There may be a no more lethal or effective fighting unit than the Marine Air Ground Task Force. Comprised of combat Marines on land, in the air, and from the sea, the MAGTF is equally capable massing its formidable firepower…
Jell-O and Sunshine met up in Reno, Nevada with hundreds of other Naval and Marine aviators for the annual Tailhook Convention and Reunion. It was a great time to get together to not only celebrate life but to discuss different…
Doctors attend medical school. Attorneys go to law school. …Plumbers acquire the skills of their craft at a plumbing trade school. So where do fighter pilots get their start? Duh. At flight school, of course. The US Air Force and…
Troop transport, MEDEVAC, CSAR, ASW, VERTREP, special operations, ground attack… these are but a few of the many missions rotary-wing aircraft perform for militaries the world over, day in and day out. But how do helicopters even fly? How difficult…
Besides notoriety, what do astronaut Alan Shepard, actor Clark Gable, aviatrix Amelia Earhart, and president George H. W. Bush all have in common? Each distinguished him- or herself by heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight. Each acted…
A who-what-when-where-why and how discussion on the US Navy’s Test Pilot School with our youngest guest yet.
Few pilots ever have an opportunity to meet an enemy aircraft in aerial battle. Fewer yet come out victorious. And even fewer still—in fact, only one—then go on to be involved in arguably the most influential pop culture aviation film of all time…
Military aviators are generally hard-working, improvement-seeking, self-motivated individuals who are accustomed to working well under pressure, on tight deadlines, and with limited budgets. It’s no wonder they typically find follow on success after leaving the service and very few—if any—end up homeless…
Today’s combat aviator enjoys a wide variety of munitions from which to choose when attacking surface targets. From free fall general purpose bombs, to laser- and GPS-guided weapons, to glide and forward firing rockets, missiles, and guns—the extensive arsenal is full of complex, yet highly effective ordnance.
Just as a viper relies on its venomous fangs and a hornet its stinger to deliver a lethal attack on adversaries, so too do modern combat fighter aircraft depend on guided missiles and cannon fire to engage aerial foes.
We’ve all heard that ‘war is hell.’ But this week on The Fighter Pilot Podcast, we hear it from a different perspective: that of a young pilot, new to the fleet and the F/A-18 Hornet, who finds himself fighting far from home in the fog of war, on the heels of the death of a beloved squadron mate.
On this episode, retired US Navy Vice Admiral Mike “Shoe” Shoemaker, whose last tour on active duty was Commander, Naval Air Forces, joins us to discuss the current state and future of naval aviation. We touch on numerous high-level strategic issues and spend several minutes answering listener questions.
Turn out the lights, add an overcast, and that’s what you get in the picture above. Yes, it’s dark. Really dark. And it’s scary. Add some ocean swells and it’s downright terrifying.