So There I Was

We Saw the Tracers Ahead of Us sums up one very slow night for Cobra 3-1 over Cambodia. Actually, the NVA led him so badly that he simply went dark, turned left and lived. Now he’s back with RePete and Fig for round two.

First, one thank-you call from the Gary Sinise Foundation became a sponsored 114th Assault Helicopter Company reunion in Savannah. As a result, attendance jumped from 50 to 170. Then the old gunship pilots tried the Apache simulator. Naturally, Cobra 3-1 saw 220 on an aircraft that stops at 183.

Also, his old Vinh Long neighbors were the 175th, home of Chuck Howard from Episode 227.

Meanwhile, the 114th had no Loaches, so the lead Cobra became the hunter. Consequently, he flew low, slow and pointing at things. He also explains why the AH-1 Cobra may owe its name to his unit’s third platoon. Then come the bullet catcher, bug-ship flares and the push 21 miles into Cambodia. In fact, he admits the line between crazy and reckless was never clear.

However, the heaviest story is his flight school roommate Les. Les died just weeks after his son was born. Furthermore, Cobra opens up about survivor’s guilt and the VA therapy he finally sought. Finally, his father’s merciless teasing over a mystery photo keeps things light. His advice to his 19-year-old self? Full steam ahead.

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Ike returns with F-100 pilots trimming treetops, a nuclear alert eye patch and the Libya raid. Then his first leg flying a 727 nearly ends on top of a commuter.

Doober and Whiskey-6 take over the watch on YL-37, a combat-veteran Marine UH-34D. Fifty-four bullet holes, one crossbow story, and zero chance of saying no.

Why Smart Pilots Do Dumb Things is the title of Heater’s paper. It helped save the Red Eagles. However, this episode opens with a different lesson: never look at your ten o’clock at Groom Lake.

CJ “Heater” Heatley is back! We promoted him to four-star admiral on the spot. The check is in the mail.

So there he was, in a MiG-21 at the end of the runway at Groom Lake. Off his left side sat the weirdest-shaped thing he’d ever seen. Then the tower called: “Bandit 8, taxi back to the hangar immediately.”

He had just seen “Have Blue,” the precursor to stealth. Not even the vice president was briefed in. Consequently, Heater spent quality time in a pitch-black room inside a room, grilled by four men with no names.

First, though, Heater honors his lifelong friend Sam Young. As kids in Palmerton, Pennsylvania, they built rock cockpits on a red rock hill and flew imaginary fighters. Sitting shoulder to shoulder, Heater couldn’t throw rocks right-handed without clocking Sam.

So he threw lefty for years and became a southpaw pitcher. That’s where his call sign came from. Sam became a Marine gunnery sergeant, and his Purple Heart story from LZ Russell will stop you cold.

Furthermore, Heater closes the loop on a Sidewinder with locked fins that turned on his F-14. The admiral was in the back seat. He also tours Rosie’s Tomcat Ready Room in WaKeeney, Kansas. Its diorama is so detailed people think it’s a photo.

Flying the MiG smelled like hydraulic fluid and an electrical fire. The gauges were Russian, except the altimeter and airspeed. The checkout took minutes, and there was no NATOPS.

Actually, the MiG-17 couldn’t even taxi like a normal jet. Its pneumatic differential brakes sent first-timers nose-first into the hangar.

After the program lost Hugh, the brass talked about shutting it down. Heater’s paper made the case to the general. TOPGUN’s best were dying in their first MiG engagements, distracted by the “gee whiz” factor. After debriefs and formation looks, they went home killing MiGs. The program survived.

Heater also shares a sobering tally: 348 of 512 Red Eagles have died. Plus: his lost Pentagon slides, his rejects on book covers, and 40 years of reader letters.

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“Clara Ship” is what A-6 Intruder pilot Duker radioed when he couldn’t even see the carrier. Forget the ball. He couldn’t find the boat.

Duker went from zero stick time to Navy jets through ROTC at USC. In flight school, food poisoning hit so hard his instructors debated flying him home in a baggage pod. Actually, he survived, then tail-slid an A-4 he was never supposed to tail-slide.

In the A-6, Duker and his bombardier-navigator got in a fist fight over a paper chart. However, they still hit the target on time. He also explains how six Intruders’ bombs registered on seismic instruments in Colorado.

As a landing signal officer, Duker graded every landing he waved. He breaks down hook slaps, the barricade, and why LSOs are called paddles. Furthermore, VA-176 was told the war would start when they arrived. Later, General Zinni sent them over northern Iraq with an unforgettable ROE brief.

Then comes a Case III night recovery to the JFK, southeast of Puerto Rico, in a downpour. The wind was so far out of limits the Intruder weathervaned left. He kicked in rudder, the bottom fell out, and he still caught an OK one wire. Consequently, it took him 20 minutes to climb out of the cockpit.

Stay Connected

Duker’s company, Flight Training International, does ATPs and type ratings at FTIRatings.com, and you can use the GI Bill. Our sponsor, veteran-owned DC Artworks, makes laser-cut steel art at dcartworks.net. Use code STIW for 20% off. Grab merch at sothereiwas.us/merch and leave five stars at sothereiwas.us/rate.

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Navy P-3 pilot Derek "DA" Adametz beat a collapsed lung and Hodgkin's lymphoma, then fought the waiver board all the way to squadron command.

F-100 pilot Ike flew 195 combat missions with an iron sight and nerves of steel. He takes us from night close air support to a 50-pound-fuel landing to the 1986 Libya raid.

Retired Marine Lt. Col. Tim "Monk" Miller nearly punched out mid-nap over Ramadi, then built the Strike Fighter League, where guns are where it's at.

Vietnam-era Huey pilot RoadRunner joins RePete and Kemo for combat missions, near-disasters, and the Rope Trick — a Thailand R&R story he never fully explains.

This week's episode is a lighter one. It's just Fig and RePete, no guest, trading stories while juggling schedules and a certain eye surgery on the calendar. Before the flying talk starts, Fig recaps a fundraiser for YL-37, the effort to keep a UH-34 Marine helicopter flying as a living memorial. Vietnam-era crew chiefs, dubbed "Ugly Angels," turned up to honor thirty-three squadron mates lost in the war. It was, by Fig's account, truly spectacular.