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The Century Series was the name given to the series of second-generation US Air Force fighters that took the USAF beyond the sound barrier and towards Mach 2. With the F-100 Super Sabre, F-101 Voodoo, F-102 Delta Dart, F-104 Starfighter, F-105 Thunderchief, F-106 Delta Dart and F-107A all on display at the Pima Air Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona, aircraft designer Joe Wilding shows us around the design of these early jet fighters.★Follow Joe on X(Twitter) at: https://twitter.com/joe_wildingGet the latest from the Pima Air and Space Museum through the links below:★Visit the Pima Air and Space Museum's website here: https://pimaair.org/ ★Learn more about the Titan Missile Museum here: https://titanmissilemuseum.org/ ★Find out who is in the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame here: https://pimaair.org/about-us/arizona-aviation-hall-of-fame/ ★Want to know how the Tucson Military Vehicle Museum is progressing? Find out more here: https://www.tucsonmilitaryvehicle.org/ ★Become a Damcasteer today on Patreon! Join from just £3+VAT a month to get ad-free episodes, chat with Matt and grab some merch. Click here for more info: https://www.patreon.com/thedamcastersThe Damcasters © 2024 by Matt Bone is licensed under Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International00:00 Introduction01:03 Visit the Pima Air and Space Museum Ad01:26 Intro cont02:12 Joe Wilding on The Century Series04:47 North American Aviation F-100 Super Sabre11:11 Detour to the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star14:33 F-100 cont17:13 Convair F-102A Delta Dagger28:53 Lockheed F-104 Starfighter38:49 Convair F-106 Delta Dart39:59 Republic F-105 Thunderchief45:17 North American F-107A51:53 BONUS SR-71 and the D-2155:17 Conclusion and Become a Damcasteer! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Herzlich willkommen zur 93. Folge des Equistor-Podcasts

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 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 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    

Maj Gen Russ Violett (Rtd) had a 30-year career with the USAF, flying multiple types, including the North American F-100 Super Sabre (in which he had a 2-minute flight before punching out!) and the fantastic Republic F-105 Thunderchief, the Thud. The Thud always brought Russ home in 126 missions over Laos and Vietnam. Our discussion covers the tactics of attacking missile sites, the drawback of major operations half a world away and much more.★You can learn more about The Friday Pilots, of whom Russ is a member, who meet for lunch each Friday and put the world to rights here: https://fridaypilots.com/★ The collection of their tales is The Friday Pilots book is available here: https://fridaypilots.com/the-book/Please check out the latest from our sponsor, the Pima Air and Space Museum, through the links below:★Visit the Pima Air and Space Museum's website here: https://pimaair.org/★Learn more about the Titan Missle Museum here: https://titanmissilemuseum.org/★Find out who is in the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame here: https://pimaair.org/about-us/arizona-aviation-hall-of-fame/★Want to know how the Tucson Military Vehicle Museum is progressing? Find out more here: https://www.tucsonmilitaryvehicle.org/Cover Image: DoD 342-C-KE-36175The Damcasters © 2022 by Matt Bone is licensed under Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The 'Century Series' nears the end but not before an in-depth look at the Republic F-105 Thunderchief. Cohost Trevor 'Boat' Boswell takes the lead on this episode, joined by retired U.S. Air Force ( https://www.af.mil/ ) Colonel John Morrissey for a discussion on the Vietnam-era fighter-bomber that earned the nickname "Thud" for its high mishap and shoot down rate. Listener questions answered on this episode include whether fighter pilots incur financial penalties for training mistakes--like notionally downing a fellow good guy or neutral airliner, when the show will begin featuring episodes on warbird fighters, and where nuclear strategic bombers would return after releasing their weapons in the event the Cold War ever went hot. Bumper music by Jaime Lopez / announcements by Clint Bell ( https://www.clintbellproductions.com/ ). This episode was produced by our friends at the MuscleCar Place Podcast Network ( https://www.themusclecarplace.com/ ). Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

On this episode of the S.B.R. Podcast we are joined by Ted Glick. Ted is the Vice President of Sales & Service at Sacramento Republic F.C. A 2020 winner of Sports Business Journal's 'New Voices Under 30,' Ted is passionate about supporting his club, Sacramento Republic F.C. as they make the jump into Major League Soccer in the 2023 season. On this episode Ted & I discuss his role at Sacramento Republic. Ted discusses MLS, the club, potential rivalries, and the progression of MLS. If you are passionate about either Sports Business, or Major League Soccer, this episode is for you. I hope you enjoy episode #18 of the S.B.R. Podcast where we dive into one of Major League Soccer's more exciting expansion franchises.Don't forget to check out www.sportsbusinessreview.com in order to provide any additional feedback. I hope you enjoy!

February 8, 2021 Show 987 Hour 2. In 1966, Marty Mahrt was shot down while flying a mission over North Vietnam. He was piloting a Republic F-105 Thunderchief fighter/bomber – an aircraft that suffered a 38% loss rate due to the type of missions they were assigned. Wednesday morning (live from Custer), Marty Mahrt tells his story of rescue and survival during an "Old Guys and Their Airplanes Debrief" hosted by John Mollison. The interactive event begins at 11 Central/10 Mountain at SDPB.org/OGTADebrief. Find our podcast on Apple , Spotify , and Google Play .

February 8, 2021 Show 987 Hour 2. In 1966, Marty Mahrt was shot down while flying a mission over North Vietnam. He was piloting a Republic F-105 Thunderchief fighter/bomber – an aircraft that suffered a 38% loss rate due to the type of missions they were assigned. Wednesday morning (live from Custer), Marty Mahrt tells his story of rescue and survival during an "Old Guys and Their Airplanes Debrief" hosted by John Mollison. The interactive event begins at 11 Central/10 Mountain at SDPB.org/OGTADebrief. Find our podcast on Apple , Spotify , and Google Play .

En esta edición completa nos encaminamos hacia los dos partidos decisivos de la MLS Cup. Junto a Ariel Judas, ya palpitamos Atlanta United y Toronto F.C en el Este (¿vuelve el campeón a una final?) y LAFC recibiendo a Seattle Sounders en el Oeste. El bonus track es el colega Marcos Bretón, del diario Sacramento Bee, que se suma para contar la historia del flamante equipo que debutará en el 2022.

Vietnam War veteran and retired U.S. Air Force Major Gen. Edward Mechenbier, 76, of Columbus was held as a prisoner of war from 1967 to 1973 in North Vietnam, where he was beaten and tortured but survived on as little as 600 to 800 calories a day. The nearly 600 Americans who survived captivity in North Vietnam “weren’t special. We were just products of the American society,” Mechenbier said. “Some people say, ‘I couldn’t take the torture. I couldn’t take the isolation,’ ” he said. “People always sell themselves short, and they’ll say, ‘Oh, I could never do that.’ Yes, you could. “I mean, you just think about things in everybody’s life. We all face challenges. We all face hardships. We all face things that are going on and we say, ‘Oh, I couldn’t do that.’ “Well, I couldn’t do what I did in my own mind ... but you know, you look around at all the other guys who were in there with you. There were no supermen there. We were just ordinary guys doing our job, and we just never gave up.” Mechenbier was born in Morgantown, West Virginia, and graduated from high school in Dayton. His father, a welder and steamfitter, had told him he would need a scholarship to go to college, and bet his son $5 he couldn’t get an appointment to a federal military academy. Mechenbier won that bet, he said, and graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1964. By 1967, he was flying a McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II interceptor and fighter-bomber in Vietnam. On June 14, Mechenbier, who was with his crewman – Kevin McManus, who operated the plane’s radar, among other tasks – was on his 113th combat mission and 80th mission over North Vietnam. They weren’t required to conduct another mission that day, but they did. Their unit lacked enough qualified crews for a mission to Hanoi. Mechenbier and McManus were asked to join the mission, he said. Mechenbier said, “Well, let me check with Kevin,” who answered, “Why not? Let’s go.” First, they had a breakfast of pork chops, he said. Mechenbier remembered thinking, “This is a heck of a last meal.” “I’d never had that thought before,” he said. Normally, the F-4s flew as protection for Republic F-105 Thunderchief fighter-bombers. As a result, 54 planes in Mechenbier’s unit took off at 10 a.m. on a mission to attack a railroad yard, he said. Mechenbier’s plane had been hit on another mission five days earlier but appeared to be in good shape, he said. While executing a maneuver over the target, he had one engine on idle while the second was using its afterburner. When he fired the first engine’s afterburner, the engine exploded, he said. Just before the explosion, he said, the plane was flying at 700 mph. Mechenbier and McManus ejected, and the plane hit the ground before Mechenbier’s parachute opened. He and McManus were under parachutes while “over 6 million people with 6 million guns (were) shooting at us.” Mechenbier carried a .38-caliber revolver but knew he was in no position to put up a fight, he said. He threw the pistol away before he landed on a roof in a village and rolled to the ground, where he immediately was surrounded. The North Vietnamese used machetes to cut away his gear and uniform, leaving him in his shorts and a T-shirt, he said. His captors threw rocks at him and jabbed him with bamboo sticks before leading him to an air-raid trench, where the North Vietnamese acted as if they would execute him before a laughing crowd. His introduction to ‘Hanoi Hilton’ Mechenbier’s next stop was at what the POWs called “New Guy Village” at Hoa Lo Prison, which the Americans called the Hanoi Hilton. The North Vietnamese goal at New Guy Village, he said, was to torture and beat the Americans into submission for two or three weeks. The North Vietnamese “just wanted to hurt you. They were mad. ... no doubt about that.” In addition to beatings, they would “tie your arms behind your back and then rotate them up over your head, dislocating one or both of your shoulders,” he said. “All the traditional things, you know, ... kicking you, burning you with cigarettes and things like that,” he said. North Vietnamese guards were “trying to beat you to the point you would do anything, say anything that they told you to do. It was not an intellectual discussion. It was not a rational thought process and no dialogue. They were just trying to get you to sign a confession and trying to intimidate you physically, and they did a pretty good job,” he said. Art of avoiding continued beatings According to the military code of conduct, prisoners of war should give only their name, rank, serial number and date of birth, he said. It also “goes on to say, ‘I will evade answering further questions to the utmost of my ability,’ ” he said. “When they’re trying to get you to admit to crimes, of course, you wouldn’t do that,” he said. One strategy for a POW, he said, was “you don’t answer ... or you lie, you cheat, you make up answers and things like that,” he said. “For the most part, they didn’t understand you,” he said. “They wanted you to ... tell them things about your airplane, your missions and things like that, which you wouldn’t do, and their only resort was to beat the crap out of you.” The Americans made sure they endured “some days of abuse because you didn’t want to be an easy patsy,” he said. The POWs took advantage of the fact the North Vietnamese generally didn’t understand much English beyond a few key words, he said. The Americans could stop torture by giving the North Vietnamese a “confession” of obvious lies, mispronounced words and near-gibberish, he said. The North Vietnamese would be satisfied if words like crime, criminal and guilty were used. For example, Mechenbier said, a POW could say he flew for the Germans in World War II and was in a unit with Superman (in his secret identity) and a dead U.S. president and get away with it: “I, ... fumerly (made-up word), a lieutenant in the Luftwaffe, ... am guilty ... of bombing churches, dams, pikes, pagodas, cesspools, outhouses and other ill houses of repute. I and my squadron mates, Clark Kent, Jimmy Doolittle, Abraham Lincoln ... have committed heinous crimes.” Any English-speaking person “obviously would know, ‘Hey, here’s a joke,’ ” he said, but the North Vietnamese were satisfied because they recognized the words they wanted to hear. After his time at New Guy Village, Mechenbier was put in a 9-by-9-foot cell with his crewman, McManus, and spent “23 hours, 59 minutes and 45 seconds a day” there for four years. Meals were about a quart of soup made from seaweed, turnip tops or pumpkins, with moldy bread and rice that contained bits of rock. The door was opened for meals twice a day and to empty a chamber pot, he said. The door also might be opened for more beatings and torture. A frightening sound, he said, was “a jailer with keys. ... He was getting somebody for interrogation. That was scary.” By this point, the North Vietnamese goal was only to get POWs to participate in propaganda, Mechenbier said. One example is when American anti-war delegations visiting North Vietnam unwittingly caused the POWs to suffer more beatings, he said. The North Vietnamese wanted the POWs to meet the war protesters. “You don’t want to do that,” Mechenbier said. The North Vietnamese always had the same response – “beat the crap out of you” – whether they wanted the POWs to talk to U.S. protesters, issue an anti-war statement or record a tape to be played on radio. “You just never wanted to go outside your cell,” he said. The POWs coped, he said, by supporting each other. He and McManus got to know each other very well and would tell each other stories about everything they could think of. POWs in adjacent cells could communicate in code by tapping on the cell walls or by placing an ear next to a cup held against a wall, he said. Beginning of change for the better With the death of North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Mihn in 1969, the Hanoi Hilton guards eased up on beatings and torture for a time, he said. In November 1970, the U.S. military launched a raid on the Son Tay POW camp 23 miles from Hanoi. The effort to rescue U.S. POWs failed because the camp recently had been emptied of prisoners. The raid was criticized in the U.S., but it created a boon for the POWs. Fearing another raid, the North Vietnamese moved all the POWs in other camps to the Hanoi Hilton, creating a communal living area know as “Camp Unity.” That was quite a morale booster, Mechenbier said. “And now we had 39 guys in one room. ... That was wonderful,” he said. One group of POWs fashioned a deck of cards from scrap paper and played bridge nonstop for three days, he said. “The chatter was unbelievable,” he said. The Americans still had more than two years of captivity left, and Mechenbier was held for a time at a camp near the border with China. February 1973: prisoners’ release After the Paris Peace Accords were signed in 1973, the North Vietnamese told the POWs they would go home. The POWs thought that was a propaganda trick until a uniformed U.S. officer visited them and confirmed the news. “This is a dream,” Mechenbier thought at the time. It wasn’t a dream. He was released in February 1973 after nearly six years of captivity. He was flown to the Philippines, where he had 13 root canals on his long-neglected teeth. He weighed 198 pounds when his F-4 went down and 133 pounds by the time he had arrived in the Philippines, he said. Upon returning to the U.S., most POWs decided, “This is the first day in the rest of your life,” he said. The POWs were given a book on what had occurred in the United States while they were gone – such as the Watergate scandal, for example. Mechenbier stayed in the Air Force. “Putting on a blue uniform every day was a little bit of a security blanket,” he said. He left the Air Force in 2004 and has been a consultant to defense contractors and serves on several public and private boards. He also has been a technical consultant to air-show broadcasts and was the subject of a book called “Life on a $5 Bet,” by Linda D. Swink. The title is a reference to the bet he had made with his father prior to joining the service. Mechenbier is highly decorated. The short list includes the Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star Medal with oak-leaf cluster, the Distinguished Flying Cross with oak-leaf cluster, the Bronze Star Medal with V device and Purple Heart with oak-leaf cluster. His advice to struggling veterans is, “Don’t be alone. ... Friends don’t let friends be alone. ... (Otherwise) they don’t have a beacon to look forward. They’re not being told how important they are.” This podcast was hosted and produced by Scott Hummel, ThisWeek Community News assistant managing editor, digital. This profile was written by Paul Comstock.

Jerry Vance of Hilliard is a 75-year-old Vietnam War veteran who served two tours in Thailand as a U.S. Air Force pilot. The first in 1968-69 was part of a 60-day temporary-duty assignment with the Young Tigers aerial refueling wing stationed in U-Tapao, about 87 miles southeast of Bangkok near the Gulf of Thailand. As a Young Tiger, Vance flew Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers, which were responsible for refueling the U.S. military’s tactical fighter aircraft in midair, usually after the fighter’s aircraft strike on a target and while en route back to the base. “It was really a busy, rewarding job to give them what they needed to get their mission done,” he said. Vance pointed out that each aircraft has to be refueled at a different speed. For example, he said, a Republic F-105 Thunderchief supersonic fighter-bomber has to be refueled at a faster speed than a North American F-100 Super Sabre supersonic jet fighter. “We were in orbit most of the time in Thailand just to keep our positions, and they would come and find us,” he said. The fighter always comes up from behind, he said. Even if a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress subsonic strategic bomber were approaching from the front, the B-52 would fly overhead and return to the rear of the KC-135 refueler, he said. Vance also said it was never just one aircraft being fueled per flight. “It was a minimum two, sometimes four you’re refueling,” he said. “So they just took turns.” The biggest challenges – or “most exciting times,” as Vance describes it – were in inclement-weather conditions. Vance returned to the United States for a few years, learning how to fly Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopters – commonly known as Hueys – while in Little Rock, Arkansas. His second tour in Thailand was in 1973-74, this time in Nakhon Phanom, just west of the Makong River in eastern Thailand. As part of the 21st Special Operations Squadron stationed at the Royal Thai Air Force Base, Vance was flying Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters. The transition from southern Thailand to the United States and back to eastern Thailand wasn’t so difficult, he said. “The big shock is switching over from a fixed-wing airplane to a rotary-wing airplane,” he said. The mission there, he said, was to take people and supplies into “places Nixon said we never flew.” “We would take anywhere from five to 50 people in the back of our helicopter; we would take them out in the middle of nowhere; we would put them on the ground,” he said. “We’d leave them there one, two, three days, depending on what the mission was, and then we’d come back and pick them up – always in a different spot.” After the war, Vance remained in the Air Force until 1987 and spent time at the Hickam Air Force Base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, helping to recover space capsules. He later moved to the Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico, training pilots to fly Sikorsky HH-53 "Super Jolly Green Giant" helicopters. Vance’s decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal with three clusters, the Air Medal with Silver Oak Leaf Cluster, the Air Force Commendation Medal, the Air Force Achievement Medal, the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award, the National Defense Medal, the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with device and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal. Vance was born in Pensacola, Florida, and moved to Pickaway County, Ohio, when he was 4. He graduated from Darby Township High School (now Westfall) and attended Ohio State University and the University of Southern California, earning his bachelor’s degree at Ohio State and master’s degree at USC. Vance joined Ohio State’s ROTC pilot-training program. He and his wife, Connie, have two sons, Jeff (Lora) and David (Rebekah); a grandson, Jarod; two granddaughters, Emily and Sara Rowe; and two great-granddaughters, Lilly and Delilah. This podcast was produced by Scott Hummel, ThisWeek assistant managing editor, digital.

Bob was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1926 and graduated from The Webb School in Bell Buckle, Tennessee in 1944. At age 17, Bob volunteered for the US Navy and was training to go into submarines when he was accepted into the US Naval Academy at the war’s end. As a midshipman he served on various warships, including a heavy cruiser, destroyer, carrier, and the battleship USS North Carolina in which his GQ station was the 16 inch gun turret. Bob graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1949. He took his commission in the Air Force where he could go immediately to flight school. He went on to fly the Republic F-84 ThunderJet in combat against MIGS in Korea and was then selected after the war for the elite Air Force Research and Development team where he flew virtually every aircraft in the USAF inventory including “expanding the envelope” in the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter. As a Lockhead F-104 instructor pilot, Bob taught some of the world’s leading pilots how to fly the Starfighter. Some of his students included WW2 Luftwaffe fighter aces Gunther Rall, and Johannes Steinhoff as well as Canada’s Wing Commander Kenneth Lett and USAF General John Dunning. Remarkably, Bob has made 5 successful “dead stick” landings in the F-104 – an amazing accomplishment given that the F-104 glides like a “toolbox” and is extremely unforgiving of pilot errors. Bob was also involved with fellow Lockheed test pilot Darryl Greenamyer in breaking the FAI world restricted altitude speed record of 988.26 mph in a highly modified F-104 on October 24, 1978. Bob Gilliland has logged more test flight hours at Mach 3 than any other pilot in the world. He has been recognized and honored for his work many times. In the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum, he is honored for making one of the greatest contributions to aviation in his time as a test pilot/astronaut joining the 7 Mercury astronauts, Charles Lindberg and Howard Hughes in the same honor. Bob is a fellow in the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and a recipient of the “Lifetime Achievement Award” by the Flight Test Historical Foundation for his distinguished aviation career. Bob was awarded the prestigious Ivan C. Kincheloe Award in 1964 for his work on the Blackbird program. He was named an Eagle by the Air Force Flight Test Historical Foundation in 1998 and received the Godfrey L. Cabot Award in 2001. Among his many honors, the one which he seems to have enjoyed the most, was the “Legends of Aerospace Tour” to Europe and the Middle East in March of 2010. As one of America’s five Legends, along with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Gene Cernan, Jim Lovell, and Vietnam fighter ace Steve Ritchie, the Tour stopped at many “down range” US military bases and hospitals. Former Good Morning America host David Hartman served as the moderator for the Tour. The Legends spoke daily to thousands of our servicemen defending our interests abroad, reminding Bob, he said with a smile, of how much he had enjoyed seeing Bob Hope and Betty Grable visit his airbase when he was flying combat in Korea.

This episode is a conversation that was recorded on June 1, 2016 in Sacramento, California. The conversation takes place in a hotel lobby. It was about 4 hours prior to kickoff between Sacramento’s Republic F.C. and Kitsap Pumas from Washington. Why was I there? Well, Assistant Coach Liviu Bird was nice enough to invite me […] The post Kitsap Pumas Owner Robin Waite Lifts The Curtain appeared first on 3four3.