, former US Air Force KC-135 pilot and author of the book Tanker Pilot, now on the Air Mobility Command Leadership Library reading list of General Mike Minihan!

This past weekend I attended the Tailhook Association's 2023 convention at the Nugget Resort in Sparks, Nevada as a guest of Admiral Bill Gortney. I was asked to be part of the Operation Iraqi Freedom panel on Friday afternoon discussing the air refueling plan for the Shock and Awe campaign. This podcast episode discusses events and people I met while there. Bottom Line Up Front... this was a fantastic convention and I would admonish all of you to become members of this extraordinary organization of Naval Aviation and Aviators! 

This episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported by the book Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit found in all four formats on Amazon: hardack, softback with black and white photos, Kindle and Audible which has an extra file download containing the thirty-two color pictures.

Lessons from the Cockpit is also supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. There are 133 Ready-to-Print four, six, and eight-foot-long very detailed and researched profile graphics of your favorite aircraft printed on vinyl you can peel off and stick to any flat surface. Wall Pilot's squadron and unit patches have not faded nor come off several trucks and boats, a testimony to their quality!

The famous "Felix Squadron", VF-31 Tomcatters, flew combat missions over Baghdad on the opening night of Operation Iraqi Freedom's Shock and Awe air campaign. The Carrier Air Wing Fourteen Commander, Captain Kevin "KC" Albright, and his Deputy Commander Captain Scott "NOTSO" Swift had their names on this F-14D Tomcat, callsign BANDWAGON 100. This print shows the aircraft armed for the opening night mission to Baghdad carrying air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons.

One of the profiles I took with me to Hook 23 was the VF-31 Tomcatters flagship F-14D Tomcat, part of the USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN airwing flying combat missions out of the Northern Arabian Gulf. This is Navy Commander Paul "BUTKUS" Haas the Tomcatters Skipper personal jet during Shock and Awe.

My good friend Captain Stephen "Moose" Laukaitis was the Deputy Air Wing Commander of Carrier Airwing Eight during Shock and Awe. His VFA-87 WAR PARTY F-18C Hornet which flew missions during the Shock and Awe air campaign is available from Wall Pilot.

Thanks for downloading and listening to this episode! I hope you enjoyed my "After Action Report" on the 2023 Tailhook Association convention. The Industry Floor was just incredible... being able to fly an F-35 simulator was a lot of fun. This and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast can be downloaded off my website at markhasara.com

Look forward to talking with you next week! 

 

Welcome to the sixty-eighth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast with your host, retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and KC-135 pilot Mark Hasara.

  Ever since hearing and reading this story, I wanted to have this incredible Iranian Air Force fighter pilot on the show! Colonel Fred Izadseta has commanded at all levels; from Squadron to Wing Commander. He's flown some of the most iconic fighters in the world... F-86 Sabers with the Iranian Precision Demonstration Team Golden Crown to commanding an Air Wing, and teaching in their pilot pipeline. What will strike you most about his lessons learned and exploits are planning and executing one of the longest F-4E Phantom II air strikes in history, the strike package flying behind their 747 airborne tanker refueling at 300 feet in altitude moving at 400 knots through the Cilo-Sat Mountains of southeastern Turkey! 

  This episode is supported by Colonel Fred's book Immortals of the Sky, telling his experiences as a fighter pilot in Sabers and Phantoms. Working with Farshid Moussavi he tells the story of the Iran Air Force build-up in the 1960s and 70s and its near destruction during the Revolution. This is one of those books you've never heard about but won't be able to put down once started.

  The Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is also supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. Wall Pilot offers extremely detailed profile illustrations of famous aircraft printed on vinyl four, six, and eight feet long you can peel them off and stick them to any flat surface.

  This F-4E Phantom II nicknamed Diane flew with the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing during the air campaign over Vietnam. The jet is loaded with cluster bombs performing the "Hunter-Killer" role for hunting SAM sites.

  This famous F-4D from the 555th Tac Fighter Squadron "Triple Nickel" is credited with 6 confirmed MiG kills over Vietnam, twice with Captain Steve Ritchie and Chuck DeBellvue flying the jet during their MiG Sweep missions.

  The 3rd Tac Fighter Squadron Peugeots were stationed at Clark Air Base in The Philippines and won the 1989 Gun Smoke Competition just before deploying to Incirlik Air Base Turkey to fly missions in Operation Desert Storm. 

  Thanks for downloading and listening to this episode with Colonel Fred! This and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast can be found on my website at markhasara.com

 

Welcome back to the Lessons from the Cockpit and the sixty-seventh episode of the podcast! 

In preparation for attending the Tailhook 2023 symposium, I felt this was a good time to do an episode on the air refueling shortfalls during the Shock and Awe air campaign in March through April 2003. In my book Tanker Pilot, the chapter Six Weeks in Hell speaks to the issues the Air Refueling Control Team overcame to make the 1003 Victor war plan executable. This is a more in-depth discussion on refueling shortfalls compared to what was accomplished in Desert Storm based on the Gulf War Airpower Survey written after the Desert Storm air campaign ended.

The Lessons from the Cockpit show is supported and financed by the book Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit, found in all four formats on Amazon; hardback, softback (black and white photos!), Kindle, and Audible. The Kindle and Audible versions have thirty-two pictures in an extra file when you download the book.

Detailed aircraft profiles of Operation Iraqi Freedom aircraft are available from Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These profiles are printed on vinyl in four, six, and eight-foot-long graphics you can stick to any flat surface.

The KC-10 Extender is called the "Gucci Bird" because of its versatility to refuel Boom or Drogue receivers. The KC-10 is also air refuelable... you can fill it back up. Most of the fighters deploying to the Middle East traveled there behind a KC-10.

The KC-135 Stratotanker has been the air refueling workhorse around the world. I was based at Kadena Air Base for five great years, the best flying job I had during my Air Force career.

The F-15C Eagle was deployed to the Middle East for Operation Iraqi Freedom, but they had a boring war as no Iraqi Air Force fighters flew offensive or defensive combat air patrols. All F-15Cs were sent home about halfway through the war because we needed the gas!

F-15E Strike Eagles were tasked with a range of missions from Close Air Support to Strike Coordination and Reconnaissance (SCAR) missions destroying the Iraqi Republican Guard.

Thanks for downloading and listening to this episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast. This and additional episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast can be downloaded from my website at markhasara.com.

Next week's episode will be with a former Iranian Air Force Colonel who planned and flew one of the longest strike missions during the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s.

Welcome to the sixty-fifth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! 

I received word this week my book Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit is now on the four-star commander of Air Mobility Command General Mike Minihan's "Leadership Library" reading list under the heading We Are the Maneuver. I'm grateful and humbled General Minihan thinks enough of my book to be included on his first published list.

In February of last year, I gave my listeners a reading list of great books in the episode called "Book of the Month Club". This episode updates my reading list based on some of the current events going on around the world with the war between Russia and Ukraine, the use of drones in the same conflict and our Reaper drones being assaulted over Syria, and some of the current operations ongoing in the Pacific and Europe. I expect in the coming months I will add more to the list to expand your understanding of air operations and lessons learned to improve critical thinking skills both in the air and on the ground. My new list includes the following books that are linked to Amazon if you want to add the to your library:

Hunter Killer by Mark McCurley

Blue Moon over Cube by William Ecker

Jawbreaker by Gary Berntsen

Shooter by Jack Coughlin

Razor 03 by Al Mack

Scream of Eagles by Robert Wilcox

The Air Campaign by John Warden

12 Strong by Doug Stanton

To Win the Winter Sky by Danny Parker

The First and the Last by Adolf Galland

Support for the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast comes from the book Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit found on Amazon in all four formats; Hardback, Softback with black and white pictures, Kindle and Audible. The electronic versions of the book download with an extra file of the thirty-two pictures included in the book.

Custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger can be purchased from Wall Pilot. These are highly detailed profile views of aircraft from World War II to fifth gen fighters printed on vinyl you can peel off and stick to any flat surface. There are 132 Ready-to-Print graphics and Wall Pilot can do custom aircraft profiles with names, units, tail codes and weapons loads. Order one or two Wall Pilot graphics from the website.

Thanks for downloading and listening to this episode of books I'm reading. This and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast are available on my www.markhasara.com website.

 

 

Welcome to the sixty-fourth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! I am your host Mark Hasara, Air Force vet and KC-135 pilot.

Colonel Mark Waite took a very interesting route to fill one of the most critical positions in the Air Force as Airborne Battle Manager, surveilling the air over a battlefield and directing fighters and bombers to targets. Boner was a Senior Director in the E-3 AWACS on the opening night of Desert Storm. He's a graduate of the US Air Force's Weapons School and later an instructor in the Command and Control division. Some of his most interesting lessons learned come from serving in the Al Udied CAOC during the Afghan elections and now working in the cyberspace world, both offensively and defensively.

This episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is financially supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. Over one hundred thirty incredibly detailed Ready-to-Print side view profiles of famous aircraft are available on the www.wallpilot.com website, in four, six, and eight-foot-long prints.

The E-3C Airborne Warning and Control System or AWACS aircraft from the 961st ACCS based at Kadena Air Base where Mark was stationed is available in the Ready-to-Print section.

The RC-135 Rivet Joint provides battlefield electronic and signals intelligence to commanders and a Ready-to-Print graphic of the 38th Reconnaissance Squadron, the new RJ with the CFM56 engines is available on the Wall Pilot website.

The U-2 Dragon Lady spy plane works closely with the other Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft on the battlefield through datalinks which Mark discussed in the podcast. The U-2R Dragon Lady continues to fly ISR missions all over the world at 70 years of age!

The F-15E Strike Eagle was one of the airplanes in the Close Air Support role during the Afghan elections and this 335th Fighter Squadron Strike Eagle is loaded for that typical CAS role.

The B-1B Lancer bomber carried out CAS missions during the war in Afghanistan. This B-1B graphic is the 77th Weapons Squadron flagship, a division of the US Air Force Weapons School.

Thanks for downloading and listening to this of the LEssons from the Cockpit podcast, found on the www.markhasara.com website under the Podcast pulldown tab. The previous sixty-three episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit show can be downloaded from my www.markhasara.com website.

 

Welcome to the sixty-third episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! I'm your host Mark Hasara, retired KC-135 pilot and veteran of four wars.

On Tuesday 27 June 2023, the Air Force celebrated a 100-year anniversary. On 27 June 1923 was an event making aviation history! For the first time, fuel was transferred from one DeHavilland DH-4B Biplane to another DH-4B Biplane flown by Captain Lowell Smith and 1Lt John Richter over Rockwell Field on North Island near San Diego California. 1Lt Virgil Hine and 1Lt Frank Siefert flew the DH-4B tanker which John Richter had reconfigured with a 40-foot hose. Air Mobility Command celebrated the centennial of air refueling with Operation Centennial Contact, KC-10, KC-46, and KC-135 tankers flying over all fifty states passing gas to receivers.

This episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. Over one hundred sixty extremely detailed Ready-to-Print aircraft profiles are available in four, six, and eight-foot-long graphics, reproduced on vinyl you can peel off and stick t any flat surface. Wall Pilot will also create your favorite airplanes in custom profiles with your name, unit, tail codes, and weapons load. Wall Pilot even did a thirty-footer for one customer. Go to www.wallpilot.com and purchase one or two of these incredible prints.

The KB-50 tanker was Tactical Air Command's front-line tanker for many years. A 420th Air Refueling Squadron KB-50J stationed in the United Kingdom.

The 909th Air Refueling Squadron has been stationed on the island of Okinawa for decades, flying the KC-135A and upgraded in 1991 to the KC-135R Model. The Young Tiger Tanker Task Force flew missions supporting air operations over North Vietnam.

KC-10A Extender has flown with the 60th Air Mobility Wing from Travis Air Force Base since the mid-1980s after moving from March Field in southern California. This KC-10A was assigned to the 9th Air Refueling Squadron and is available in the Ready-to-Print section of Wall Pilot's website.

The United Kingdom's Royal Air Force purchased the Airbus A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport as has many other nations. This A330 Voyager MRTT flies with the RAF's 10 Squadron out of RAF Brize-Norton airfield.

Thanks for downloading and listening to this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast, which can be found on my website at www.markhasara.com under the PODCAST pull-down menu.

 

Welcome to the sixty-third episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit Podcast! I'm your host Mark Hasara, a retired KC-135 pilot of the United States Air Force.

After five fantastic years and the greatest flying assignment of my career at Kadena Air Base on the island of Okinawa Japan, it was time for an assignment change of station or PCS. I took a Headquarters assignment to a location all of us in the Young Tiger Tanker Squadron laughed at because they had absolute control over all air mobility operations around the world except us at the 909th! This assignment became one of those tremendous learning experiences of my Air Force career. I left this assignment feeling bulletproof in my knowledge and capabilities. This assignment gave me additional experience and expertise needed to help in my next assignment working with a great team creating and standing up the KC-135 Weapons School in the fall of 1997.

 The Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported and financed by the book Tanker Pilot found in all four formats, hardback, softback, Kindle, and Audible on Amazon. Tanker Pilot gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at air refueling operations in four wars and numerous air operations. Thirty-two pictures taken during the operations discussed in the book are included. All pictures in the softback version are in black and white, and color in the other three.

Lessons from the Cockpit is also financed by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. Profile graphics of aircraft printed four, six, and eight feet long on vinyl can be peeled off and stuck on any flat surface. There are 129 Ready-to-Print aircraft profiles extensively researched and very detailed available on the website. Wall Pilot can create your name, tail codes and numbers, and weapons load on your favorite aircraft/ Take a look at some of the custom profiles Wall Pioot has done for customer hangers, one thirty feet long! Please go to www.wallpilot.com and purchase one or two of these incredible graphics for your walls.

For over twenty-four years I flew the KC-135 Stratotanker available as a Ready-to-Print graphic. A 909th Young Tiger Tanker Task Force KC-135R Model in the old SHAMU scheme or current Air Mobility Command Grey can be found at these links.

The KC-10 Extender acts as both a tanker and airlifter flying support missions all over the world. KC-10A Extender profiles from Travis AFB and McGuire AFB are available at these links.

In the summer of 2022, Air Mobility Command christened a Charleston AFB South Carolina C-17A Globemaster III "Spirit of the Candy Bomber" in memorium to Colonel Gail Halvorsen, the famous Beling Airlift Candy Bomber.

Little Rock AFB is the Center of Excellence for Air Mobility Commands Tactical Airlift fleet. A C-130J or Arkansas Air Nationa Guard C-130H from Little Rock AFB is available in Wall Pilot's Ready-to-Print section. 

Thanks for downloading and listening to this episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! This and previous episodes of the podcast can be found on my website at markhasara.com. If you have an hour or so during a morning or afternoon commute while stuck in traffic, the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast has some great stories and lessons learned for you to listen to!

 

Welcome to the 80th episode… eight zero… of the Lessons from the Cockpit show! I am your host Mark Hasara and for over 60 years my passion has been all things aviation.

This is episode two with the Flight Operations Director Jamie McCarthy of Port City Air on what used to be Pease Air Force Base in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In this episode he's going to talk about FBO planning and execution lessons learned when you have everything from big airplanes like a C-5M Galaxy to Executive Jets like Gulfstream G550 needing services at Port City Air. Every once in a while things don't go the way they're planned and Jamie tells a great story about how they obtained a massive C-5 tow bar when a Galaxy had a bleed duct failure and how to handle a fuel truck hitting a G550 winglet.

The Lessons from the Cockpit show is financially supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hangar; these are incredibly detailed aircraft profiles printed on vinyl in four, six, and eight foot lengths you can peel off and stick on any flat surface. There are 144 ready to print aircraft profiles on the Wall Pilot homepage. Wall Pilot can also draw your favorite airplane with your name, unit, squadron, and your favorite weapons load. Just go to wallpilot.com and fill out the custom survey for your airplane. We also do unit patches, which we've found out all of our stuff is waterproof!

Jamie speaks about several A-10 Warthog aircraft that come through Port City Air FBO for servicing during Large Force Exercises in Europe. This A-10 Warthog is from the Indiana Air National Guard Black Snakes squadron, the Hawg as it is called is the ground grunts best friend!

While he and I were walking around the airfield several KC-135s were operating from the Pease ramp. This KC-135 is the airplane that had my name on it in the 90s while stationed with the 909th Air Refueling Squadron, Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Japan.

When aircraft are deploying to Europe or the Middle East, chances are good that KC-10 Extenders are dragging them across the pond. This KC-10 is from the 60th Air Mobility Wing based at Travis Air Force Base near San Francisco California.

The F-15 Eagle has always been one of my favorite airplanes! this is an F-15E from The 391st Fighter Squadron "Bold Tigers" based at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho. It is carrying a Close Air Support and Battlefield Air Interdiction weapons load of GPS and laser-guided bombs with air-to-air missiles.

Thanks for downloading and listening to this episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit show. We are almost at 27,000 downloads now. This and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit show can now be found on my YouTube channel @MarkHasara. I’m now posting the audio and video on my YouTube channel! I also do some pretty fantastic short videos on aviation and military subjects on my YouTube channel. You can also find all episodes of the lessons from the cockpit show on my website at www.markhasara.com

Next week we’ll hear from the highest scoring MiG Ace of the Vietnam War and talk to him about chasing and shooting down MiGs but also being a Fast Forward Air Controller doing Road Reconnaissance at night along the Ho Chi Minh trail. Thanks for tuning in and we'll talk to you next week on the Lessons from the Cockpit show.

 

Welcome to the sixty-second episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast and I'm your host Mark Hasara, a former Air Force KC-135 pilot, flying all over the world passing gas!

Recently I had a conversation with a colleague on how far the Air Force tanker community had come since Deseet Stomr and the old Strategic Air Command days of the Single Integrated Operations Plan, the nuclear war plan. I felt the tanker community during Desert Storm was not prepared for high-density, high-ops-tempo air refueling operations because it wasn't our primary focus. This episode lays out what I feel are the air refueling lessons learned during the Desert Storm air campaign. 

This episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is sponsored and financially supported by the book Tanker Pilot found on Amazon which can be purchased in hardback, softback (photos in black and white), Kindle, and Audible (extra file contains the color pictures).

Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger has many of the aircraft of Desert Storm available in four, six, and eight-foot-long graphics printed on vinyl you can peel off and stick to any flat surface. Wall Pilto also creates custom aircraft artwork at the website wallpilot.com 

The 58th Tactical Fighter Squadron shot down the most Iraqi Air Force MiG and Mirage aircraft during the Desert Storm air campaign. This F-15C was flown by Captain Cesar "Rico" Rodriguez on his two MiG Kill missions.

On the first night of the Desert Storm air campaign, my KC-135 crew refueled COORS 31-34 flight of F-4G Wild Weasels, commanded by Lt Col George "John Boy" Walton flying this F-4G tail number that night.

The EF-111A Spark Vark jamming aircraft was part of the Iraqi Integrated Air Defense Network takedown flying with COORS 31 flight and their four F-4G Wild Weasels.

This 335th Tac Fighter Squadron F-15E dropped a 2000 lbs GBU-10 laser-guided bomb on a hovering helicopter and is now the Chief's squadron flagship.

Large groups of F-111F Aardvarks spread out through Iraqi using laser and tv guided weapons to destroy possible chemical weapons facilities armed like this F-111F from the 494th Tactical Fighter Squadron from the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing based at RAF Lakenheath England.

The USS John F Kennedy airwing had two squadrons of Vought Corsair II attack aircraft loaded the first night with AGM-88 High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles or HARM like this VA-72 Blue Hawks A-7E. 

The 17th Tac Fighter Squadron deployed in their F-16C Fighting Falcons to Al Minhad Air Base in the UAE flying thousands of missions during Desert Storm.

Strategic Air Command and Pacific Air Forces deployed 211 KC-135 Stratotankers to the Gulf Region during Operation Desert Storm. This KC-135R Model flew with the 909th Air Refueling Squadron based in Okinawa Japan.

Thanks for downloading this episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! This and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast can be found on my website at markhasara.com.

Welcome to the sixty-first episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! 

The Defense Department Budget is out and there are a number of aircraft coming into the inventory and a lot going to the Boneyard at Davis Monthan AFB Arizona. Platforms that I refueled from my KC-135 are going to be gone soon, and I voice my concerns about some of the aircraft being cut out of the inventory. My biggest concern is the health of the tanker fleet of course. There are some new aircraft on the horizon also and some of them are cosmic!

This episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported and financed by the book Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit available on Amazon in all four formats; hardback, softback, Kindle, and Audible. The softback edition has pictures in black and white, and the hardback, Kindle, and Audible have pictures in color.

Aircraft spoken about in this episode are available from Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These are very detailed profiles of famous aircraft you can peel off and stick to any flat surface. Go take a look at the 128 Ready-to-Print profiles from World War II aircraft to modern aircraft. Wall Pilot can also create a graphic of your favorite aircraft with your name, unit, tail codes, and weapons loadout.

One of my favorite aircraft and fortunately have been able to fly in is the F-15. The 44th Fighter Squadron Vampires were recently deactivated at Kadena Air Base Okinawa and this Eagle jet was one of their jets that deployed to the Middle East with the CHAOS nose art. 

This 64th Aggressor Squadron F-16C was named WRAITH because of its black paint scheme. I like this black Darth Vader scheme!

 The KC-10 Extender inventory will be reduced by 10 aircraft this year. The KC-10 has been called the "Gucci Bird" because of its nice ride. This is a Gucci Bird from the 60th Air Mobility Wing at Travis AFB California.

The E-3B Airborne Warning and Control System or AWACS aircraft from the 961st Air Control Squadron is based at Kadena Air Base Okinawa. The AWACS will be replaced by some future platform, probably the 737 Wedgetail flown by other Air Forces.

The B-1B Lancer bomber has been a workhorse of the Global War on Terror, nicknamed The Bone. This B-1B is the flagship of the 77th Weapons Squadron, the US Air Force Weapons School Bone division based at Dyess Air Force Base Texas.

Thanks for downloading and listening to my podcast. We are over 15,000 downloads now and I appreciate all of you who listen. This and previous episodes of the Lesson from the Cockpit podcast can be found on my website at markhasara.com

 

 

 

Welcome to the sixtieth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! 

I've been reluctant to discuss current events but felt this was a good topic since the US Military has accomplished four Non-Combatant Evacuations or NEOs from four US Embassies in the last three years; Afghanistan, Ukraine, Belarus, and as of last week Khartoum Sudan. Instructing at the Joint Forces Staff College I taught US and International students Humanitarian Operations and we did an exercise on NEOs. This episode explains why NEOs are one of the most intense and potentially dangerous missions the US military and often our allies get involved with. When a US Ambassador calls saying get us out, NEOs are how we do it.

This episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These are detailed and exhaustively researched profile graphics printed on vinyl of your favorite airplanes you can peel off and stick on any flat surface. Go look at the 129 Ready-to-Print profiles or let us custom draw your favorite aircraft with your name, tail codes, and weapons load on the plane. We also do unit patches that are weather-resistant and stick on the windows of your vehicles.

The Lockheed C-130 has been involved in numerous NEOs and this C-130J from Little Rock AFB represents the current US Air Force version of the Hercules.

The C-17 Globemaster II was the workhorse of the withdrawal from Afghanistan. This Charleston AFB C-17A was one of the last US Air Force aircraft to leave the country with 825 people on the cargo floor!

The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper drone is the mainstay of the US Air Force drone program. This MQ-9 Reaper flies with the 867th Attack Squadron out of Creech AFB near Indian Springs Nevada. 

Thanks for downloading and listening to this sixtieth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast. This and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast can be found on my website at markhasara.com under the Podcast Pulldown menu.

Thanks again for listening and we'll talk to you next week!

Welcome to the fifty-ninth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! I'm your host Mark Hasara, retired Air Force KC-135 pilot and airplane nerd!

I've been asked numerous times what my thoughts are on the leaked classified documents from the Department of Defense and Pentagon. I'm still scratching my head about how a 21-year-old Airman had access to these documents, particularly CIA Ops Center Reports. The documents were very recent looking at the dates and shed some very interesting light on a number of events happening around the world, particularly the Chinese spy balloon and a scary incident between Russian SU-27 Flankers and a Royal Air Force (RAF) RC-135 Rivet Joint electronic intelligence plane over the Black Sea.

This episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is financially supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These very detailed profile graphics are printed on vinyl in four, six, or eight-foot-long prints you can peel off and stick to any flat surface. Go to wallpilot.com and order from 128 Ready-to-Print aircraft or let us draw your favorite aircraft with your name under the canopy, unit, tail codes, and weapons load. Aircraft from WW II to fifth-gen fighters are available.

A four, six, or eight-foot print of the RC-135 Rivet Joint is available for those who crewed this incredible intelligence and reconnaissance aircraft.

A Hawaiian Air Nation Guard F-22 similar to the 27th Fighter Squadron Raptor that shot down the Chinese spy balloon is also available in the Ready-to-Print section of wallpilot.com

Thanks for downloading and listening to this episode on the classified documents leak. Just my opinion here mind you. This and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast are available to download and listen to from my website at markhasara.com 

Welcome to the fifty-eighth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast. We are going to talk about nukes since there is so much about a possible WW III in all the media. 

President Ronald Reagan created the world's best nuclear deterrent capability in Strategic Air Command as he poured money into the military after years of neglect. The timeframe from when I showed up at the 509th Air Refueling Squadron in 1985 to 1990 when I left Pease as it was closing was a great time to be a KC-135 pilot at Portsmouth New Hampshire. I was flying an airplane I loved, doing a critical Air Force mission that was fun, and got to take a T-37 up whenever I could find another Copilot to go with me. It was a golden age of flying in my career. But still very dangerous as every third week I would go into an underground nuclear-hardened bunker and sit on Single Integrated Operations Plan or SIOP alert with six FB-111As carrying four nukes and five to six tankers to refuel them on their mission of Armaggedon.

This episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is sponsored by the Amazon Best-Selling book Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit found in all four formats... Hardback, Softback, Kindle, and Audible. Twenty-two chapters give readers a behind-the-scenes look at global air operations from a KC-135.

Visit Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. You can choose from four, six, and eight-foot-long aircraft profiles printed on vinyl you can peel off and stick to any flat surface. These are very detailed prints of famous aircraft so please go to wallpilot.com and order one or two prints for your walls. Wall Pilot does custom artwork and patches too. Our products are weather resistant... one customer put his F-15 squadron patches on his boat and they stayed put and didn't fade!

I loved flying the KC-135 Stratotanker and my assignment to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa was the best flying experience of my career... where I learned the most.

The FB-111A was the SAC version of the swing-wing fighter bomber made famous during Desert Storm. This is a print of the FB-111A from Pease AFB I sat alert with many times.

The B-58 Hustler named Cowtown Hustler set the speed record for flight from LA to New York and back to LA setting seven speed records until the SR-71 Blackbird came along.

The E-6A Mercury Take Charge and Move Out or TACAMO aircraft was flown by the Navy and used for command and control of the submarine forces.

The SR-71 Blackbird was SAC's very special and very fast reconnaissance platform moving at over Mach 3+! The Okinawans called it Habu, after a poisonous snake on the island because it looked so much like the reptile.

Thanks for downloading and listening to this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast can be found on my website markhasara.com

 

Welcome to the fifty-seventh episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! This episode is an anniversary episode.

This past week marked twenty years since the opening of Operation Iraqi Freedom's Shock and Awe air campaign, a term those of us involved never used. To those planning and executing air operations, it was Air Tasking Order Oscar or ATO O. The Combined Air Operations Center Air Refueling Control Team which I led went through six weeks of hell preparing for the opening  A-Day and H-Hour, Friday night 21 March 2003 at 9 pm local Baghdad time. In this episode, you will hear the background stories of how the air refueling team got to that Friday night air schwacking of Iraq, from Friday 14 March to what you saw a week later on all the news media on 21 March. It looked like everything was going smoothly but no, it wasn't. The tanker force was not in place until Sunday 23 March.

This episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is sponsored by the book Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit found in all four formats; hardback, softback, Kindle, and Audible. Thirty-two pictures taken during events described in the book are contained in the pages, some taken by the author and some taken by the receivers.

 Prints of aircraft participating in the opening night of Iraqi Freedom can be found at Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These are four, six, or eight-foot-long aircraft profiles printed on vinyl which can be peeled off or framed and placed on any flat surface.

The F-15E Strike Eagle was tasked to support Close Air Support to the Third Infantry Division in their march to Baghdad. This F-15E carries the weapons load normally used on such CAS missions.

The F-16CJ Wild Weasel took part in the Suppression of Enemy Air Defense (SEAD) and the Destruction of Enemy Air Defenses on the opening night when the Baghdad Super Missile Engagement Zone had to be destroyed.

The F-16CJs were supported in their mission by the RC-135 Rivet Joint, an electronic intelligence collection platform used to identify, classify, and locate Saddam's SAM systems.

The E-3B Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System or AWACS was the Air Battlefield Manger platform for Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Air Mobility Command KC-10 Extender was critical to the air refueling system for Operation Iraqi Freedom because they could refuel both Boom or Drogue-equipped aircraft and were air refuelable, allowing the KC-10 to be filled up during flight.

Go by my Lt Col Mark Hasara TikTok page to see short 15 to 30-second aviation and military videos that educate and entertain. Some are pretty incredible!

Thanks to all of my listeners for downloading this and previous episodes of the podcast. I really do appreciate it! This and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast can be found on my website at markhasara.com

Welcome to the fifty-sixth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast!  I really appreciate all of you tuning in and downloading this and previous episodes of the show.

One of the great memories of my KC-135 career was flying at low altitude with a receiver behind us. My first introduction to the planning and execution of low-altitude refueling was at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa. All of our 909th Air Refueling Squadron tanker crews were certified to do this technique and procedure. This episode discusses the whys and hows of low-altitude air refueling with examples from training and actual combat. The lowest we'd go in the KC-135 is 3000 feet above the terrain, typically refueling the A-10 at 9000 to 10,000 feet. One international Air Force established the record for the lowest altitude refueling on an operational mission in one of the most daring and successful air strikes in the history of aerial warfare!

The Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is financed by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These are very detailed profiles of aircraft printed on vinyl you can peel off and stick to any flat surface. One hundred twenty-seven Ready-to-Print profiles are available in four, six, and eight-foot-long prints. If there is a favorite aircraft you'd like to have your name, unit, tail codes, and weapons load, we can create a custom print for you too. The form is on the website.

A 909th Air Refueling Squadron KC-135 R Model print is available in the Ready-to-Print section here. 

The KC-10 has also done low-altitude air refueling. A print of a Travis AFB KC-10 from the 60th Air Mobility Wing is available in the Ready-to-Print section here. 

An F-4E of the 3rd TFS based at Clark Air Base in The Philippines which flew missions during Operation Desert Storm from Incirlik Air Base Turkey and participated in the 1989 GUNSMOKE bombing and gunnery competition at Nellis AFB can be purchased here.

Thanks for downloading this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast, found on my website at markhasara.com.

We look forward to talking with you next week!

  

Welcome to the fifty-fifth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! Thanks for downloading and listening.

A three-inch thick manila folder on my desk in my new assignment to the Air Mobility Command Director of Operations or AMC/DO staff ended up being the worst four years of my career and yet the most rewarding looking back on it. This graduate-level curriculum changed the way the US Air Force air refueling community did business... right before 9/11! And nobody wanted us! I was second in command of the Initial Cadre of eighteen airmen tasked with creating the KC-135 Weapons School, now the 509th Weapons Squadron. Twenty-five years later, the 509th Weapons School has produced over 200 graduates. 

This episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is sponsored by the book Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit, found in all four formats; Hardback, Softback, Kindle, and Audible. Thirty-two pictures taken during air refueling operations are contained in the book. Please buy one or two copies as sales keep the podcast financed and running.

Four, six, and eight-foot-long profiles of aircraft involved in the US Air Force Weapons School printed on vinyl you can peel off and stick to any flat surface can be found at Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. Wall Pilot can create custom profiles of your favorite aircraft with your name, unit patches, tail number, and weapons loads by going to the website and filling out the custom profile print form.

A print of the KC-135 with the 909th ARS markings can be purchased here.

Prints of the 57th Wing Flagship, an F-15C Eagle based at Nellis Air Force Base Nevada, home of the US Air Force Weapons School, can be purchased here. The 65th Aggressor Squadron's F-15C Eagles in the Flanker and Splinter paint schemes are also available from Wall Pilot.

Prints of Nellis AFB 64th Aggressor Squadron F-16Cs in the all-black Wraith,  the Splinter, the Digital, and the Flogger paint schemes are available at Wall Pilot. 

Thanks to all of you for downloading and listening to this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast, found on the Mark Hasara website under the Podcast pulldown.

Welcome to the fifty-fourth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast. I've waited to post this one because so much aviation history is happening over the US!

Over the last weekend in Joint military operations, US Air Force F-22 Raptors and F-16C Vipers shot down the Chinese Spy Balloon and three additional objects, one over Lake Huron with an interesting description.  This episode contains the audio from the Spy Balloon shoot-down on 4 Feb and the object "decommissioned" on Sunday 12 Feb. A lot of questions I raise are still unanswered, like where did these last three objects come from and why did one of our most high tech air-to-air missiles miss on Sunday. Many of these questions will be answered when the payload and objects are recovered.

Here are four links to the audio and video of the intercepts found on YouTube:

F-22 and HUNTRESS audio from balloon shoot down.  

The long version of Spy Balloon shoot down audio. Still pretty scratchy but easy to make it out.

Audio of the F-16s Octagonal object shoot down over Lake Huron.

The best video I've found of the Spy Balloon shoot down I mention in the podcast.

The Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is sponsored by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. 

The F-22A Raptor is arguably the best fifth-generation fighter on the planet. A four, six, or eight-foot-long print of a Hawaii Air National Guard F-22 can be purchased here.

The F-22s were supported by F-15Cs from the Massachusetts Air National Guard carrying SNIPER targeting pods on their centerline station. The 44th Fighter Squadron flies in the same configuration... AIM-120C AMRAAMs, AIM-9X Sidewinders, and the SNIPER pod.

The F-16C Fighting Falcon has several air-to-air kills before this past weekend. F-16 prints of the 4th FS Fuujins and The Wraith from the 64th Aggressor Squadron are also available.

I really do appreciate all of you downloading and listening to this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast. All episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast are found on my Mark Hasara website under the Podcast pulldown tab.

Look forward to talking with you next week... who knows what will happen this week! 

 

Welcome to the fifty-third episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast, the second in a series of Strategic Air Command bomber and tanker operations during the Cuban Missile Crisis of October and November of 1962.

Strategic Air Command's Cuban Missile Crisis After Action Report was declassified years ago. I did not find it until researching the chapter of my book called Klaxon! Klaxon! Klaxon! on nuclear operations in the Reagan Cold War. In the days leading up to President John F. Kennedy's landmark speech on the evening of 22 October telling America nuclear missiles are on the island of Cuba, Commander of Strategic Air Command General Thomas S. Power prepared his forces for the increase in airborne nuclear alert called Chrome Dome missions. SAC went from twelve Chrome Dome missions a day to seventy-five on 5 November 1962! The episode discusses the preparation, generation, and launch of SAC nuclear bomber and tanker assets over thirty days.

Financial support for the Lessons from the Cockpit comes solely from Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. One hundred twenty-seven Ready to Print aircraft profiles printed on vinyl you can peel off and stick to any flat surface. These prints are four, six, or eight feet long and very detailed, the arming T-Handles on the AIM-9 heat-seeking Sidewinder missiles with the stenciling! Wall Pilot also creates custom aircraft profiles with your name, unit insignia, tail codes, and even desired weapons loadout on your favorite aircraft.

The KB-50J was Tactical Air Command's air refueling platform. A Ready to Print KB-50 from the 429th Air Refueling Squadron is available in four, six, or eight-foot-long vinyl prints.

The KC-135's played a huge part in every Chrom Dome mission refueling the B-52s flying Chrome Dome airborne nuclear alert missions in the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas, over the North Pole, or near Thule Greenland. A KC-135E from the New Jersey Air National Guard is available from Wall Pilot.

The B-58 Hustler was new to Strategic Air Command's inventory and all 84 were placed on nuclear alert to cover the gaps in the Single Integrated Operations Plan or the nuclear war plan with the B-52s flying Chrome Dome missions. This B-58 Hustler profile is the Cowtown Hustler, a speed record-breaking Hustler now in the National Museum of the Air Force in Dayton Ohio.  

The F-8E Crusader was the Navy's premier air superiority fighter as the McDonnell-Douglas F-4B was coming into the fleet. This Ready to Print F-8E Crusader from VF-162 off the USS Oriskany can be purchased here.

The U-2 Spy Plane took the first pictures of the San Cristobal Medium Range Ballistic Missile facility on 14 October 1962. A Ready to Print U-2 is available from Wall Pilot.

Thanks for downloading and listening to this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast, I really do appreciate it! All episodes can be found on my website at markhasara.com, under the Podcast pull-down header.

Episode fifty-four will be up next week... discussing another time period where Russian nuclear subs caused SAC to increase the alert status once again in 1987. Look forward to talking with you again next week.

Welcome to the seventy-ninth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit show! This one was done on location so get ready for some cool background jet noise!

My wife and I recently were guests of Port City Air, a Fixed Base Operations or FBO at my first base of assignment Pease Air Force Base in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Port City Air has an incredible reputation among military fliers! I walked the ramp with Port City Air's Director of Flight Operations Jamie McCarthy while recording our conversation. We had a blast discussing what an FBO does, watching props, jets, and helos coming in and going out... including a scary moment when an engine quit! Jamie explains what it takes to keep military and civilian aviation moving 24/7/365... to include a broken C-5!

This episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit show is financially supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. Go by www.wallpilot.com and order one or two of the Ready-to-Print four, six, or eight foot long aircraft profiles printed on vinyl you can peel off and stick to any flat surface. Wall Pilot also creates custom aircraft profiles of your favorite aircraft with your name, tail number and weapons load on the aircraft, from WWII P-51 Mustangs to F-35 Lightning IIs and F-22 Raptors.

While Jamie and I walked the ramp a KC-135 was being refueled for another operational mission the next day. This KC-135 was my personal jet while stationed at Kadena Air Base on the island of Okinawa Japan in the 1990s. Twenty one years later I flew home Space Available from England on tail number 8874, which had 26,000 hours on the air frame and over 16,000 landings!

All kinds of fighters fly in and out of Pease International Airport now. This F-15E from the 335th Fighter Squadron was the jet flown by one of my guests during the Battle of Robert's Ridge on 4 March 2002, a low point in Operation Anaconda because of the loss of so many soldiers and a Navy SEAL.

The F-16 is one of the most popular fighter aircraft in the world. This F-16CJ Wild Weasel is assigned to the 35th Fighter Wing and the 14th Fighter Squadron Samuaris out of Misawa Air Base in Japan. The Crew Chief of this jet took a black grease pencil and filled in the corners of the 8s on the tail, the airplane is still called 'BOB' to this day. The Crew Chief said it stood for "Bombs over Baghdad."

Jamie mentioned during the show KC-10s often stop at Pease International while flying missions to and from Europe and the Middle East. This KC-10 is assigned to the 60th Air Mobility Wing at Travis AFB in California. Three KC-10s had left Pease and Port City Air's ramp the day before we arrived.

There is only ONE fighter aircraft in the history of the world that has never been shot down in combat, the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle. This F-15C from Desert Storm was the 33rd Tactical Fighter Wing's flagship and shot down three Iraqi fighter jets during the conflict.

Thanks once again for downloading this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit show, which can be found at www.lessonsfromthecockpit.show or on my website at www.markhasara.com. All episodes are now on my Lessons from the Cockpit YouTue channel also. 

Next week we will finish our discussion with Jamie McCarthy on Fixed Base Operations and what Port City Air does for customers coming through Pease International Airport. 

 

Welcome to the fifty-second episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast, this will be one of those extreme aviation moments!

My Mom and Dad were very worried when I was just a kid starting school. They watched television a lot a month and a half into my first school year, a guy named Walter Cronkite particularly. The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 had begun. Strategic Air Command's Operation during the Cuban Crisis of 1962 was declassified years ago and details the intelligence collection operations during the spring into winter of 1962. Lockheed U-2 spyplanes photographed nuclear-capable ballistic missiles in Cuba which could reach Washington DC in fourteen minutes. This is the intelligence collection story detailing the high and low-altitude reconnaissance missions over Cuba.

Financial support for the Lessons from the Cockpit show comes solely from Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger.  

The US Air Force U-2 spy plane was a star of the show in the Cuban Missile Crisis. A four, six, or eight-foot-long print of the Dragon Lady can be purchased here.

The Navy's P2V Neptune maritime patrol airplane monitoring Russian commercial ships and submarines during the Cuban Missile Crisis can be purchased here.

Thanks for downloading and listening to this episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast. This and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast can be found on my website at markhasara.com

Next week's episode will cover the air-breathing nuclear response by Strategic Air Command and what B-47s, B-52s and the KC-97/KC-135 fleet did during the October and November Missile Crisis.

 

Welcome to episode fifty-one of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast!

This is an interview I've wanted to do for a long time!

Commander Dave "Bio" Baranek as an F-14 Tomcat Radar Intercept Officer or RIO had a great Naval Aviation career. Leaving college with a passion for flying, Bio got into the Tomcat community shortly after the F-14's introduction into the fleet as the Navy's premier air superiority fighter. Bio saw the Tomcat grow from an air superiority fighter to a precision strike platform when Tomcats began carrying air-to-ground weapons and the LANTIRN targeting pod. While teaching at TOPGUN, he and the instructor cadre were a little surprised when told they would be participating in the creation and filming of arguably the most iconic aviation movie of the 80s with a little know actor in the lead role. Dave Baranek published many of these stories in his three books, which can be purchased through the Amazon links below.

His first book TOPGUN Days tells his story of naval aviation in the 1980s Cold War chasing The Bear, chosen as an instructor RIO at Navy Fighter Weapons School and the filming of the 1986 blockbuster movie TOPGUN staring Tom Cruise, Anthony Edwards, Val Kilmer, and Kelly McGillis. People are still listening to that musical score!

Dave's second book Before TOPGUN Days takes place before the events recounted in his previous memoir, Topgun Days, Bio brings to life the anxieties and excitement of entering the fast-paced world of naval fighter aviation. From a green recruit to an experienced flyer, discover what the journey is like to become a TOPGUN instructor.

His third book Tomcat RIO shares the challenges F-14 aircrews face flying intense missions against known and unknown enemies like a deadly foe called complacency. Learning a whole new mission late in his career, Bio saw the F-14 grow from an air superiority fighter to a precision strike asset. As a Navy expert in fighter tactics and aircraft carrier operations, his experience propelled him into command of a frontline F-14 fighter squadron, the world-famous VF-211 Fighting Checkmates, leading more than three hundred people while deployed on an aircraft carrier under combat conditions.

The Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is financially supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. Help us keep the show going by purchasing one or two of very detailed aircraft profiles printed on vinyl in four, six, and eight-foot-long graphics you can peel off and stick to any flat surface. Wall Pilot can create a custom aircraft profile with your name on the canopy rail, preferred weapons load, tail number, and squadron emblems by contacting them at Wall Pilot's website.

Ready-to-Print aircraft profiles of the Grumman F-14A Tomcat from VF-1 Wolfpack and VF-32 Swordsman are available at these links. Profiles of F-5E Aggressor aircraft which appeared in the movie TOPGUN in the GRAPE and SNAKE schemes are also available from Wall Pilot Ready-to-Print section.

Please share this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast with family, friends, and loved ones. All episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast can be downloaded from the Mark Hasara podcast website.

Thanks for listening and tune in next week for another episode where we debrief the most fascinating and intriguing pilots, aircrew members, maintainers, and aviation enthusiasts from all over the world to hear their stories but more importantly what they learned from their extraordinary military, commercial and private flying experiences.   

Welcome to the fiftieth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast, a new milestone for our show!

All of you have heard of an airstrike or raid on something or someone in hiding who popped up in a valley, a downtown building, or a facility along a river. My Air Refueling Control Team planning and executing operations were involved in some of the highest profile attacks we call Time Sensitive Targets or just TSTs. This episode gives listeners a foundation on why and how they happen and a behind-the-scenes look at some of these very news-worthy TSTs. Most of these were extremely intense events and a few were unsuccessful.

The Lessons from the Cockpit show is financed by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. Please take a look and order one or two of these very detailed four, six, and eight-foot aircraft profile drawings printed on vinyl you can peel off and stick on any flat surface. Wall Pilot also does custom profiles of your favorite aircraft with your name, unit emblems, tail number, and weapons load. Go to www.wallpilot.com to see the Ready-to-Print and custom order forms. 

 Prints of the B-1B Lancer bomber, involved with numerous TSTs during Operation Iraqi Freedom's Shock and Awe campaign is Ready-to-Print from Wall Pilot.

A print of an F-15E with the Quick Reaction Strike or QRS Alert weapons load used during Operation Allied Force over Kosovo is also available Ready-to-Print from Wall Pilot.

Thanks for downloading and listening to the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast. This and all previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit show can be found on my website at markhasara.com

Happy Holidays to all our listeners. We will be back after the first week of January when we spend a few episodes on F-14 Tomcats.

Welcome to Episode 49 of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! I've wanted to do this one for a while.

My USAF Pilot Training experience was pretty rocky. I almost did not make it through. Fortunately, one really good instructor we called "The Doctor" helped me get through. The Doctor could fix just about any student's ailments with his incredible teaching skills. To this day, I still remember The Doctor’s Five Rules of Flying and have used them flying KC-135s all over the world and in my personal life too.

The Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. There are 127 Ready-to-Print images of aircraft from WW II to Fifth Gen fighters.  We do custom artwork too! Working on SH-3 Sea Kings and AH-64 Apaches right now.

Go by the website and take a look at the detail of these vinyl prints and buy one or two for your walls. This is how we keep the podcast going.

The Shamu Scheme on a KC-135 from the 909th Air Refueling Squadron comes in four, six, and eight-foot-long prints.

Flying in the F-15 Eagle was one of the greatest experiences of my life. Prints of the 67th Fighter Squadron Fighting Cocks and 44th Fighter Squadron Vampires are available from Wall Pilot.

Thanks for listening to this episode today. Please share this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast with your family and friends. Download this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast, found on my website at markhasara.com 

In next week's episode, we discuss Time Sensitive Targets, what it TSTs mean, and how lawyers fit into the Kill Chain when finding, fixing, and finishing high-value or fleeting targets of opportunity. Examples are from Operation Northern Watch in 2000, Southern Watch in 2002, Southern Focus in 2002, and the air campaigns over Afghanistan and Iraq. One event involves the very FIRST use of the F/!-18 Super Hornet in combat in Iraq. I was there... and watched every one of these TSTs unfold.

Talk to you next week!

Welcome to episode forty-eight of the Lessons from the Cockpit Show!

Reading about how the Iraqi Freedom North War was planned and executed in March and April of 2003, I realized there are a lot of mistakes in the narrative out there. As Chief of the Air Refueling Control Team for the 2003 Iraqi Freedom Shock and Awe campaign, I felt it was a great time to tell what the Air Refueling Control Team experts had to overcome to accomplish some incredible feats, one of those being two of the longest strike missions in Naval Aviation history... 2800 nautical miles roundtrip!

The Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These beautifully drawn aircraft profiles are printed on vinyl so you can peel them off and stick them to any flat surface. Visit wallpilot.com and order from our 126 Ready-to-Print profiles or have them draw a custom print of your favorite airplane.

Captain Stephen "Moose" Laukaitis was the Deputy Carrier Airwing Eight Commander during the Shock and Awe campaign. His F/A-18C Hornet can be purchased here from Wall Pilot.

Thanks for listening to this episode and please share this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast with your family and friends found on my website at markhasara.com/episodes.

I hope all of you here in the United States have a great Thanksgiving with family and friends around the dinner table. 

Welcome to the forty-seventh episode of the Lesson from the Cockpit podcast!

This episode continues our conversation with former US Navy Commander Steve Bates and the history of the SH-3 Sea King helicopter. The Navy used the SH-3 for four decades and the Air Force made famous the HH-3 or Jolly Green Giant version, saving hundreds of airmen shot down over North and South Vietnam. The SH-3 also had a unique Cold War role Steve elaborates on!

The Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These extremely detailed profiles are printed on vinyl and can be peeled off and stuck to any flat surface. Our patches are on cars and boats now too! Please go to www.wallpilot.com and order one or two of these fantastic profile illustrations. The SH-3 and HH-3 drawings will be on the website soon.

Thanks for downloading and listening to the podcast! Please share this and previous episodes of the Lesson from the Cockpit podcast with friends, family, and loved ones, found on my website www.markhasara.com/episodes.

Thanks for listening and we'll talk to you again next week on the Lesson from the Cockpit show.

Welcome to the forty-sixth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast!

The Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King was the US Navy's primary rotary-wing aircraft for decades. Steve discusses training and flying the Sea King used for Fleet Logistics bringing beans, bombs, and mail to the fleet and sailors while underway at sea. Steve also tells us about some of the humanitarian operations he was involved with while at the Pentagon... on 9/11!

The Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported entirely by Wall Pilot, custom aviation graphics for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These extremely detailed graphics are printed on vinyl and peeled off to stick to any flat surface. Go by Wall Pilot's website and order a few of these incredible graphics to keep the podcast going.

This and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast can be found on my website at markhasara.com. Please share them with all of your family, friends, and loved ones. Our listening audience is growing fast now!

Some pretty amazing videos can now be found on Lt Col Mark Hasara TikTok page. We had 1.1 million views in our first week!

On next week's show, Steve tells us the history of the SH-3 Sea King and rotary wing aviation in the Navy so swing by next week.

Thanks for listening and downloading the podcast and we'll talk to you next week on the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast.

Welcome to the forty-fifth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast!

The Air Force created a super-secret squadron located in the Nellis Air Force Base Range Complex, The 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron called "The Red Eagles." Rob Zettel is one of the world's subject matter experts on adversary tactics, techniques, and procedures from his experience flying the F-5E Tiger II with the 26th Aggressors in The Philippines and Russian Mig-21 Fishbed and MiG-23 Flogger fighters with the 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron Red Eagles. Z-Man discusses his experiences flying F-4 Phantoms and being an Aggressor pilot with the famous Red Eagles.

Two books are available on the 4477th TES, the first called  America's Secret MiG Squadron: The Red Eagles of Constant Peg written by one of the founders Colonel Gail Peck. The second book is Red Eagles: America's Secret MiGs by Steve Davies.

Prints of the MiG-21 and MiG-23 Rob flew with the Red Eagles are available from Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These four, six, or eight-foot-long prints can be framed or peeled off and stuck to any flat surface.

Prints of the 26th Aggressor Squadron F-5E Tiger II painted in Russian GRAPE and SNAKE paint schemes are also available from Wall Pilot.

Thanks for downloading and listening to the show. Please share episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast with your friends and family. This and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast can be found on my website.

Next week we talk to a US Navy SH-3 Sea King pilot and learn how the Sikorsky Sea King came about and some of the incredible missions the Sea King was equipped to perform... including carrying nuclear weapons!

Thanks for listening and we will talk to you next week on the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast. 

Welcome to the forty-fourth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! We are fast approaching 15,000 downloads!

The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress may have the distinction of flying and fighting for 100 years. The military continues adding new equipment and missions to a platform created for the nuclear Cold War of the 1960s. Colonel Chris "Chico" Anderson joins the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast telling us how the B-52 BUFF (Big Ugly Fat Fellow in polite company) continues to be one of the most potent and relevant aircraft in the US Air Force inventory. Chico tells us about Close Air Support and Joint Fires developed on the fly over Afghanistan to Hurricane Relief efforts along the Gulf Coast. Southern Command has now added another mission to the BUFF because of the sensors onboard... a laser-targeting pod hunting drug runners!

This episode of Lessons from the Cockpit is supported by the book Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit. Fuel is a weapon! Tanker Pilot gives a behind-the-scenes view of planning and executing global air operations from nuclear alert missions in the Cold War to passing over 417 MILLION pounds of jet fuel in the 2003 Shock and Awe campaign over Iraq. Tanker Pilot allows this show to keep going so buy a copy available in all four formats on Amazon: hardback, softback, Kindle, and Audible.

On a recent show with MH-47 Chinook pilot Alan Mack, he mentioned his book RAZOR 03: A Nightstalker's Wars would be published soon. RAZOR 03 is OUT and available on Amazon! 

Thanks for downloading and listening to this and previous episodes of the show, found on my website at markhasara.com. Please share all episodes with your family and friends, a new episode is posted every week.

On next week's show, we discuss adversary tactics and training with one of the world's experts who flew Russian MiG-21s and MiG-23s in the US Air Force out of Area 51... the world-famous 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron Red Eagles!

Thanks for downloading and listening to Lessons from the Cockpit and we'll talk to you next week! 

Welcome to the forty-third episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast!

I have been asked for several years to tell the story of flying an American Flag for someone who became a very dear friend and my son Jeffrey's fourteen-month battle with cancer. Both my good friend and Jeffrey both succumbed to this terrible cancer disease. My wife and I decided today it was time to tell this story of a military tradition, patriotism and the American Flag, and compassionate service during this dark period of our family's life when Jeff battled Osteosarcoma.

To read a very moving tribute to my son Jeffrey go to "Our Prayers for the Hasara Family."

This episode is sponsored by the book Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit found in all four formats on Amazon. Thirty-two pictures in the book were taken during the actual event described in each chapter. Go to Amazon or any bookseller and order a copy (or several!) of Tanker Pilot for a behind-the-scenes look at daily air refueling operations so Lessons from the Cockpit keeps moving forward.

Thanks for downloading and listening to this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! I really do appreciate it as we are growing with each episode. Lessons from the Cockpit is approaching 11,000 downloads in 42 episodes. Share this and other episodes with your family, friends, and loved ones found on my website at markhasara.com.

Next week you are going to hear from a B-52 Superfortress Navigator flying missions in the opening nights of the Afghanistan air campaign and learn about some new missions the old Big Ugly Fat Fellow or BUFF is flying with FEMA, DHS, and in Southern Command hunting drug boats from 30,000 feet!

Look forward to discussing those extraordinary missions with you next week!  

Welcome to the seventy-eighth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit show! I'm your host Mark Hasara, retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, KC-135 pilot, and author of the book Tanker Pilot.

In the second episode with Navy Captain Bo Smith he explains Iron Hand missions, the methods and weapons the US Navy used to destroy Surface to Air Missile or SAM sites defending North Vietnam. Bo and his VA-82 Marauders A-7C Corsair II pilots developed tactics with the A-7C's improved avionics during the LINEBACKER I and LINEBACKER II air campaigns at the close of the Vietnam War. Leaving the Marauders Bo attended school in England, and he talks of developing great relationships with our allied leaders while attending classes.

This episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit show is financially supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. The aircraft profiles are extremely detailed, the arming t-handles and stenciling on the missiles clearly readable. Famous and favorite aircraft are captured in profile illustrations, printed on vinyl you can peel off and stick to any flat surface. Wall Pilot can create custom aircraft profiles of your favorite aircraft, with your name on  the canopy rail, specific tail number, and favorite weapons load. These profiles keep the show going so visit www.wallpilot.com and order one or two Ready-to-Print or a custom profile.

Bo Smith was assigned to Attack Squadron VA-15 Gold Tails flying Douglas A-4Cs off the USS Intrepid during his second 1967 Rolling Thunder Vietnam tour. This print of a  VA-15 Douglas A-4C Skyhawk is Bo's personal jet, armed with an AGM-45 Shrike anti-radiation missile which homes in on North Vietnamese radars, destroying the antenna and control van.

During Bo's third Vietnam cruise he flew with VA-82 Marauders off the USS AMERICA in the new Ling-Temco-Vought A-7C Corsair II, designed with a new computer bombing system and the first attack aircraft with a Heads Up Display in the cockpit. This  VA-82 A-7C Corsair II is armed for an IRON HAND mission carrying Mk20 ROCKEYE cluster bombs and the AGM-45 Shrike anti-radiation missile.

The Marauders were chosen for the famous Than Hoa Railway Bridge strike on 6 October 1972 carrying AGM-62 Walleye tv guided bombs. Walleyes launched by LCDR Leighton "Snuffy" Smith and his wingman Ltjg Marv Baldwin destroyed the center pillar supporting the Than Hoa bridge, causing the center span to collapse. LCDR Leighton Smith retired as a four star Admiral and commander of all Naval Forces in Europe.

Assigned an exchange tour with the US Air Force, Bo traveled to McConnell AFB as an instructor pilot in the Republic F-105 Thunderchief, training new aircrews how to fly the Thud. Although Bo did not fly the Wild Weasel mission, the counterpart to the Navy's IRON HAND role, this F-105G Wild Weasel was assigned to the 333rd Tac Fighter Squadron flying out of Takhli Royal Thai Air Base. This Thud shot down three North Vietnamese Air Force MiG-17s during the Rolling Thunder air campaign. 

The A-7 Corsair II ended its combat career flying IRON HAND missions over Iraq in the 1991 Desert Storm air campaign. This VA-72 Blue Hawks A-7E is armed with the best anti-radiation missile made, the Texas Instrument AGM-88 High Speed Anti Radiation Missile or HARM.

Want a great place to learn about Navy attack aviation? Bo created in my opinion the best electronic memoirs of his experiences on the web. His great website can be found at Bo Smith. He has terrific pictures and even some of the maps showing the air defenses around the Hanoi and Haiphong areas. 

Thanks for downloading and listening to this episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit show. This and previous episodes can be found at the Lessons from the Cockpit webpage found here. Please sign up for the All Ranks Club, receiving benefits like unpublished chapters to the book Tanker Pilot and very soon Virtual Bar Night, a Zoom meeting where we all get together with a special guest to talk about aviation and answer questions. If you want to see an example, go to my TikTok page and watch the four recent LIVE episodes doing Q&A and just telling some cool stories. We are also working on a coin All Ranks Club members will receive for signing up.

Next week's episode will be with Captain John Markle, F-4 MiG-21 FISHBED killer with the famous 55th Tac Fighter Squadron, the Triple Nickel!

 

Welcome to the forty-second episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast!

How did the concept of air refueling get started and how long has it been around? The answer will surprise you... 1921 and a gas can on a man's back! Experimentation with air refueling methods continued with the flight of the Question Mark in 1929 and the first air refueling company with a patented system created in 1934. The air refueling world owes a lot to the Brits! How we went from prop to jet-engined tankers is a fascinating study in a channel to market and risking an entire company in the 1954 air refueling tanker competition. Boeing lost the battle but won the war.  

The Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported by Wall Pilot, aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. Order a four, six, or eight-foot-long vinyl print of a 420th ARS KB-50 drogue tanker, one of the first aircraft designed as an airborne tanker. The KC-135R Model from the 909th Air Refueling Squadron KC-135 is also available in the 1990s SHAMU paint scheme. A KC-10 "Gucci Bird from the 60th AMW or 305th AMW are also available from www.wallpilot.com.

Video of air refueling over time can be seen here, the Question Mark refueling here, and operations over Afghanistan and Iraq here.

Video of Tex Johnson barrel rolling the Dash 80 can be seen here.

Thanks for downloading and listening! Please subscribe and leave a review of any episode on my website. Download this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast from my website at www.markhasara.com under the episodes pulldown tab.  

Welcome to the forty-first episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast.

Jeff Fellmeth, callsign Flounder, was my Boss at Kadena while assigned to 18 Wing Plans. We were busy. Flounder tells his exploits and lessons learned from flying the OV-10 Bronco over Europe to being one of the few people I know to fly the F-15C  and F-15E versions of the mighty Eagle fighter. Jeff and I had the great fortune of working for some of the best leaders in the Air Force while stationed at Kadena, without a doubt one of the top three greatest flying and educational experiences of my career.

The Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported by www.wallpilot.com, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. Visit the Ready-to-Print section for 125 detailed prints of aircraft from World War II to Fifth Generation fighters. Wall Pilot also does custom aircraft with your name, unit, tail codes or bureau number, and the weapons load you ask for in a custom-drawn graphic. You can order a custom graphic at this link.

Go order four, six, or eight-foot long prints of the F-15C from the 67th Fighting Cocks F-15C at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa and 335th Chiefs F-15E Strike Eagle as Jeff flew at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base from the Wall Pilot website in the Ready-to-Print section. 

Wall Pilot's airplane images are printed on vinyl and can be peeled off to stick on any flat surface.

Thanks for downloading and listening to this episode of Lessons from the Cockpit. This and previous episodes can be downloaded from my website under the Podcast pulldown.

On next week's show listeners will learn the history of air refueling, from a five-gallon gas can on a man's back in 1921 to intense refueling operations over Afghanistan and Iraq in 2002.    

Welcome to the fortieth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! 

Chief Master Sergeant Dave Nordel had the distinction of being the Senior Non-Commissioned Officer for Air Refueling Wings, Numbered Air Forces, and deployed locations overseas. Chief Dave shares his stories of leadership and lessons learned, many written in his International Best Selling book Giving Back: Life and Leadership from the Farm to the Combat Zone and Beyond.

One chilling story in this episode... Dave deployed to Somalia three days after the Battle of Mogadishu in October 1993, with helicopter pilot of Army MH-60 SUPER 61 Mike Durrant still a prisoner of the Somalis. 

The Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, and hanger. Buying Wall Pilot graphics keeps our show going. Shop the 125 Ready-to-Print images of aircraft from WW II to Fifth Gen fighters, bombers, and airlifters printed on vinyl in four, six, and eight-foot graphics you can peel off and stick to the walls of your home, office, or hanger.

Wall Pilot can create custom aviation graphics of your favorite aircraft with your name, tail number, unit markings, and weapons load. These images are great historical records and conversation pieces for your home or office. 

Thanks for listening to this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast. Please subscribe and share episodes with your family, friends, and loved ones found on my website at www.markhasara.com 

 

Welcome to the thirty-ninth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast!

A week after my first interview with Navy Captain Royce Williams he called me to say "I've thought of more things to talk about!" So this is part two of Captain Royce Williams discussing what it takes to keep the Navy refueled and rearmed at sea. He commanded a Carrier Air Wing during the Vietnam War and the USS El Dorado Command ship as its Captain in the 1960s and Royce tells us what it's like to lead while "Haze Grey and Underway.".

The Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. The two F-4B Phantom squadrons in Royce's Air Wing were VF-114 Aardvarks and VF-213 Black Lions. These are highly detailed images of these two Phantoms printed on vinyl you can peel off and stick to any flat surface.

Please go to www.wallpilot.com and purchase one of our 125 Ready-to-Print graphics or order a custom graphic with your name, unit emblem, tail codes, and weapons load from Wall Pilot. Financial support for our podcast is solely from Wall Pilot so help keep us going.

Thanks for downloading and listening to this episode. Please share this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast with your family and friends found on my website at www.markhasara.com/episodes.

 

Welcome to the thirty-eighth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! 

Military men and women are often sworn to secrecy. Captain Royce Williams was told never to tell anyone about his November 1952. Most air engagements last less than 60 seconds. Royce fought for 35 minutes with seven RUSSSIAN MiG-15 fighter jets over North Korea. He shot down four of the MiG-15s, landing on the USS Oriskany in a snow storm with 263 holes in his F9F Panther fighter jet.

Fifty years later a Russian historian wrote about the air battle. Many are now trying to push for Royce to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. The problem is the US government will not release the evidence!

Here are two links to Royce being interviewed about his air battle over North Korea. A great two-part article was written about Royce and the November 1952 air battle on the Remembered Sky website 

These two videos put listeners in the cockpit of US fighter jets over North Korea battling MiG-15s over the Yalu River as Royce describes in this episode.

Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. Royce's F9F Panther is available in four, six, and eight-foot long images printed on vinyl which you can peel off and stick to any flat surface.

Episode II with Royce discusses his exploits as an Air Wing Commander during the Vietnam War, a meeting with President Eisenhower in Japan, and leading the Air Force's Gunnery School at Nellis AFB later this week.

Thanks for listening and please share this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast with your family and friends, found on my website at markhasara.com 

Welcome to episode thirty-seven of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast, part seven of Operation Anaconda and the Battle of Roberts Ridge!

Retired Air Force Colonel James "Spanky" Dennis began his flying career as a Weapons System Operator in the F-4E Phantom II. The first WSO to command a Seymour Johnson F-15E Strike Eagle squadron, he'd been the leader of the 335th Fighter Squadron on 9/11, flying defensive missions over Washington DC and New York City. Colonel Dennis had to care for and feed a unit fighting at home and deployed to Kuwait for Operation Anaconda and Qatar for Iraqi Freedom. While at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, he led the air group assigned to a very secret special operations unit called Task Force 20, The Wolverines! 

Lessons from the Cockpit is supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These very detailed images are printed on vinyl and can be peeled off and stuck to any flat surface.

Colonel Dennis F-4E Phantoms from Teague Air Base South Korea and Moody Air Force Base Georgia are available in the Ready-to-Print section of Wall Pilot.

His 335th Fighter Squadron Flagship and 494th Fighter Squadron F-15Es are also available in the Ready-to-Print section at www.wallpilot.com

On next week's podcast, you will hear from a 97-year-old MiG Killer whose story of the 38-minute engagement was kept secret for fifty years!

Thanks for downloading and listening to the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! Please share this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast with your friends and family, found at www.markhasara.com/episodes.

  

Welcome to the sixth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit series on Operation Anaconda and the Battle of Roberts Ridge.

Chief Warrant Officer Greg Calvert's MH-47 helicopter crew lifted off as RAZOR 1 with a Quick Reaction Force of Army Rangers in the back.  His landing zone was the top of Takur Ghar mountain in an attempt to save Roberts and SEAL Team MAKO 30. RAZOR 1's crew did not know the extent of what was happening atop the mountain flaring for landing. Greg shares his story and lessons learned from his involvement in the Battle of Roberts Ridge.

This video shows the battle raging around RAZOR 1 from the CIA Predator overhead.

NBC Dateline did a documentary on the Battle of Roberts Ridge with Greg Calvert which can be seen here at the 39:45 mark.

This is the longer video telling the story of the Battle of Roberts Ridge and TSgt John Chapman.

Here is an interview with Captain Nate Self, leader of the Army Ranger Quick Reaction Force riding in Greg's helo RAZOR 1.

Lessons from the Cockpit is financially supported by Wall Pilot, aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These are very detailed graphics of aircraft printed on vinyl you can peel off and stick to any flat surface.

Thanks for downloading and listening to this episode! Please share this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast with friends and family, available at markhasara.com

  

Welcome to the thirty-fifth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast!

In the fifth part of our series on the Battle of Roberts Ridge we talk with Warrant Officer Al Mack, the pilot of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment MH-47 Chinook callsign RAZOR 3 delivering SEAL Team MAKO 30 to the top of Takur Ghar mountain at 3:30 am Monday morning 4 March 2002. His Chinook comes under heavy fire from enemy forces and SEAL Neil Roberts falls off the back ramp, which begins the desperate search and rescue for him. Al goes into the small details of how this mission unfolded and the lessons learned from the Battle of Roberts Ridge. Numerous changes were made because Al wrote all of his lessons down!

There are several documentaries on the Battle of Roberts Ridge with Al Mack and other participants on YouTube. I suggest you watch these three videos on what happened on Takur Ghar here, here, and the CIA Predator UAV video of John Chapman's heroics here.

An article on the recovery of MH-47 Chinook RAZOR 3 called From a Great Height is a great read on how the Army recovered Al Mack's wounded helo from the valley his crew crash-landed in.

Two great articles on how a candidate becomes a 160th SOAR Night Stalker are found on the Office of the Command Historian webpage.

Support from the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast comes from Wall Pilot, aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These very detailed images are printed on vinyl and can be peeled off and stuck to any flat surface or just framed.

Please share this and previous episodes of the Lesson from the Cockpit podcast with your family and friends  found on my website markhasara.com

   

Welcome to another episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast and our series on the Battle of Roberts Ridge and Operation Anaconda.

Arriving in Saudi Arabia on my wife's birthday in 2002, I jumped right into running a team of air refueling professionals. In mid-February, all of us in the Prince Sultan Combined Aerospace Operations Center were hearing about some snake-like operation. Because my Air Refueling Control Team had just accomplished two big "science projects" we felt good. Nobody was ready for what happened. This episode is my Air Operations Center view of what happened in March 2002 in Afghanistan's Shaia Kot Valley, the Place of Kings in Pashtun. There were a LOT of lessons learned after Anaconda applied to planning the upcoming invasion of Iraq. 

 Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These extremely detailed profile illustrations are printed on vinyl to peel off and stick to any flat smooth surface. Ready-to-Print graphics are available at wallpilot.com

A four, six, or eight-foot long print of the F-15E Anaconda Squeeze Play callsign TWISTER 52 participating in Roberts Ridge is available at Wall Pilot.

A similar print of the F-16CG CLASH 71 supporting the Battle of Roberts Ridge can be purchased at Wall Pilot also.

A print of a B-1 bomber Mr. Bones can also be found in the Ready-to-Print section of Wall Pilot.

 The book Alone at Dawn by Dan Schilling tells USAF Combat Controller and Medal of Honor winner TSgt John Chapman's story which is being made into the movie Combat Controller is available on Amazon.

Lt Col Pete Blaber's terrific book The Mission, The Men and Me about his exploits as a Delta Force operator is also available on Amazon.

My book Tanker Pilot; Lessons from the Cockpit has several chapters on Operation Anaconda.

Thanks for listening and look forward to the fifth Roberts Ridge episode next week as the pilot from the Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment or SOAR flying MH-47 Chinook RAZOR 3 tells his incredible story of inserting MAKO 30 atop Takhur Ghar mountain.

Please download and share this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast with friends and family found at markhasara.com.

Welcome to the thirty-third episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast!

One of the greatest assets US leadership owns is the ability to move patients, cargo, and relief supplies anywhere on the planet literally in twenty-four hours. It's all done from one place! Colonel Geno Redmon was my KC-135 Squadron Commander in Okinawa Japan during the mid-90s. As Vice Commander of Air Mobility Command's Tanker Airlift Control Center on 9/11, Geno tells us how air mobility operations were planned and executed to defend the US from attack and move US and allied forces to Afghanistan to hunt Osama bin Laden. His TACC Team leaned way forward watching the Battle of Roberts Ridge unfold through the same CIA Predator video feed I was watching at the Saudi Arabian Air Operations Center. Geno tells the story of the first C-17 crew into Karshi Khanabad and speaking with Marine Corps Brigadier General Jim Mattis as his troops prepared to occupy an Afghan airfield.

Support for the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast comes solely from Wall Pilot, very detailed custom airplane profiles printed on vinyl and can be peeled off and stuck to any flat surface or framed for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. Aircraft profiles are available in right (Crew Chief names!) or left side (Aircrew names!) profile images. Custom images can be created with aircrew names, unit markings even specific weapons loads, and nose art in four, six, and eight-foot long vinyl graphics. Wall Pilot has printed a thirty-footer for one customer!   A graphic is available of the 909th Air Refueling Squadron KC-135 in four, six, and eight-foot long images.

Two KC-10A Extender graphics are available for jets based at McGuire and Travis Air Force Bases at Wall Pilot.

The C-130J is an AMC workhorse flying missions all over the world and is also available from Wall Pilot.

The book Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit Geno and I talked about around his firepit is available on Amazon. Thirty-two pictures taken during events discussed in the book are included in all four formats: hardback, softback, kindle, and audible

Thanks for listening and please download and share this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast with your family and friends found on my website at markhasara.com

 

Welcome to the seventy-seventh episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit show with your host retired Lt Col Mark Hasara, KC-135 pilot and Air Force Weapons School graduate.

I was turned on to a great memoir website by my good friend Scott Brown. Navy Captain Bo Smith is responsible for helping create the Navy’s IRON HAND Surface to Air Missile or SAM suppression procedures during the Vietnam War. Bo started his Naval Aviation career with two Vietnam tours in the Douglas A-4B and A-4C Skyhawk with Attack Squadron VA-15 Valions. His third tour during the 1972 LINEBACKER I and LINEBACKER II campaigns Bo was assigned to Attack Squadron VA-82 Marauders flying the A-7C Corsair II. In this first of a two part series, Bo tells us what it’s like flying the A-4 and A-7 on YANKEE Stations, to teaching new aircrews in the Republic F-105 Thunderchief at McConnell AFB Kansas in a US Air Force exchange tour.

This episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit show is financially sponsored  by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. Wall Pilot sells four, six, and eight foot long profiles of famous aircraft printed on vinyl you can peel off and stick on any flat surface.

Bo's first assignment flying Navy attack aircraft was in the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk during the 1966 and 1967 Rolling Thunder air campaign. Bo flew with VA-15 Gold Tails, developing the IRON HAND SAM suppression tactics used in Carrier Air Wing Ten. This print of a VA-15 A-4C was Bo's personal Skyhawk during his second 1967 Rolling Thunder Vietnam cruise.

During the LINEBACKER I and II campaigns in 1972 over Vietnam, Bo flew with Attack Squadron VA-82 Marauders. This VA-82 Marauders A-7C is loaded for an Iron Hand mission he spoke of during the show carrying Mk20 Rockeye cluster bombs and AGM-45 Shrike anti-radiation missiles. US Navy attack planes carried similar weapons loads on Iron Hand SAM suppression missions like this A-4F Skyhawk assigned to VA-55 Warhorses.

The Marauders were chosen for the famous Than Hoa Railway Bridge strike on 6 October 1972 carrying  AGM-62 Walleye tv guided bombs. Walleyes launched by LCDR Leighton "Snuffy" Smith and his wingman Ltjg Marv Baldwin destroyed the center pillar supporting the Than Hoa bridge causing the center span to collapse. LCDR Leighton Smith retired as a four star Admiral and commander of all Naval Forces in Europe.

Bo flew the Republic F-105B/D and F-105F Thunderchief as an instructor pilot training new Thud crews during his Air Force exchange tour out of McConnell AFB near Wichita Kansas. Being around Thud Drivers, Bo learned a lot about Air Force SAM and defense suppression tactics, techniques and procedures. Although Bo did not fly Wild Weasel Thuds, this F-105G from the 333rd Tactical Fighter Squadron flew missions over Vietnam and is credited with three North Vietnamese MiG kills, one by dropping centerline bomb rack off the jet which hit the MiG chasing it.

The last combat cruise for LTV A-7E Corsair IIs was during Desert Storm. VA-46 Clansmen and VA-72 Blue Hawks were part of the USS John F Kennedy air wing sailing in the Red Sea. This VA-72 A-7E was the Squadron Skipper Commander JR "Shooter" Saunders jet armed for a Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses or SEAD mission into Iraq during the Desert Storm air campaign.

Please go by Bo Smith's fantastic website, an electronic journal of his exploits flying missions in the A-4 Skyhawk and A-7 Corsair II over Vietnam. He even has some of the charts of his targets showing the triple A gun sites and SAM sites on the maps! This is the best Vietnam War memoir website you will come across at Bo Smith. He does update the website when he finds new information.

The second episode with Captain Bo Smith will be out next week. Thanks for downloading and listening to this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit show. We are over 25,000 downloads now. This and previous episodes can be found on the new Lessons from the Cockpit website at www.lessonsfromthecockpit.show  

 

Welcome to this episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast, and it's a great one! This is the second of six episodes on Operation Anaconda and the Battle of Roberts Ridge.

Colonel Scott "Soup" Campbell has the distinction of being awarded three Distinguished Flying Crosses in four days during the Battle of Roberts Ridge and Operation Anaconda "for heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight" in the Air Force A-10 Warthog. Graduating from the Air Force Weapons School A-10 division while at Pope AFB, Soup Campbell and his wingman K-Nine left Al Jaber Air Base Kuwait on 4 March 2002 after the Battle of Roberts Ridge had started. Over the next four days, Soup and a band of Hawg drivers and support folks provided Forward Air Control and Close Air Support to Operation Anaconda from an austere base in Pakistan. This episode is his incredible story of heroism in the air and on the ground when things went very bad in the Shaia-i-Kot Valley of Afghanistan.

All of you should read his three DFC citations, found on the Distinguished Flying Cross Society

The Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported through the custom aviation art from Wall Pilot. These extremely detailed aircraft profile illustrations are printed on vinyl and peeled off and can be stuck to the walls of your home, office, or hangar. Ready-to-print images of aircraft from WW II P-51 and ME-109, Cold War B-58 Hustler and SR-71 spy plane, and Global War on Terrorism F-15Es and F-16s are available in four. six, and eight-foot-long prints.

A print of an A-10 Warthog is available from the Wall Pilot website.

Thanks for downloading and listening to this episode. Please subscribe and share previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast with your family and friends found on the markhasara.com website.

Next week in episode three of Operation Anaconda and Roberts Ridge, the Vice Commander of Air Mobility Command's Tanker Airlift Control Center at Scott AFB near St Louis tells us his lessons learned moving cargo and fresh MH-47 Special Ops helicopters to Afghanistan, and moving service members remains and wounded patients out of Afghanistan.

 

Welcome to the first episode of a six-part series of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast on the Battle of Roberts Ridge, episode number 31!

At approximately 3 am on Monday 4 March 2002 a 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment or SOAR MH-47 Chinook helicopter approached the top of Takur Ghar mountain, a critical piece of high terrain looking over the Shah-i-Kot Valley of Afghanistan. SEAL Team Six Petty Officer Neal Roberts fell off the Chinook ramp as Al Qaeda fighters opened fire on the helo. This event begins the rescue and recovery of Neal Roberts and the Battle for Roberts Ridge.

Colonel Matt Neuenswander, callsign El Cid, was Deputy Commander of the 332nd Expeditionary Operations Group at Al Jaber Air Field in Kuwait, and his air forces are called upon to support Roberts Ridge over a thousand miles away. El Cid tells the Lessons from the Cockpit audience his experiences and lessons learned from events during this battle and Operation Anaconda. He and his team must set up shop at an austere airbase in Pakistan so A-10 Warthogs can support air operations trying to capture or kill Osama bin Laden and his forces in the Shah-i-Kot Valley.

Here is an interview with Colonel Neuenswander from YouTube you will enjoy.

The Air Force after-action report called Operation Anaconda: An Air Power Perspective can be downloaded and read for more information on the Battle of Roberts Ridge.

Numerous books have been written about the rescue and recovery of Navy SEALs and Airmen from Roberts Ridge. I recommend reading Roberts Ridge by Malcomb MacPherson.

A four, six, or eight-foot print of Colonel Neuenswander's 68th Fighter Squadron F-16CG is available from Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. Prints of the A-10 from the 74th Flying Tigers squadron will be available in the near future... it's being drawn now!

 

This episode is sponsored by Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit, available in all four reading formats from Amazon.

Please share this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast found on my website markhasara.com  

Welcome to another episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast, episode number 30!

I'm asked several times a day "Have you seen the movie"... of course referring to TOPGUN Maverick. Of course I have, the opening night!

During this review, I talk about the Air Force's TOPGUN school, the US Air Force Weapons School based out of Nellis Air Force Base north of Las Vegas. Attendance to the Weapons School is by a competitive review board of each applicant. Often graduates or "Patch Wearers" as they are called get summoned to work complex military operations because of their planning and leadership skills. The scenario of the movie is not as far-fetched as you might think and I give some examples of planning missions, why planners chose a course of action, and some historical operations to strike and destroy nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons facilities as depicted in TOPGUN Maverick. And how do pilots and aircrew members get those crazy callsigns you hear about in the movie?

Wikipedia has a pretty good write-up on the Israeli Air Force strike on a nuclear plant in eastern Syria called Operation Outside the Box, the name chosen because Syria and North Korea tried to hide the nuclear facility under a boxy-type building. Syria's air defense system was rendered totally inoperable during the raid using means developed by the US. 

I could not find the website Above Top Secret Surface to Air Missile Google Maps overlay. Here is a picture of the Russian airfield near Latakia Syria showing the S-400 SAM sites... which Israeli Air Force F-35 seem impervious from attack! Notice the Russian SU-35 rolling out on the runway and the IL-76 AWACS parked on the ramp!

Article on the B-2 bombers attacking Sirte Libya. This was a long mission planned and led by Weapons School graduates and required 950K+ gas from Air Force tankers to accomplish.

Thanks to Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit for sponsoring this show.

This and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast can be downloaded from markhasara.com

Thanks for listening and tune in next week for another episode of Lessons from the Cockpit.

 

Thanks for joining us today and welcome to another episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast!

On today's show U.S. Navy Captain and F-18 fighter pilot Captain Dave "Mongo" Koss discusses leading the opening night strike packages of Enduring Freedom over Afghanistan and a year later executing several of the longest combat air patrol and strike missions near Baghdad in the opening week of Iraqi Freedom's Shock and Awe air campaign. Mongo also takes us behind the scenes of what it takes to lead and prepare the Navy Demonstration Team The Blue Angels for the airshow season. He leaves us with his tested-in-combat six-element formula for leadership in any organization.

Here are two videos of a cat shot in an F-18 Super Hornet, one showing the launch and another verbalizing the checklist before the catapult stroke.

This is a great video of what a carrier landing looks like from a pilot's view in a VFA-14 Tophatters Super Hornet, the squadron Dave Koss commanded before moving to Pensacola and commanding the Blue Angels Navy Demonstration Team.

Here is a great cockpit video from inside the Blue Angel formation which shows the concentration and finesse these aviators use during their routines.

Mace in your Face! This link is just a really cool video with great music the VFA-27 Royal Maces put together years ago called "Shoot'em if ya got 'em".

Thanks again to our sponsor Wall Pilot for the four, six, and eight-foot-long prints of Dave Koss' F-18C squadron VFA-87 WAR PARTY you can stick to the walls of your home, office, or hanger.

Carrier air wings are now filled with the newest Hornet, the F-18E/F Super Hornet. A print of VFA-103 Jolly Rogers F-18F Super Hornet can be purchased from Wall Pilot.

This and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast can be found in the podcast pulldown box at markhasara.com

Thanks again for listening and look forward to another episode of Lessons from the Cockpit next week.