FPP221 - The Israeli Ace with 12 MiG Kills
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 deca...
17 Aug 49min
FPP220 - Launching Satellites from F-104s
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-lau...
3 Aug 46min
FPP219 - From Wimbledon to Mach 1.58: Louis Skupien’s Wild Ride into Telling Aviation’s Story
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, h...
20 Jul 52min
FPP218 - The Humans Behind Autonomous Air Combat
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. ...
13 Jul 53min
FPP216 - 300 Vietnam Missions in the F-4: Combat and the Making of a Leader
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 missio...
15 Jun 1h 4min
FPP215 - U-2s on Aircraft Carriers: A Cold War Gamble
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 i...
1 Jun 48min
FPP214 - Fighting Falcons: VMF-221 and the Soul of Marine Aviation
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, lea...
18 Mai 1h 5min
