F-4G Wild Weasel Cockpit Tour: Starbaby Pietrucha

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00:00:00 Introduction

[@calebcogan4217]

I demand more Starbaby

[@10percenttrue]

Take your troublemaking somewhere else, Caleb!

[@toxickilljoy9037]

Comment again, that's somewhere else!

[@adeletanner2262]

I've flown YF, NF, RF, F-4C/D/E/G's as a RSO, IWSO and IEWO, and FCF qualified in each. The TISEO (Target Identification System Elecro Optical) mod was on F-4E models and was useful on ARN-101 (Arny) equipped birds, especially at Spangdahlem AB, where the 23 and 480 TFS had some Gen 2 HAS's (Hardened Aircraft Shelters) oriented towards the female enlisted dorms, where some of the women would help me "boresight" the lens..! In 83 we deployed TISEO E-models to Eindhoven AB, Holland to fly with their 314th Squadron, which was the Dutch Aerobatic Team back then. Typically, on any given day there might be 25 aviation buffs outside the departure end fence, but after we arrived it really grew. The Dutch pilots, flying F-5's, referred to them as "french-fries," as they would often stand their birds on end right over them while executing a low approach go-around. Well, there's a VERY BIG difference between an F-5 and a F-4 Phantom with its afterburners cooking, so I would often scan the crowd with my TISEO from 10+ miles out and select a buxom Dutch hottie , put the cross hairs right on her heart, lock her up, select Arny computer steer, and all the aircraft steering indications would fly directly towards those big, beautiful hearts. You can fine tune the cross hairs while locked and select higher magnification and we would be gear up the entire way and kick the blowers in about midway down the runway, flying about 10-15 feet off the deck. By now all you could see were two glorious tattas on the scope and just before the end of the runway we'd stand it on end and I'd look back over my shoulders, Check-6, and see hats being blown everywhere and all the onlookers jumping up and down in absolute elation..! It was a sight to behold..! Word quickly got out and the crowds grew larger and larger each day, and instead of being single deep it often was several deep. Making "french-fries," those were the day's..!! Thanks for the memories you Dutch hotties, both in and out of the aircraft...

[@nero995]

God damn brother what did you not fly, your story is a dream for me

[@stuartb9194]

He never disappoints, great vid, thanks. FYI there is a nudist hot springs in Saline Valley just north of Panamint

[@technogoober5578]

Brilliant podcast. I grew up around Phantoms in Germany/ CONUS. The F-4G was, to me the ultimate modification. I first encountered it in Bert Kinzey's book F-4 Phantom II in detail & scale, Part 2. The back cover photo for the book is the EWO's panel. All the APR-47s indicator lights were covered with masking tape. I've wanted to know what was under that tape for ages. I don't think I got to see a complete cockpit photo until sometime in the 00s. Today I got to see that panel in excellent VR detail, with a full explanation of what it was all about. I have to admit it was a tiny bit cathartic. I agree that the humorous stories are great to break up any technical conversation, but lets not kid ourselves, we all like the technical details. Starbaby has an excellent blend of tech, and humor. The inclusion of the link to the 3D cockpit was fantastic, and really sets this podcast apart from others. Bravo gentlemen, this one is a real gem.

[@10percenttrue]

Thanks for watching and commenting, Techno.

[@Rgordonpilot]

You have best best aviation podcast Absolutely love it. Plus my wife enjoys your soothing voice, she falls asleep with someone else talking aviation instead of me haha

[@10percenttrue]

This made me chuckle.

[@marcosavila8215]

this is Gold, tx so much, now that im flying it on DCS The version E, this is my Favorite plane to fly and the F-14A/B as well. Man flying the F-4E feels like driving a big mustang or Cadillac , not a easy plane to master at all, actually i think it is the most hard plane to Master in DCS, the F14 is way easier but the F4 isnt very forgiven if you make mistakes, you will loose all the energy in a heartbeat, the Landing im still trying to Master after 2 Months of trying it over and over and nice to listen the landing speed with around 3,335 U.S. gal of fuel is around 170-175knt because i was always trying it at 150-155knts now i know why i have always hard landings, surely i need more 15-20knt of speed to make this baby touch smoothly on the runway. Once again THANK YOU BOTH SO MUCH, and Mr Capt Starbaby Pietrucha tx for your service, this video was so entertaining and helpful, cheers from Portugal

[@nunyabizness3436]

Thanks Marco. The way I pretty much landed the Phantom, and I've only done it a couple of times from the back, was come in above 170 knots, set a 3 degree glide slope, and thump it in.

[@corvanphoenix]

So epic that this was actually Starbaby's jet!!!

[@alexanderryan-jones600]

Far out, can you imagine having this in DCS? The finesse and training required to make all this work- outstanding.

[@10percenttrue]

That would be amazing.

[@kerfooey7946]

Soon...

[@nilscrawford4100]

Awesomeness guys… your a funny guy Starbaby. Great entertainment with great info!! 👌

[@stevebooher7419]

Great and informative episode! The incident where the backseater landed the F-4 after the pilot was incapacitated by a bird strike happened in the early 80's. It was an Idaho ANG RF-4C out of Boise. The bird strike occurred during a night sortie. The bird - some sort of waterfowl - struck the left front windscreen pane and took out the pilot's left shoulder. The pilot lost consciousness. Both cockpits were filled with white feathers and blood. The plane landed at Mountain Home AFB. It was a picture perfect landing. Pretty amazing to watch the landing and then see the condition of the cockpits. That backseater saved his pilot's life that night! Bird strikes were a thing in southern Idaho/northern Nevada during the spring and fall during the waterfowl migrations. We had a F-111A lose a radome one day to a bird strike. The pitot tube was banging away at the windscreen right in front of the WSO.

[@GeorgeLittle-uu4jq]

In Nam they were flying just above tree top level and had a 50 percent, or more loss rate while they figure out new tactics with the Wild Weasels. A missile hit the front of the aircraft and the F/C/P canopy vanished and the pilot slumped over with the rain coming in. The WSO guided the aircraft over the sea and was about ready to punch out when he saw the pilot stir. He headed for the nearest runway which was Marine Corp. He landed and the pilot survived. No idea as to extent of injuries or if he was medically retired. The WSO got a Silver Star and no one knew about it, at the base I was at, until his death decades later. The story was in his obituary.

[@sharizabel2582]

Funny thing about the sounds of radars and the EF-111was that very few EWOs knew how to run the system that provided that info when I was flying it toward the end of its life. I just happened to be one that did. Later when flying the EA-6 I remembered the sounds and used them to identify the SAM which we shot with a HARM in Northern Iraq.

[@troyledbetter6597]

Phenomenal interview! I’m looking forward to hearing from StarBaby again and his friends flying stories as well!

[@pyro4002]

They absolutely nailed it with Starbaby's callsign. Another hour and a half-ish of pure entertainment, thank you very much!

[@GeorgeLittle-uu4jq]

ICS box was the LS-460B. 1 hr 4. C-10832 UHF control box [have quick 1] We were always going around and around and around with Depot. The black plastic tips and the white for tone were always going missing, so we'd order new ones. Note: The Have-Quick II UHF control box, in the upper left corner, had a small connector so you could load the Word-of-Day. They never came in and we'd (after 90 days), by regulations, have to kick them back to Depot. Depot would complain we were sending the control boxes back to them without the caps. (Duh! That's what was missing and we couldn't get the parts! And its not like there were a zillion replacement control boxes in the system. So I tried ordering the whole switch. Those came in and we'd just take the cap off the replacement switch and fix the control box. Then the spring on the control box knob was weak. After awhile you could tap the knob and it would spin. (You'd pull back on the control know to access the have quick modes). One of my guys found a five cent fix. Take the face plate off and take the side panels off. Take the nut holding the control switch in place off and pull the switch back so you could slide a flat washer over the shaft. Slide the switch back into place and re-assemble. Depot lied and insisted on replacing the whole switch at 350 USD per control box. They didn't want to 'have to stock 50,000 different flat washers. That it would be using a flat washer in stock didn't matter to them. We were tasked to do as much stuff as we could do out in the (battle) field. Supplies and parts were always going to be an issue. It might be a couple of months before you got parts. It came down to politics. Screw'em. We fixed it ourselves. Command told us to keep doing what we were doing. Of course, they'd disavow any knowledge of such an action; if we got caught. If a visual inspection on a control box came up with a blown capacitor we'd order it. Sometimes supply didn't catch it wasn't something we were authorized to order. If the capacitor came in and it fixed the control box. Great. If it didn't-we'd kick the control box back to Depot. I know they've automatic test stations now. That takes all the fun out of it.

[@GeorgeLittle-uu4jq]

He then goes on to talk about the Aux 'Radio' (receiver). The AM-2349A. It also had an ADF (automatic direction finding) so they could find the flying gas station. It was original F-4 equipment (stone age) versus the (space age) arc-164 UHF radio. The arc-164 had no moving parts. This particular aircraft had the Control Box separated from the RT-1145 radio and the UHF mount (interface to the aircraft). The RT-1168 had the radio attached to the back of the control box 'slice'. It was used in the F-16 (for one). The arc 164 radio was very reliable. The aux rcvr was; air cooled, 'rock bound' (crystal controlled 20 of them) 20 channel, mechanical tuning with tubes solid steel.

[@JK-dv3qe]

THANK YOU GOOD SIR!

[@10percenttrue]

You're welcome!

[@rsuminsby]

Well done, Starbaby. This brought back some long dormant brain cells from EWO school (where we used F-105 vintage gear, and Shrikes & AGM-78s).

[@a.n.7229]

I like this guy.

[@michaelmwenda2238]

I love this page. Excellent content

[@10percenttrue]

Thank you!

[@ChristopherSterwerf]

Great conversation! Funny, informing, and engaging.

[@10percenttrue]

Thanks, Christopher.

[@aceshigh6499]

I love this guys personality. Your videos are amazing sir. Very informative and interesting.

[@forthwithtx5852]

That was a great interview.

[@realQuiGon]

Brilliant stuff! Entertaining and educational at the same time. Love it!

[@mr.miller8207]

My grandfather was a rated F4C pilot assigned to the backseat for a tour in Vietnam, stationed in Da Nang from 11/67 - 03/68. He and his frontseater were killed in Laos, at night, whilst bombing a truck convoy along the Ho Chi Minh trail; therefore, I love any F4 Phantom video. So thank you guys!!

[@SimDeck]

Fascinating stuff. Many thanks for taking the time to put this together.

[@flightsimstuff5417]

Hey, head's up next time - I didn't bring a beer! Great, really great interview.

[@acoustic5738]

what a great conversation, what a great guy.

[@drkskyes]

Awesome coverage. Thanks for the info... thanks for the laughs.

[@wastedapathy22]

Recently discovered and subscribed to this channel, and it is fantastic. Great interviews, and loving Starbaby and his insights. Keep the content coming!

[@rfalkowski]

Great channel overall, but Starbaby episodes are absolute gold! Thank you!

[@bigglestintin6875]

Please don't change your format too much, I think it's perfect as it is mate

[@eicjc]

Bloody brilliant stuff again!

[@seananthonyegan3395]

Excellent videos I really enjoy your channel keep up the good work.

[@kyleb3754]

This is so cool. Thanks to your channel and your guest - Thank you for your service sir!

[@MrTizzl]

What a great episode!

[@10percenttrue]

Cheers, Skid.

[@fisadev]

I just recently started watching your videos, and gosh, I'm enjoying Starbaby's stories so much, haha. Your channel is a good mine :)

[@aikrassin]

Absolutely fascinating, what an amazing aircraft. Also you and Starbaby make an incredible double act, you should go on tour! Thanks so much, great work as usual.

[@prichardgs]

Excellent break down!!!!

[@rudelchw]

The radar computer and its numeric codes to configure or enable certain functions, reminded me of the Saab Viggen, which employed a similar user interface and flew a few years earlier than the F-4G

[@rudelchw]

Another great video by the way, with a wonderfully clear interviewee ... so glad to be a subscriptor of your YT channel :)

[@pugloverg6671]

Great tutorial worked Gs for 8 years…..great video

[@DarkOmenX]

Amazing guy and the way he explains things would defiantly like to have a guy like that as instructor If I where in that kind of business .

[@bobberdude557]

First off, loving the channel. Seeing and hearing old friends talk on here is awesome. Second is a correction though. The Maverick shot into the observatory in Northern Iraq was actually done by an F-16 during Desert Storm. Culprit was “Two Dogs” Hampton as a LT. or at least he claimed he did it. Served with Two Dogs at Incirlik in 99 during ONW where we both were pulling MADDOG and DUKE duties. MADDOG was in the CAOC and DUKE was the airborne ACE on the AWACS. Lots of good ONW stories.

[@GeorgeLittle-uu4jq]

The F-4 guys had trouble with the F-16's side stick controller-because it didn't move. So it was modded to put 1/4 inch of slack into it.

[@dvreelandjr]

Awesome!!! Love the stories!!

[@macedk]

If you ever meet Starbaby at a bar, be prepared to buy the bar, so it never closes and you can get all the stories. Friggin legend story teller :)

[@pugloverg6671]

Great video

[@jayslater3964]

Great Episode. Brings back good memories. I was a crew chief in the 35th at George. Will never forget going on alert when the hostages were taken in Iran. Don't in anyway mean that the hostage crisis was a good situation, but the jelling of our unit in answering the call and being ready to go if needed, seeing the all the little things that always seemed to trip up practice alerts get ironed out, and everyone focused on the job at hand created some good bonds.

[@GeorgeLittle-uu4jq]

I was flip side CRS several years later. Fixed a lot of upper uhf antenna connections because fuels couldn't be bothered to disconnect the antenna before removing panel 48.

[@drkskyes]

Ejection sequence reminded me of Maj Gen Worley, Vice-Commander Seventh AF, being killed in an RF-4C. Had a fire in the camera bay and when the backseater went it pulled the fire into the front seat and he didn't eject. Aircraft impacted on the beach northwest of Danang.

[@10percenttrue]

RIP

[@biggus3348]

Great vid, very entertaining.

[@ortegacasariego]

Starbaby is the best !!

[@ILSRWY4]

Very Cool!

[@sugarpuddin]

I understand now those clocks were always pilfered out of retiring air craft. Around 1982 we installed a UHF Have Quick system into the RF-4c. It was the RT-1168 UHF-AM transceiver (Raytheon) - An absolutely incredible radio for its time. We did not have the KY-58. I read, "KY-58 production completed in March 1993." I am curious why the need for the KY-58 since the RT-1168 with Have Quick essentially hid your communications from others (by frequency hopping - though not technically encryption). I am not sure what the limitations where for the RT-1168 (perhaps the Have Quick system only worked 'line of sight'), but it did a helluva good job protecting communication secrecy. BTW: We also used the enormous RT-712 HF radio in the RF-4c. It held about a dozen tubes in it! It was very old school, a bear to repair, but really awesome functionality - just like a HAM radio today.

[@f4windex]

Starbaby! Good to see you here, Windex (forever.) PS: these stories are waaay more than 10 percent true! Brought back some dusty old memories.

[@tsechejak7598]

I’ll be searching out Starbaby books if he has any, likely he’s as great a writer as he is a fun details Oerter and story teller! Star baby rocks

[@10percenttrue]

I don't think he has any books out, but he certainly has lots of articles.

[@guggyp]

I was an INS weapons release tech on the F4C F4E and the Wild Weasel F4 G The Es we had got sent to St Louis and came back as Gs. I loved the Gs but nothing flew and didn’t break like the Es Later I went and got my engineering degree at worked at China Lake on the AV-8B. F-18 and the F35 Most of my work was on GPS systems and GPS weapons

[@GeorgeLittle-uu4jq]

I recall being told the E to G conversion was 3 million.

[@pugloverg6671]

The office for 8 years at Osan and George….great content…Cheers Starbaby..$$$$$

[@carlfasbinder5746]

We used this airplane for testing to determine why antennas were breaking. Removed antennas and replaced them with accelerometers and added an instrumentation package in the back seat. Flew several missions using standard profiles and determined that acceleration was greater than in F-4 standards. As a result antennas were modified to prevent breakage.

[@ronjon7942]

He’s great.

[@pugloverg6671]

The old Vietnam or Thailand guys were CD guys that retrained to the EG….i believe…..I used to hear the guys talk about shred out……

[@phamanh30926]

Love it

[@thebgpikester]

I nearly herniated trying to contain myself at the zero G piss story!

[@AviationPlus]

Awesome video I could not stop watching. Word of the video "Pansy Boy"

[@babadrozaydn1500]

SUPER

[@adeletanner2262]

With regard to cockpit swapping, I've never, ever heard about it, and I spent some 20 years in operational military flying units.. I've swapped cockpits in the F-4 Simulator countless times, as it was valuble experience for both crewmembers, but that's totally different. Perhaps it happened in Nam? In the early F-4 days in Nam, both the FCP and RCP of USAF F-4's were crewed by pilots. To the best of my recollection, only the USAF F-4 (not the USN) had a stick in the pit, and after a few years the USAF transitioned from a pilot to a WSO in the RCP. Again, I never heard of it, but perhaps "cockpit swapping" may have happened when there were two pilots flying in both seats of the old double-ugly? It may be possible however, that you are confusing swapping cockpits with swapping wives, lol..? Because when I first arrived at Spangdahlem AB in the early 80's there was "wife-swapping" going on, so maybe you're eluding to that? After a night at the O'club some guys would put their car keys on a table, mix them up, select a set without looking, and go home with someone else's spouse or girlfriend. As the saying went, especially amongst the Nam combat veterans, "If there's enough for me, there's enough for my friends." Knickers!

[@StarbabyAirPiracyProductions]

Yeah, I remember the wife-swapping stories but I was there a decade later than you. I'm aware of the history of the Pilot Systems Officers (PeSOs), but that was in the 60s. The story I related was definitely a WSO thing. Bus, as I pointed out, I heard about it and have no ability to verify.

[@christianscazzieri]

Loved the episod, great, GREAT content, thanks for posting!

[@drinksnapple8997]

There is a USAAF Supermarine Spitfire PRXI in the USAF Museum at Wright Pat.

[@sharizabel2582]

Hey Star Baby, greetings from Zog. We were in the last F-4 class together.

[@marcosavila8215]

we need more of this 49:51 come on the pilot couldn't do a crossword puzzle while AA refueling, i have done air to air refuel in this big girl and once again is the most hard plane to AAR in DCS, the pilot must have his eyes fixed on the lights of the tanker. i loved to much this, is sad that a year ago 2023 DCS hadn't the F-4 yet like it does now, would be sweet to see it in action since DCS F4E is a high detailed aircraft, would be nice to interview again Starbaby with the DCS F-4E

[@nunyabizness3436]

No, of course not. It was typically a race to get the puzzle done before we made it to the track.

[@pugloverg6671]

Our guys had the mode 4 and KY 28 paddles on the launch truck…..

[@Cannon1971]

1:04:01 I was one of the guys that had to reset the chaff/flare counter. I guess I was stationed at Spang the same time Starbaby was. 90-92 Small world.

[@pugloverg6671]

Many hours in that cockpit changing boxes in the floor and under the consoles….tons of relays wired in boxes that could be removed and relays replaced and yes they came wired but sometimes bare relays that we soldered wires to….it’s been said 200 switches and relays had to work when the pickle button is pushed to missile going off the rail….

[@pugloverg6671]

And yes had to trace power from arm to fire through Many pages of wiring diagrams meshing different systems….and when you get to classified had to get Those guys to work with …..fun times…..

[@GeorgeLittle-uu4jq]

I remember the missy 2

[@darrylnelson6264]

I went to Bahrain with the Weasels and Recces.

[@marcosavila8215]

wow the computer had just 64k we came such a long way

[@pugloverg6671]

Those rear seat buckets basically come out whenever there’s a avionics squawk…many boxes are under the console control panels…..

[@GeorgeLittle-uu4jq]

Yeah, it you had to remove the UHF mount or to access the upper/lower antenna relay switch. The front seat had to come out if you had to replace the VOR/ILS unit.

[@pugloverg6671]

This guy has many hours of use in this plane…..pleasure to get e squawk from him in debrief

[@pugloverg6671]

Our radar guys had different career code for the CD and EG guys……

[@jubuttib]

Interesting to hear how the audio ID is so important to these, and him saying that it's still better than the newer stuff. We've made a lot of progress in audio processing in the last 20 or so years, and we can easily pick out things that no human would be able to pinpoint, so I wonder what the latest generation developments are like. I mean while a computer can pick out things that a human can't, maybe there are still some specifics that a human can pick out better. Would also be interesting to hear more about the difference in sound between a threat noise and a civvie radar that has the same frequency, pri and pulse width. What kind of differences are there between them that stand out to a human listener?

[@GeorgeLittle-uu4jq]

There was an incident in which US fighters had to break a Libyan Fire Control Radar lock before they could engage them. US news played the tones and the hair stood up on the back of my neck. I couldn't find them but I did find this: 7 seconds. kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y3Lcf6iCapVgepo

[@patcesare2318]

Great episode. What was going to be StarBaby's 'AOA story'?

[@10percenttrue]

I'll ask him...

[@jubuttib]

Awww man, I wanted to go to the museum website to check out those cockpits, but so far all of the links I've tried are broken, and don't point to the right place. =(

[@10percenttrue]

Yeah, they have been broken for at least a few weeks, now. I wonder whether the museum plans to fix them?

[@jubuttib]

@@10percenttrueThankfully the Android app is still working at least.

[@anthonylwalker]

@@jubuttib can you point us to it? What's the app name?

[@wiesenbefeuchter]

Was the -88's mode displayed somewhere ?

[@FlyNAA]

You gotta tell the wizzo if you’re gonna wizz!

[@Max-dk5vz]

Guys putting the boom to your receptacle So to speak :))

[@eatthisvr6]

How close is this to the e?

[@GeorgeLittle-uu4jq]

Can't tell you that but a part of the conversion mod was the addition of a horizontal ECM antenna along the top of the vertical stab. I've been told it was a 3 million dollar modification.

[@realQuiGon]

21:12 Not the kind of record I expected :D

[@Broadwaymungo]

YGBSM

[@0MoTheG]

Sounded like a electronics failure from the point the lights came on. Never trust the sensors and lights!

[@eatthisvr6]

Fi? No I don't know what that means seriosuly

[@CrazyRussianPilot]

🧐🧐🧐🧐🧐🧐🧐🧐🧐

[@B1900pilot]

KY-58= “drop synch”

[@Max-dk5vz]

Operator: We have a bright star coming straight at us very fast with a big flame... Dudes analyzing scientific stuff : What we should call it? AGM-65 Entered the dome: Maverick baby.

[@georgiogorge]

Comment

[@JK-dv3qe]

Russia have the very best 'bleeding-edge' ground air defense in the world (don't think that is controversial). USA have not prioritized air defense because they have mostly been going up against not-credible air forces. are the effects of that what we are seeing in Ucryin? S-400 anyone?

[@10percenttrue]

It'll be interesting to hear Starbaby's views on this. We have a forthcoming episode planned that will present an opportunity to ask him his view.

[@briancooper2112]

Great channel and video's 📹