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my buddy who did military service in an armored formation was after the classroom part of the maintenance course asked to change the spark plugs on the main battle tank engine. Half an hour later they reported that they could not find the spark plugs. At which the officer responded that the MBT has a diesel engine which had even been a question on the theoretical part of the course.

Excellent story! The thing that a lot of the public may not appreciate is how chaotic these missions are. There are so many things that can go wrong, the weather, finding the tankers, avoiding getting shot down by the bad guys (both aircraft and surface to air missiles and AAA), avoiding getting shot down by the good guys( both aircraft and missiles and AAA), etc. It's just constatnt stress. Thanks for your exemplary service!

You'd be better off leaving the crap CG out of this video if you're not gonna show Migs but just use the same plane as a placeholder.

No old / bold pilots. RIP

The big bad cat!

My cousin was on the Nimitz when they had the training accident off the Florida coast. He was firefighting the blaze on deck when one of the missiles cooked off that had been laying in the fire. The nose cone struck him in the chest, picked him off the deck and threw him 15 feet, and rolled him another 15 feet before he stopped, unconscious, about 6" inches from the edge of the flight deck. 3 broke ribs on the right, 2 on the left, cuts and gouges all over, but he survived and still walks today. I think he said it was the big Phoenix missile that the Tomcats carried. Some of the guys on deck had been stoned and drunk while on duty, and that was a HUGE news thing to the Brass and everyone. A big Navy shakedown over it. A revamp of drug testing, ect. Some folks were swatted from their high posting. The Capitan took a shiv or two, due to others stupidity.

Wow, man. It makes me grit my teeth when I think about how oblivious the Tic Tok generation is and how they wouldn't understand, care about, or appreciate this story. This is gold.

Great stuff! I was on the big E in these parts mid 80s and hear him loud and clear, however during my time, carriers didn’t go into the gulf; at least not ours as things may have been too hot. Our F-14 guys had a patch ‘Hormuz highway patrol’. And the Strait of Malacca was surreal; a beautiful glassy emerald green out of a Sinbad movie; if there was any doubt you knew you were in the Navy at that point.

Mig 25 was the hardest jet the U.S. had to deal with

Flying B-52’s attacking Hanoi in Dec 1972, we experienced that same missile launch signal on our ECM gear. It was called a “BGO 6”. As the intensity of the ground radar signal got stronger and they were focusing on your airplane, the numbers increased. When a missile was launched, the ECM gear would give you the “6” signal. My EW operator said, “missile launch-there’s 5 of them coming, and one is guided”. I had to pick that one out of the 5 and evade it. Glad you made it there and back.

Well I don't know about most of the US but I felt chills listening to that story. But then again I know pretty well what that teM went through in that one flight. And I know they flew such missions often. If I could I'd buy a round all around. That's a job.

Kneeling and Kissing the fight deck? Ow! That will wear the soles off your shoes on a single cruise.

Thank you Admiral.

Good stuff. Thanks guys

Admiral, that AN/ALQ-165 APSJ indeed saved your life and we're all grateful you made it back to tell your story.

Seems like such a likeable guy. Reminds me of the guys at work I always enjoyed being around. 🫡

Gentleman for sure.

No better officer than Lobster Fitzgerald.

Incredible! Thank you for your service, sir.

Al Taqaddum (TQ) is actually West of Bagdad, just on the west side of Fallujah, on the east side of lake habbiniyah.. Sorry to be a stickler, but i flew over 200 combat missions out of Al Asad, and to me details matter. doesn't take away from the story tho. 😎

Thank you for your service 🇺🇸🚢🫡

amazing !

Studly.

See the whole story now playing on our TH-cam channel: th-cam.com/video/E9u0f3NGlP4/w-d-xo.html

I have a question and this is bugging me since I learned about it. I have read somewhere that wing sweep on Tomcat can be manualy controlled, also sweep can be different on each wing (I've been left speechless when I saw picture, I thought it was photoshop.). So, my question is: what scenario would this feature be used in and have you used it ever in your career, is it effective or not? PLEASE INDULGE MY CURIOSITY! Thanks in advance! F-14 STILL LIVES!

I'm heavy into modelling airplanes in 1/32 scale. When my friends see Tomcat next to F-16 one sentence pops up allways "OMG F-16 looks like midget next to Tomcat". People are not aware how big that great machine really is. Su-27 is right plane to compare in terms of size...

Saw this for the first time. I did those at top gun in 82. I was chewed out and praised.

You got lost, you flew over Baghdad, you didn't get shot down, you didn't run out of gas, you're freaking awesome. And I am an Air Force guy, 🫡🫡

It's called The whiskey compass

I believe the INS what's the only accurate for a few hours, and in order to update it you had to fly straight level for 15 minutes or something. My memory is fading the specifics of the old INS. Everything you said so far makes sense. This is why aircrews are amazing individuals. I was a avionics maintenance guy back then, and I was around as they updated updated logo systems do you think like lasering gyros which are quite accurate

TACAN: tactical air navigation system

I love your TH-cam's Ward

I was one of the shooters on the IKE at this same time. I remember calling the gear. You were not the only bolter. Flight ops stop after this event. I have been meaning to ask you Ward, what class you were in at VT-10 back in the day. I was in 21-82.

Awesome!

See the whole story now playing on our TH-cam channel: th-cam.com/video/Axv5sLiyK6c/w-d-xo.html

Thanks for sharing this story. Sometimes pilots aren’t meant to fly together lol.

That is an amazing story. Are they both pilots or was one a REO. This is the first time I’ve heard of brothers flying the same fighter. Cargo/Transports yes.

Too close for Missiles switching to Shovels.

Altitude, brains and airspeed... TWO are required to fly a performance air-frame.... choose carefully.

Loser takes the straight in.

Damn! What a story!

What a humble and decent man.

You can tell he is not just a pilot and an officer . He is also a great communicator !! Great story

Got any stories on Tomcats eating Eagles for breakfast? I’ve found a few online and they were always great reads.

Scotland can seem like the US but it’s really North!!!!!

“Sugar Calls”

That's a smile that he will carry all the way to heaven!

"Now if the F-14D, later on; you could go over the top at 220 which was just bitchin'!" Oh gawd that had me rolling!!!!

Great story 👏🏻 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

All a second-place winner is the first loser.