Flying the F-105 Wild Weasel over Vietnam - Ekman, Fisher, Schleich, Metz and Johnson

[@susangardner5294]

My sincerest thanks to all of these gentlemen. My father was Mr. Eckman’s EWO. Sadly, my dad did not return to us alive, only his remains many years later.

[@susanstetson3435]

Just stumbled across this video. Sorry for your loss. My dad was also a WW EWO. My dad will talk about his WW days but it’s only been in the last 15 years or so.

[@nichille]

Thanks so much for helping preserve this history before its too late. You're doing real Sierra Hotel work, Steve - keep it up!

[@10percenttrue]

Thanks, Nic. Yes, I wish that I had taped some of the WW2 guys I interviewed back in the day. Some of the Vietnam WW guys are now in their late 80s (Ben Fuller, for example), and I think that they recognise that it's important to get their full stories (or as much as practical) down on tape.

[@deeparks3112]

I tip my hat to all of you Wild Weasel pilots, you fellows were in the business of saving lives. I too served in Vietnam, 67-68, my primary job being SIGINT intercept work. Those SAM sites around the larger cities of North Vietnam were manned by Chinese Army AA units. Those units did a one-year tour in NV. They came out of China via rail, but had to trans-ship at the border due to the different gauge (French based) of track in Vietnam. This was done to enable NV to divert more troops to the South. I know, it was my job to track those Chinese AAunits prior to my one-year on the ground in South Vietnam.

[@10percenttrue]

Wow. Were there Russian advisers evident in the kill chain, too?

[@deeparks3112]

@@10percenttrue I don't know, my specialty at the time was CHICOM military. Indications of RU activity in NV would not have came through my shop unless there came a need for me to know - that never happened.. Check out James Bamford's "Body of Secrets" for an idea of how US SIGINT worked on the ground in VN.

[@jordanharvey5739]

Amazing video, thank you for what you do!

[@sedlo]

Watched this twice this weeekend. So much information, great stories and a real sense of the people behind it all. Great panel interview Steve! Thank you for putting this together, and thank you to Fish, Paul, ET, Fred and Lucky for sharing your stories.

[@10percenttrue]

That's a lot of viewing, Sedlo! Thanks for the kind feedback.

[@Gabriel-Abdala]

Great, I'll listen to these bad boys tomorrow at work, thanks very much from Australia, love your work.

[@10percenttrue]

Hope you enjoyed it, Gabriel. Thanks for commenting.

[@justsmy5677]

Hats off to you gentlemen. You pioneered the WW tactics and served your nation proudly. This video brought back the memory of the big Thud model hanging from the ceiling in the back (crud) room of the George O Club. I flew F-4s in the late 80s and early 90s. We always held you Vietnam combat vets in high esteem!

[@DavidGeorge197]

Great interview

[@technogoober5578]

Excellent episode. Several stories in this video related to other stories I have heard/ read over the years. The story of the B-52 hit and losing fuel is over on the NMUSAF site. Recognized many other names and incidents from many years ago. It's fascinating to tie all these stories together along with the first hand commentaries. This one humanized the experience more so than most others. I realize both these experiences happen all the time but this episode was a unique nexus event for me. Very well done and thank you all for your time.

[@terifarley4770]

Knife fighting weasils have ALWAYS been the coolest most badss topic to read about! Iron hand to!

[@eicjc]

That was simply excellent Steve. I’ll be watching this one again.

[@10percenttrue]

Thank you, Jim! It was great fun to do.

[@ja37d-34]

Really cool when you get these old gentlemen going. Absolute lovely. :) Thanks!

[@viksaini]

Great Panel discussion. The synergies between the pilots was excellent for bringing out more details of their experiences. Thanks for posting.

[@10percenttrue]

Thanks for dropping a comment, Vik, Glad you enjoyed it.

[@davidd708]

I enjoy all the 10 Percent interviews, but this one was among the best. Great interview technique... just enough to get the old warriors talking, and then out of the way! Thanks for capturing this history before it's gone!

[@10percenttrue]

Cheers, David. Nothing like listening to old fighter guys telling war stories.

[@ramses2797]

Hey you have got to be one of the best interviewers I have seen... most of the interviews I have seen from other channels while they may be good just have the pilots talking in a general kind of way but you really had these guys go into detail. I think a lot of pilots think most people aren't interested in these kind of details but the truth is there are a lot of people who really enjoy it... keep up the good work 👏👍🏾

[@10percenttrue]

Thanks for the feedback and support, Ramses.

[@charlesbarbour2331]

These people are just the most fantastic interviewees and to top it all off you managed to get the most out of the interview Steve by: 1. Letting then speak when what they were saying was extraordinarily interesting 2. Putting in extremely well thought though questions at the right time to keep the fascination up. In fact, I have a question for you Steve: - Roughly what percentage of the questions you ask are pre-prepared and what percentage you come up with based on what the interviewees say to you?

[@boggy8557]

Agree with all of the above and also been wondering the same about the questions.

[@10percenttrue]

Thanks very much for the kind words and positive feedback, Charles. In answer to your question, I don't prepare questions ahead of time and so I always blush when people are kind and congratulate me on preparing well for an interview. Certainly, there are recurring themes in my interviews (what were the emotions, the challenges, the good and the bad), but I take the arguably pretentious view that the story should be whatever the interviewee wants it to be, and that my job is not to drive the agenda. In reality, I suppose that I do end up driving some of the agenda, but not as much as if I were to pre-prepare my questions. The only exception is where I have a guest who is a little nervous or who wants to have some questions upfront so that they can be prepared, but even in those cases I don't stick to the script and no one has yet complained! Anyway, I hope that answers your questions and doesn't contribute to anyone forming a dim view of me!

[@maddthomas]

Dude, this is some of your best work, thank you for getting this guys together. Get more of these Weasels.

[@10percenttrue]

Thanks! I am trying to get an F-4G Desert Storm panel interview in place, but it's proving tricky. Any F-4G guys reading this get in touch!

[@colocopper8464]

@@10percenttrue To more Wild Weasel's you might try perusing sites devoted to George AFB. The Thud Weasel drivers were rotated there after their North Vietnam mission ended around 1973 and stayed at George until the F-4G took over the mission in the late 70's. The F-4G Weasel's went TDY to Desert Storm and then returned to George AFB until the base was closed down due to BRACC in the early 90's. I was at George AFB from 75-79 including splitting my time up at air to ground gunnery range at Cuddeback Dry Lake which served all of George's F-4's and F-105G's as well as a few other aircraft types on occasion. Anyway... you might still find some Weasel's on a few websites devoted to George. Also the G model Thuds were transferred to the Reserves in Georgia after the F-4G took over at George AFB. Can't remember for sure but I think it was Dobbins AFB. Anyway... good luck and I watch your videos all the time.

[@pugloverg6671]

Amazing listening to these old guys tell stories

[@-theflea-4561]

Love the panel interview, you channel is growing, if slowly. Anyone with an interest in aviation should definitely watch your content 👍

[@10percenttrue]

It's certainly slow growth... and I very much appreciate your continued viewership :)

[@aaronjoustra4729]

Fantastic group interview. These guys all should be awarded a golden wheelbarrow to carry their balls in!

[@stephenharrison7651]

excellent content, keep it going.

[@10percenttrue]

Thanks, Stephen. Will do!

[@chrisjones2149]

Another great video, thanks to all the weasels and thanks as always for the content.

[@10percenttrue]

Thanks, Chris! It was a fun episode to record.

[@tbuc76]

Watching a little bit late due RL, but wow, this is a real historical doc you made here.

[@corvanphoenix]

This is absolutely outstanding content. I can't believe how lucky I was to be forwarded a link to this channel a few days ago. I've watched at least 6h a day, since! It's not fair to say any one episode is the best - however I will say, this one is a masterpiece. IMO.

[@10percenttrue]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@Dan-qp1el]

Another good one Steve!

[@tophatter85]

Thanks for the great videos!

[@thechadillac1211]

Incredible podcast.

[@tonyaughney8945]

Another great interview.

[@10percenttrue]

Thanks, Tony. It was a lot of fun to do.

[@sashD7609]

Another great piece of content.

[@10percenttrue]

Glad you enjoyed it, Sasha. Thank you for commenting.

[@benjohnson4606]

Excellent content as always , very informative , always interesting and impeccably hosted, keep it up

[@10percenttrue]

Cheers, Ben!

[@sr707ca8]

👍 love it

[@guffroofing]

This is amazing thank you for this

[@10percenttrue]

My pleasure!

[@pugloverg6671]

I worked on E and G models at George and Osan…..Respect to the guys that came before us….worked with some guys from utapau and Korat….respect

[@rotad9967]

Dying to know what that upside down Viper behind Lucky is about...

[@maddthomas]

If you read "First in Last Out: Stories by the Wild Weasels" There is a man with the call sign "Grouchy Bear", if you can find someone who flew with him would be outstanding. He was an extremely good EWO. The single story about him in the book, he was 1 of 4 EWO's on a flight and he was the only one to keep a clear picture of the North Vietnamese Electronic Order of Battle, all the other EWO could not because there were so many radars, it had a to be a significant event to make it in the book. Also in the same book, an airman figured out a way to make the RWR give you an azimuth of the SAM sight shooting at you. If you could find more about that airman would be great too;.

[@10percenttrue]

I'm talking to Lucky, ET and Paul M again next week. Will ask them.

[@maddthomas]

@@10percenttrue Dude, please. In that book, if you haven't read it, read it. Grouchy Bear, if I'm not misremembering, started out in B-17's in WW II, and the man was good. That Airman saved lives, I would love to hear more about them, thank you.

[@pugloverg6671]

Respect to you old guys

[@vote1barkerblairbarker227]

Another ripper interview

[@10percenttrue]

Thank you!

[@robo3915]

I love these interviews! Do you think you get a better interview in a panel like this, as it stimulates the conversation to go into areas you hadn’t thought of?

[@10percenttrue]

Thanks, Robert. I love doing these for exactly that reason. I have an EF-111 Desert Storm interview lined up for Jan. Two guys - pilot and EWO - who were paired for the war. Could be interesting!

[@JoesFirewoodVideos]

Watch time is also very important to the KZbin algorithm

[@10percenttrue]

Do you know if it's wath time or watch time as a percentage of total video length?

[@dutchbrotherfan1284]

I converted an Revell F-105 D 1/72

[@averagejoe1943]

Question, why were they called Bears?

[@YT-mn4eq]

Commenting for the algorithm

[@10percenttrue]

🙏🏻

[@boggy8557]

Oh yeah! Looking forward to this one!!!! Guess I'll join the cool kids and say......"first comment"..

[@10percenttrue]

Thanks, Boggy!

[@maddthomas]

Dude please get people who flew with Billy Sparks and Ed Rock.

[@10percenttrue]

I'll put some feelers out. I wonder whether Lucky knew them...

[@maddthomas]

@@10percenttrue I am finishing watching your interview with Ben Fuller, he mentioned Billy Sparks. Have you tried to asking these guys about Rosco?

[@dutchbrotherfan1284]

Summer of 75.

[@dutchbrotherfan1284]

To an F-105G. I would drop gas baggies on an matchbook fire to simulate Napalm. I ended up catching the field on fire my dad came out with a belt after we put out the fire I grabbed my Thud and hit the deck on full afterburner to highway 99 where I lost him only later did I get hit I punched out got rescued by my mom where I had ice cream and had to sign a propaganda confession that I would nit do that again and that I was guilty of a war crime against the people of Elk Grove California

[@10percenttrue]

Thanks, Dutch. Pleased to hear that I was not alone in recreating combat scenes with my plastic models!

[@jettsetter7]

I love how the most interesting guy-YF-23 and F-22 guy-says nothing lol.

[@forenamesurname1183]

comment

[@10percenttrue]

:) One for the algorithm,. Thanks!

[@corvanphoenix]

G'day algorithm!

[@cellbadgeregistrationandpo8063]

Anyone know WW #922, "Huck" Smith? He flew the F-105 in 1972.