Fantastic interview. Squadron is tasked for a critical exercise - zero HQ support. Tasked for an operation with a sniff of recognition - you suddenly have more external support personnel than what you knew existed (or want or need)… Some things never change…
As a Canadian, I truly enjoyed this series of interviews. What a remarkable man who made the most of what he was given to employ. Guys like this deserve so much better than what our politicians allot our defense.
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart @markmorehouse66. I speak for the Canadian Army, Navy and Air Force troops who can’t speak out. We swear allegiance to the monarch, but we are failed in the Govt’s support for us.
@@Lerotronwe had a separatist movement in Québec in the 70’s. Could anyone imagine the Soviets bombing Montréal and Ottawa, to save the separatists from the Canadian Army? That’s not what they told us at the time though.
Steve, you should write a book about all of these guys you interview. A collection of stories as told by all of these aviators. They’re gold for those of us who really enjoy reading about air combat and piloting as opposed to aircraft specifications
I’d just like to reiterate what Steve says in the introduction - he doesn’t monetize these podcasts, nor does he have sponsors. If you enjoyed the show, please like, subscribe and share. That raises his profile for his real job, which keeps the lights on 😉
That’s very kind Stuart. Support comes in many forms. Support from our peers, such as you’ve shown, means more to us than that from a disassociated govt. 😎
@@tonyledsham2810 you bet! Hey, do know the story about an infamous video of an F-5 guy who strapped a camcorder on the dash and did some pipeline inspections up at Cold Lake? We had a copy of it at YYJ flying club and it rocked. Word was it had made its way around the CAF.
@@tonyledsham2810 I’ll post there here in case you’re not on Discord: Steve, thanks to you and Bones for all those amazing hours. I thought I knew a lot about CF-18 ops, but this really opened my eyes as to how the members of the Canadian Armed Forces always work so hard to make it work. We really, really need to invest more in our military, in all branches, not only to meet our international obligations, but to protect our sovereignty, too. Again, a great series of interviews, and looking forward to hearing about his adventures with Top Aces. (Miss the “Furball” callsign.)
@@sedloyes I’ve seen it and know the pilot. I don’t know if he was flying an upgraded F-5, which I think had a radalt. If not, it’s pretty hard to say he violated the rules (other than he was below treetop level, and the trees are max 30’ in the flying area 😲). I think it was his last flight in the RCAF. We had a CF-18 plt who was court-martialed on his last flight. He broke a couple of windows and injured a civilian with broken glass. His entry to the airline was delayed a couple of months…
I had heard that, too. @@tonyledsham2810 . I managed to get a copy of that video, and watch it every now and then. If you ask Steve, I can get ya a link to the private video. Cheers, and thanks again for all the great info and stories. Much appreciated.
I’m pretty confident there will be a 4th episode @laMoort. No war stories with the Alpha Jet at Top Aces, but some absolutely wild experiences with the “crème de la crème” of Canadian fighter pilots. We did things you wouldn’t even consider doing in the RCAF…
Absolutely fantastic series of interviews. Thank you for these! Would definitely love to watch more interviews with Bones about his post Air Force career!
The B-1B in question I believe had a towed decoy, which the crew attributed to saving them. In the interview I saw, there was no mention of the ECM being down, but the B-1, 'self jamming bomber', has never had much luck with its defensive system. Wild that Canadian CF-18s were above watching it all unfold. Unlike Spain, it's too bad Canada was too cheap to get HARM capability. That anti-radar mission would have been a helluva lot more effective, and it may even have prevented that whole B-1B situation from happening. Although without the US sharing their plans with NATO allies, it would have been fluke SEAD rather than dedicated suppression.
Excellent attention to detail @pjotrtjeONL! Here’s an interesting (if somewhat macabre) resource: ‘There is a rather interesting story concerning ejections from Canadian CF-18s and I'm going to bet it's a one off in the entire World? Aircraft 188761, as you have listed on your site as having been ejected from successfully as "over Yellowknife" IN June 2004, was this is not quite the case. The Pilot actually ejected while the aircraft was still on the runway, the aircraft came to a stop by itself without over running the runway and actually had to be shut down by response crews. There was minimal damage and the aircraft was repaired, a new seat installed and put back in service. It is flying today. If this was not enough, the fact that a single seat fighter was ejected from and was able to be repaired (wait for it) this is the second time that this has occurred to this particular aircraft. It was ejected from during an aborted take-off from a Base in England during the late eighties. The aircraft was extensively damaged in that accident and in fact was broken in two. The Pilot (who shall remain nameless) was not injured. Six years and countless dollars later MBB in Manching Germany put the aircraft back in service. I was there to watch it fly away (on a pair of Wings purchased from Australia and a "C" model nose section that was originally intended for a Spanish aircraft transplanted to an "A" model fuselage.)’ web.archive.org/web/20171102101854/www.ejection-history.org.uk:80/Aircraft_by_Type/CF-18/cf_18_hornet.htm
Bones is a great guest, very knowledgeable and honest about the RCAF state… At 58:36 by the way, the Kosovo crisis wasn’t about Muslims being threatened, it was about ethnic Albanians in the Kosovo province of Serbia being threatened.
You are absolutely correct @pjotrtjeONL. I realized when I went back and watched it that I had made a mistake. Just like in Gaza today, we have to separate politics from religion.
@tonyledsham2810 Thanks for doing this! Would also love to hear about your time at Top Aces. For anyone wanting to read more on the Canadian's in Kosovo, the book "Scattering Chaff: Canadian Air Power and Censorship During the Kosovo War" is a good read.
I have made connections on LinkedIn with several Serbs. I apologized for bombing their country and they have enlightened me with their side of the story. The Kosovo conflict was very complex, politically. There’s a reason it’s not talked-about, very much.
This guy is the real McCoy!
Thanks Col Nellestyn PhD - I don’t hold a candle to you though!
Fantastic interview. Squadron is tasked for a critical exercise - zero HQ support. Tasked for an operation with a sniff of recognition - you suddenly have more external support personnel than what you knew existed (or want or need)… Some things never change…
As a Canadian, I truly enjoyed this series of interviews. What a remarkable man who made the most of what he was given to employ. Guys like this deserve so much better than what our politicians allot our defense.
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart @markmorehouse66. I speak for the Canadian Army, Navy and Air Force troops who can’t speak out. We swear allegiance to the monarch, but we are failed in the Govt’s support for us.
That was fantastic! Thoroughly enjoyed that. Thank you Bones and Steve.
What a time to be alive, listening to this podcast. Greetings from a Serb.
Thank you sir (sorry for bombing your country, honestly…)
@tonyledsham2810 funny enough, I think this is the first time in my life anyone told me this. Thank you!
@@Lerotronwe had a separatist movement in Québec in the 70’s. Could anyone imagine the Soviets bombing Montréal and Ottawa, to save the separatists from the Canadian Army? That’s not what they told us at the time though.
Steve, you should write a book about all of these guys you interview. A collection of stories as told by all of these aviators. They’re gold for those of us who really enjoy reading about air combat and piloting as opposed to aircraft specifications
I’d just like to reiterate what Steve says in the introduction - he doesn’t monetize these podcasts, nor does he have sponsors. If you enjoyed the show, please like, subscribe and share. That raises his profile for his real job, which keeps the lights on 😉
Bones...I found the Flight Comment of the crash in Cold Lake. You can see the shots of the overrun and a lone F5 sitting on the ramp.
@@Saguanay ! (Ti-Pic?) Thanks for the fill-in. I’m guessing the lone F-5 was mine!
Awesome series. Love hearing about our guys doing the business and the challenges that they had to overcome.
Great interview, as ever, Bones is such a character. It seems such a shame these guys didn't/don't get the support they deserved
That’s very kind Stuart. Support comes in many forms. Support from our peers, such as you’ve shown, means more to us than that from a disassociated govt. 😎
An excellent podcast, thanks to Steve and Bones.
I learned A LOT about the RCAF, for sure.
Thanks again “Sedlo”!
@@tonyledsham2810 you bet!
Hey, do know the story about an infamous video of an F-5 guy who strapped a camcorder on the dash and did some pipeline inspections up at Cold Lake? We had a copy of it at YYJ flying club and it rocked.
Word was it had made its way around the CAF.
@@tonyledsham2810 I’ll post there here in case you’re not on Discord:
Steve, thanks to you and Bones for all those amazing hours.
I thought I knew a lot about CF-18 ops, but this really opened my eyes as to how the members of the Canadian Armed Forces always work so hard to make it work.
We really, really need to invest more in our military, in all branches, not only to meet our international obligations, but to protect our sovereignty, too.
Again, a great series of interviews, and looking forward to hearing about his adventures with Top Aces. (Miss the “Furball” callsign.)
@@sedloyes I’ve seen it and know the pilot. I don’t know if he was flying an upgraded F-5, which I think had a radalt. If not, it’s pretty hard to say he violated the rules (other than he was below treetop level, and the trees are max 30’ in the flying area 😲). I think it was his last flight in the RCAF. We had a CF-18 plt who was court-martialed on his last flight. He broke a couple of windows and injured a civilian with broken glass. His entry to the airline was delayed a couple of months…
I had heard that, too. @@tonyledsham2810 . I managed to get a copy of that video, and watch it every now and then. If you ask Steve, I can get ya a link to the private video.
Cheers, and thanks again for all the great info and stories. Much appreciated.
A great ending to the series. I can only hope you'll find the time for another part.😊
Thank you both for your time and effort. 👍
I’m pretty confident there will be a 4th episode @laMoort. No war stories with the Alpha Jet at Top Aces, but some absolutely wild experiences with the “crème de la crème” of Canadian fighter pilots. We did things you wouldn’t even consider doing in the RCAF…
Outstanding interview!
Bones! Excellent show my friend! Hope you have a great day tomorrow! All the best from our house to your house Brother. Cheers, Bez
Thanks Bez - I’m sure a lot of the stories resonated with you.
Absolutely fantastic series of interviews. Thank you for these!
Would definitely love to watch more interviews with Bones about his post Air Force career!
The B-1B in question I believe had a towed decoy, which the crew attributed to saving them.
In the interview I saw, there was no mention of the ECM being down, but the B-1, 'self jamming bomber', has never had much luck with its defensive system.
Wild that Canadian CF-18s were above watching it all unfold.
Unlike Spain, it's too bad Canada was too cheap to get HARM capability. That anti-radar mission would have been a helluva lot more effective, and it may even have prevented that whole B-1B situation from happening. Although without the US sharing their plans with NATO allies, it would have been fluke SEAD rather than dedicated suppression.
Hughes AN/APG-65... In case you were still wondering.
Ah yes, thank you!
Does he speak French ?
For those into numbers: at 1:26:15 , this crash was aircraft number 188737 of 409th Squadron
Excellent attention to detail @pjotrtjeONL! Here’s an interesting (if somewhat macabre) resource:
‘There is a rather interesting story concerning ejections from Canadian CF-18s and I'm going to bet it's a one off in the entire World? Aircraft 188761, as you have listed on your site as having been ejected from successfully as "over Yellowknife" IN June 2004, was this is not quite the case. The Pilot actually ejected while the aircraft was still on the runway, the aircraft came to a stop by itself without over running the runway and actually had to be shut down by response crews. There was minimal damage and the aircraft was repaired, a new seat installed and put back in service. It is flying today.
If this was not enough, the fact that a single seat fighter was ejected from and was able to be repaired (wait for it) this is the second time that this has occurred to this particular aircraft. It was ejected from during an aborted take-off from a Base in England during the late eighties. The aircraft was extensively damaged in that accident and in fact was broken in two. The Pilot (who shall remain nameless) was not injured. Six years and countless dollars later MBB in Manching Germany put the aircraft back in service. I was there to watch it fly away (on a pair of Wings purchased from Australia and a "C" model nose section that was originally intended for a Spanish aircraft transplanted to an "A" model fuselage.)’
web.archive.org/web/20171102101854/www.ejection-history.org.uk:80/Aircraft_by_Type/CF-18/cf_18_hornet.htm
Bones is a great guest, very knowledgeable and honest about the RCAF state… At 58:36 by the way, the Kosovo crisis wasn’t about Muslims being threatened, it was about ethnic Albanians in the Kosovo province of Serbia being threatened.
You are absolutely correct @pjotrtjeONL. I realized when I went back and watched it that I had made a mistake. Just like in Gaza today, we have to separate politics from religion.
@@tonyledsham2810indeed, the religion layer most of the times obscures everything else…
Albanians in Kosovo are Muslim so he is correct.
@tonyledsham2810 Thanks for doing this! Would also love to hear about your time at Top Aces.
For anyone wanting to read more on the Canadian's in Kosovo, the book "Scattering Chaff: Canadian Air Power and Censorship During the Kosovo War" is a good read.
I’m confident there will be a 4th episode. Steve reads these replies as well.
Thank you for the book recommendation - I’d never heard of it.
I have made connections on LinkedIn with several Serbs. I apologized for bombing their country and they have enlightened me with their side of the story. The Kosovo conflict was very complex, politically. There’s a reason it’s not talked-about, very much.