Show notes
F-105 Wild Weasels over Vietnam: 1972. With Lucky Ekman, Fred Schleich, ET Johnson, Fish Fisher and Paul Metz.Tip Jar: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=GDJU6CM3GWZTNDiscussion on Discord: https://discord.gg/9vJ3hPYFQhIt was a huge privilege for me to interview Fish, Lucky, Paul, ET and Fred, so thank you to them all for giving up their time. This interview took a long time to set up – more than six months – but would not have happened at all had it not been for Fred, and then Lucky, who convinced the others to join.00:00:00 Introduction 00:07:53 Wild Wesel Beginnings - 1965 00:14:27 Iron Hand 00:15:59 1966 - The Threat 00:17:52 1966-1972 Learnings 00:20:28 F-105 Vulnerabilities 00:22:54 YGBSM 00:30:14 Pilot-Bear Pairings 00:34:16 Hard Crewi ng 00:38:39 Crew Coordination 00:46:27 EWO 101 00:50:17 Shrike or StandardARM? 00:56:18 Kill or suppress? 00:58:42 Russian Advisors 01:00:32 The birth of Hunter-Killer Teams01:02:05 SAM Tactics 01:17:07 Intelligence Capabilities 01:22:51 Night flying 01:33:46 SAM Evasion 01:39:27 WW Tactics 01:42:07 ECM Tactics 01:45:28 The Enemy 01:49:09 The Numbers Game 01:49:54 A mission that haunts 01:57:51 PTSD 02:05:48 Lessons Learned 02:11:56 Modern SAMs 02:16:01 F-15EX 02:18:37 "Why?"50 second plug for Red EaglesSupport the Show.
