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Today, CAPT Jack Ashmore talks through a remarkable combat career spanning Korea and Vietnam, flying the AD Skyraider, A-4 Skyhawk, F-4 Phantom, and A-7 Corsair II. He shares dozens of firsthand stories from the 1968 Tet Offensive, the evolution of naval aviation, carrier operations, and the experience of adapting from piston-powered aircraft to supersonic jets. His perspective on combat aviation is really something special. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rear Admiral Doug "Woody" Beal came on the show having spent 35 years in Navy strike fighters, 13 on active duty and 22 in the reserves. Flying Intruders and Hornets from Whidbey to China Lake to the skies over Iraq. He has experienced everything from a medical disqualification at USAFA to combat ops over Somalia and Iraq as well as the tense 2019 standoff with Iran as Vice Commander of NAVCENT/5th Fleet. Plus, fresh takeaways on EMALS and AAG from a recent Gerald R. Ford strike group debrief. Support the show at: Fighter Pilot Podcast — Creating air combat-related content. | Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever thought about how you update your F-22? Probably not, but someone has to. Rob Slaughter, former Air Force officer and co-founder of Defense Unicorns, joins the Fighter Pilot Podcast to discuss fixing how the Department of War builds, delivers, and updates software. From the Pentagon to disconnected battlefields. We talk innovation, air-gapped systems, and what it takes to bring modern software to the fight. Support the show at: Fighter Pilot Podcast — Creating air combat-related content. | Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If only we treated the human being in the cockpit with the same care and lifecycle management we give the aircraft... In this episode, I sit down with Commander Kevin Bernstein, MD, to explore a new approach to human performance across Naval Aviation. Drawing on his experience in sports medicine and Naval Special Warfare, Kevin explains how physical performance, psychology, recovery, and readiness can be brought together to help aviators perform better, stay healthy, and remain operational for longer. We discuss the Human Performance program being developed across the Navy, what it looks like inside a fighter squadron, the lessons learned from its early implementation, and why preserving experienced aviators may be one of Naval Aviation's most valuable investments. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On October 7, 2001, a US Air Force B-2 Spirit crossed into Afghan airspace as part of the opening campaign of Operation Enduring Freedom. Nearly twenty years later, a C-17 Globemaster carrying the final American soldiers lifted off from Kabul as the Taliban returned to power. Between those two very different aircraft lies the story of America's longest war. What began with a remarkably successful military campaign against the Taliban and al-Qaeda evolved into a two-decade multinational effort encompassing counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, nation-building, and the creation of Afghan security forces. On this episode, Dr. Lance “Boil” Lewis, a retired Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet pilot and historian, helps examine how—and why—that transformation occurred. Tracing the conflict from Afghanistan's geography and history, through the opening air campaign and the long years that followed, to the final chaotic weeks of August 2021, the evacuation of more than 120,000 people, and the people and equipment left behind, it becomes evident that no single decision or individual explains the outcome. Instead, this is the story of two decades of consequential decisions—and the enduring difference between winning battles and achieving national objectives. Music by Slater Aiello. Please support the show at: Fighter Pilot Podcast | Creating air combat-related content. | Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brigadier General (Ret.) Israel Baharav is one of Israel's most accomplished fighter pilots, credited with twelve MiG-21 kills during his distinguished career in the Israeli Air Force. Over three decades of military service, he flew on the front lines, commanded a fighter squadron, served as Head of Air Force Intelligence, and led strategic planning efforts for the Israel Defense Forces, helping establish the framework for strategic cooperation between Israel and the United States. Following his military career, General Baharav transitioned into the world of technology and entrepreneurship, founding and leading multiple companies at the forefront of digital printing, 3D manufacturing, and healthcare innovation. In this episode, Cinco talks with Israel and he shares lessons from a lifetime of leadership in combat, and strategy, offering unique insights into what it takes to succeed in the world's highest-consequence environments. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, I sit down with Tim Franta, CEO of Starfighters Space, to discuss the company's mission to transform access to space using high-performance aircraft. We explore the STARLAUNCH air-launch system, how Starfighters operates the world's only commercial fleet of Mach 2+ F-104 Starfighters, and the advantages of launching rockets from the edge of the atmosphere. Tim also shares insights from his decades of experience in the space industry, including his work shaping Florida's commercial space sector, developing launch infrastructure, and helping bridge the gap between government and private spaceflight. We also talk about the future of commercial launch, what's next for Starfighters Space, and the challenges and opportunities facing the industry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

He was a national champion tennis player headed for Wimbledon, then COVID and injury ended that dream overnight. Two years later, Louis Skupien was strapped into a jet suit.  Four years after that, he was breaking the sound barrier twice in an F-16D over Edwards Air Force Base, filming a documentary on the 412th Test Wing and the story behind Auto-GCAS — the system that’s saved 13 pilots’ lives.  Louis, host of the Talk4 podcast and creator of the Full Throttle documentary series, joins me to talk tennis-to-aviation reinvention, flying with jet-suit inventor Richard Browning, low-level runs down Sidewinder, pulling 9Gs, and what it took to get a foreign national civilian into the backseat of an Edwards test jet. Support this podcast at: https://www.patreon.com/cw/ftrpltpdcst Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former US Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II pilot turned Autonodyne CEO Steve Jacobson discusses one of the most important and least understood aspects of future air combat: the human-machine interface. Jake shares stories from flying and testing the Warthog, explains why he turned down Test Pilot School before ultimately finding his way into flight test anyway, and reflects on how those experiences shaped his approach to designing command-and-control software for autonomous aircraft. Support this podcast at — https://www.patreon.com/cw/ftrpltpdcst Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

US Air Force Colonel Richard "Dog" Brenneman describes his incredible story of courage and determination. Shot down over North Vietnam on his 26th combat mission while flying the F-4 Phantom II, Col. Brenneman spent more than 1,900 days as a prisoner of war in the Hanoi Hilton before returning home and was awarded the Silver Star for his extraordinary resilience. Support this podcast at — https://www.patreon.com/c/ftrpltpdcst Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ron "Toes" Cooper grew up silent, insecure, and certain he'd never amount to much. Then four men believed in him — and everything changed. Toes went on to fly the F-4 Phantom in over 300 combat missions in Vietnam, dodge a MiG-21 missile by a split second, participate in the rescue of a downed pilot who survived 23 days alone in hostile territory, and command a squadron.  In this episode, Toes brings us into the cockpit and into the chaos of combat — and then draws a straight line from those experiences to the leadership lessons that every team, every organization, and every person who has ever doubted themselves desperately needs to hear. Support this podcast at — https://www.patreon.com/cw/ftrpltpdcst Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During the Cold War, the Lockheed U-2 gave the United States the ability to peer deep inside denied territory from altitudes once thought unreachable. But after the Francis Gary Powers shootdown and increasing political pressure on foreign host nations, the CIA faced a growing problem: how do you operate one of the world’s most delicate reconnaissance aircraft when access to overseas bases can disappear overnight? The answer led to one of the strangest and least-known experiments in aviation history—operating CIA U-2s from US Navy aircraft carriers under a top-secret effort known as Project Whale Tail. On this episode, Vincent “Jell-O” Aiello returns to explain how CIA pilots, Navy landing signal officers, and Lockheed Skunk Works engineers transformed the high-flying Article into a carrier-capable spy plane. From dangerous early landing trials aboard USS Ranger to clandestine intelligence missions over the South Pacific, this is the story of an extraordinary Cold War gamble that pushed both naval aviation and aerial reconnaissance into entirely new territory. Support this podcast at — https://www.patreon.com/cw/ftrpltpdcst Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From Buffalos at Midway to Corsairs off the deck of Bunker Hill, the Marines of VMF-221 fought, bled, and adapted their way through the Pacific War — and their story reveals far more about combat, leadership, and airpower than the history books let on. Retired Marine Lt. Col. and historian Pete Owen joins the show to break down what really happened when Marine aviation was tested at its limits, why Midway was a far darker day than most people know, and what those lessons mean for the fight America may face next. Support this podcast at — https://www.patreon.com/cw/ftrpltpdcst Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

JJ “Yank” Cummings returns to the Fighter Pilot Podcast for a wide-ranging conversation on F-14 Tomcats, carrier aviation, Top Gun: Maverick, and the rapidly approaching age of autonomous air combat. From war stories over Afghanistan to his work with Shield AI, Yank brings a rare blend of cockpit credibility, command experience, and forward-looking insight. This one is about more than airplanes; it’s about trust, technology, leadership, tomorrow’s war, and, somehow… robot cats. Support this podcast at — https://www.patreon.com/cw/ftrpltpdcst Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does it take to lead when the mission is hard, the stakes are life-and-death, and nobody is watching? In this extraordinary episode, Tucker Hamilton sits down with two of the most consequential figures in modern Air Force history — General (Ret.) David Goldfein, former Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, and Dr. Heather Wilson, former Secretary of the Air Force and current President of UTEP — Air Force Academy classmates who reunited at the Pentagon 35 years after their cadet days to write Get Back Up: Lessons in Servant Leadership. From Goldfein's F-16 shoot-down over Serbia to Wilson's battles on Capitol Hill and in the halls of the Pentagon, they have lived the kind of leadership not taught in classrooms — the kind forged in adversity, shaped by humility, and proven under pressure. In this conversation, they unpack what servant leadership actually looks like when the cost is real, why the most powerful leaders are the ones who put others first, and what the next generation of leaders needs to hear right now. Support this podcast at — https://www.patreon.com/cw/ftrpltpdcst Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices