Good morning Ron, another great video! When I got to UPT in 1981, I had zero flying experience. I could not hit my ass with either hand at first. Then one day, some sort of divine inspiration struck me, and I began to learn how to fly the tweet. Didn’t mean the screaming, and the threats and intimidation from the instructors stopped, but I was progressing. As much as I loved the 38, I fondly remember the Tweet. It’s a great way to start the day with another video from Ron Rogers!
@ronrogers7 ай бұрын
Thanks! I appreciate that!
@maxsmodels7 ай бұрын
Now I want to build that A-37 model kit that I have.
@fred1barb7 ай бұрын
In 1970 I was flying my OH-6 back from Cambodia when I spotted activity at a road intersection through which we would be moving salvaged armor. The column had already encountered ambushes and large mines. The AF and Navy were sometimes on call for ad hoc missions, so I made the call and an F-100 responded. The target area, a stand of big trees, was quite small, and we did not need craters in the road. He made a slow shallow approach, under fire and put two in the trees. It looked to me as if they detonated in the tree canopy and in any case, he took more fire when he came around for a look, before heading for the barn. Then a pair of VNAF A-37s showed up and asked if they could give it try. They literally dive bombed the target, then looped back over the target inverted for a second run. It was quite something to watch, though I wondered if those pilots weren't a little bit crazy. They had a full loadout and dropped it all. Ground fire stopped and the woods were burning as the A-37s made an inverted low pass just to show off. This story takes nothing from the AF jock, he dropped exactly on the target, and he did it under fire. He was the guy you would want if the call was "danger close." But those A-37 guys did it with style.
@ronrogers7 ай бұрын
Great story!
@matiascamou7 ай бұрын
Thank you for the Uruguayan Air Force A37 photo you put in your presentation! Made me remember my old man who flew them. Great presentation and great stories!!
@ronrogers7 ай бұрын
I am glad that bought you happiness!
@allensanders55357 ай бұрын
its nice to learn about the A-37 there was a squadron of them that replaced the B-58s at grissom air base where i live about 8 mi. from, they were the (434 SOW) A-37 Dragonfly, or Super Tweet but they were only there a few years before being replaced by the A-10. it was a big change after watching KC-135s and B-58s flying around and then the little bitty tweet compared to those.
@ronrogers7 ай бұрын
All things considered, I would have rather flown the B-58!!
@allensanders55357 ай бұрын
@@ronrogers ya they were cool but let me tell ya I know they say the tweet was loud but it didn't compare to a 58 flying at 2000ft. over your house every single day all day even the 135s were quiet with the 4 J57 turbojet engine.
@USAFUser7 ай бұрын
@@ronrogersYou gotta be John Denvers dad or something like that to fly the hustler ..
@ronrogers7 ай бұрын
I remembering them flying out of Offset AFB and getting "boomed" regularly at my home in Iowa City. Kind of enjoyed it! People would be complaining to high heaven these days!
@warped-sliderule7 ай бұрын
Ron, Awesome photo of "second best fighter pilot", A-37, on TPS ramp with 1600 and tower in background - classic! Thanks for lore/stories about fighter pilots in bars and how avoid getting your personal bits ingested by those conveniently placed intakes. Fondly remembering the A-37 "Converter" - Excels at converting JP-4 to NOISE!!!!
@ronrogers7 ай бұрын
Glad you enjoyed it
@521-n3y7 ай бұрын
the picture at 10:54 brings a lot of memories with the M&M hanger on the left with the control tower and fire department in the back ground. Where the F111 is setting is where out C-130's were parked along with the B58. I was at EAFB 1967-68 worked of the JC-130 airal recovery program.
@ronrogers7 ай бұрын
Yes, we had 4 F-111s, Only 2 at any time operational!
@giancarlogarlaschi43887 ай бұрын
" Where do you want the bombs ...Windows or Doors " Vietnamese A 37 Pilots to American Forward Air Controller. As told by my B 777 Instructor at Qatar Airways years ago. He was a former OV 10 Bronco Pilot . Kindest Regards
@bobcfi13067 ай бұрын
Also. I would like to hear you and your son discuss the very different paths you guys took to the airlines. Thanks
@ronrogers7 ай бұрын
Yes that would be interesting! If I could only pin him down!
@renetheresin5622 ай бұрын
Great description. Flew them in our air force, FAH. Honduras.
@danawalkerley13957 ай бұрын
I know you did a video on the DO-328 turbo prop. When you mentioned the thrust to weight ratio of the A-37 the Do-328 jet came to mind. If I remember correctly an empty jet was only like 25,000lbs but you had about 12,000lbs of thrust.
@DaleShipsIt7 ай бұрын
Saw one of the ex-VAF A-37 in a hangar in Darwin in the late 1990s, being worked over to become a civilian warbird. The thing that struck me was how little it really was. Remember thinking, "Oh boy, it's no bigger than a C-172".
@ronrogers7 ай бұрын
But much more powerful and fast!
@hesimplywillnotdie7 ай бұрын
One of my favorite aircraft. Thank you, Ron!
@ronrogers7 ай бұрын
Very welcome
@dirtydave26917 ай бұрын
There were A-37s at Howard AFB in Panama during my time there in the Army. (Fort Clayton 88-89). Really cool seeing them flying low over the Empire Range training area.
@Bobm-kz5gp7 ай бұрын
We had South Vietnamese pilots come into Cam Ranh Bay with tweety birds and at DaNang they were based there in 69 and 70. Nosiest jet ever, skull splitting shriek. I wished I could have flown them!
@USAFUser7 ай бұрын
It indeed has a very annoying high pitch screech at idle power.
@craigcowan29717 ай бұрын
I’ve always wondered, carrying six external fuel tanks had to increase drag. At a certain point, isn’t it just diminished returns?
@ronrogers7 ай бұрын
Yes. The F-4 had the same issue
@Jeff-tb9kp7 ай бұрын
Didn’t think this video would be interesting……but nope!…..it was great. Loved it.
@ronrogers7 ай бұрын
Glad you enjoyed it!
@PetesGuide7 ай бұрын
Did the A-37 not have the thrust attenuators the T-37 did, to keep the engine spooled up during landings?
@cjc11037 ай бұрын
No. The thrust attenuators were a band-aid fix to keep the J69 engines "spooled up" as you say during landing, because otherwise it took too long to increase thrust, and up to 18 sec to go to full thrust for a go-around. I remember you were in and out of the thrust attenuators during landing, they acting like little speed brakes. The J85s had a lot more thrust and were quicker to spool up.
@ronrogers7 ай бұрын
No thrust attenuators on the A-37. The J-85 had a much faster spool up time, 8 secs vs 18 secs. Also, the A-37 had much more drag with all the external tanks so the approach power was higher.
@PetesGuide7 ай бұрын
About your “shack” story at 16:00 . My first time firing a pistol on the range, up in Marin at a facility owned by an employee of a certain CAD company I was familiar with but which shall remain nameless (and his wife), somewhat near San Quentin, I was going through a safety course with some excellent instructors. This might have been the third class. Set up with a Ruger 22 on a leather bean bag. Took a few minutes to steady my breath an index finger, align the sight, and squeeze. I was sure I had missed, because I couldn’t see any holes. So flipped the target motor switch and brought the paper back to my station. Couldn’t see the hole from 25 yards because it was dead-center on the 🎯! I have a similar story about my first time playing miniature golf, on the last hole with a tapered ramp without edges that ran up to a hole like a bird’s nest. Got me a free submarine sandwich out of that! But you already know how the next shots at both locations went…
@ronrogers7 ай бұрын
First time my wife shot a pistol, a 38, she hit dead center (screamed, dropped the revolver and stepped back). In the end, you cold have put a dime over her pattern. The instructor told me never to piss her off!🤣🤣🤣
@johnmorykwas23432 ай бұрын
I had the lowest CE of the wing, but never had a shack
@kristensorensen22197 ай бұрын
You make listening fun!!👍😤💛
@ronrogers7 ай бұрын
Glad you enjoy it!
@my-yt-inputs25807 ай бұрын
I had an 0-6 boss many years ago who flew the A-37 as chase during the early testing days of the F-117. This was back before it was acknowledged. Flying out of you know where in Nevada.
@ronrogers7 ай бұрын
Name of Ruth?
@my-yt-inputs25807 ай бұрын
@@ronrogers Yep...Ruthmo
@ronrogers7 ай бұрын
Interesting. He was my boss at the command post. For 6 month he talked about how he was going to Stan/Eval at EDW as T-38 senior flight examiner. One day the Chief of Stan/Eval asked to fly the T-38 with me. We had a nice flight and as we were siging in he said, "How would you like to come to Stan/Eval and be the T-38 senior flight examiner." I said, but my boss has been talking about how he was going to be the SFE. The Col looked at me and repeated.."How... I said I would be honored. He turned and walked away. I was in a bit of shock. Ruth was very unhappy and wrote me a very bad OER. Wing commander changed the bad items and made very nice comments but I figured my AF career had taken a big hit. Didn't matter once I got out. Not a fan of Ruth.
@my-yt-inputs25807 ай бұрын
@@ronrogers Sorry to hear that about him. He was probably the best boss I ever had. I worked with him at 9 AF Stan/Eval at Shaw. After the 1st Gulf War. He had been a SQ/CC at Seymore prior flying the F-4 then transitioned to F-15E. He ended up retiring at AFMC Stan/Eval down in Florida.
@ronrogers7 ай бұрын
Well, maybe he changed. He was my across the street neighbor and when he left for his next assignment in '78, all the neighbors (all pilots) had a party on his yard (this was on base) and essentially trashed it. I actually have pictures. You be the judge of the meaning of that. He was upset he never got invited to the pilot parties, so we had one on his yard when he left.
@briancooper21127 ай бұрын
Underrated airplane.
@ShadesOClarity7 ай бұрын
Just got off work and didn't see the premiere. F-16 pilots call their aircraft "The Viper" as you know. "Fighting Falcon" just doesn't match the meanness of it's capability. The Supertweet looks like a fun aircraft to fly. The Wild Weasel mission took brass cajones.
@patrickflohe74277 ай бұрын
I never heard the F-16 called the viper, when I was in. Never understood why people had to change names of jets, just because they think it’s cooler.
@ShadesOClarity7 ай бұрын
@@patrickflohe7427 It's same reason Ron described the aircraft in this video. Nobody changed the name, it's just what the pilots call the F-16 and its variants.
@bobcfi13067 ай бұрын
Very interesting to a 50 year civilian pilot. Thanks
@ronrogers7 ай бұрын
Glad you enjoyed it
@CAPEjkg7 ай бұрын
It may be a tweet, but you had a gun at least, haha. Great story as usual.
@FlyingGentile2 ай бұрын
18:44 😂 thats one of the birds I work on in Baltimore
@richardgreen78112 ай бұрын
I've heard several comments on the A-37 from acquaintances in the Air Force during Vietnam who elected not to fly the plane due to safety concerns. Their comments were while making a comparison of the A-37 to the A-1 in terms of load and performance characteristics. While the A-1 could and did (as I witnessed) carry extremely heavy ordinance loads across the entire breadth of the wing while performing attack maneuvers, it was reported that the A-37 had a very limited ordinance load capability and also was highly susceptible to developing spar cracks ... and further had instances where the pilot may (or may not have) pulled excessive G's resulting in wing failure at the root thereby collapsing the wings and making each wing slam together below the fuselage ... causing the nickname "the clapper". Truth or War-Stories ???
@ronrogers2 ай бұрын
The A-37 definitely had a limited load carrying capability. Had not heard of some o f the other issues you mention but like any military aircraft, it certainly had a number of issues.
@richardgreen78112 ай бұрын
@@ronrogers And like many Bar Pilots ... "they" have a number of issues.
@derekschroeder99927 ай бұрын
Believe it or not, there is a A37 currently being restored back to flying condition at my home airport (KLNK).
@ronrogers7 ай бұрын
Cool!
@bigdaddie407 ай бұрын
Mr. Digress, are you going to be at OSH this year? I'd love to buy you a beer or 2 or 3.
@ronrogers7 ай бұрын
Yes I will. Getting in Sunday night and staying until Thursday.
@bigdaddie407 ай бұрын
@@ronrogers I'll get your contact info later. We usually get in on Sunday and leave the following Sunday.
@johnmorykwas23432 ай бұрын
It's called a "peter pockit". On non G-suit.
@kiwidiesel4 ай бұрын
I love how we have progressed to digressing from a digression 😂
@PetesGuide7 ай бұрын
The plane at 31:28 doesn’t have the refueling probe. Which model was that?
@ronrogers7 ай бұрын
Not sure, but there was a period where the A-37s were undergoing a modification to add the refueling probes.
@jcheck67 ай бұрын
@@ronrogers Great vid Ron! Flew it active duty at DMAFB '82-'85 (IP/SEFE 800+ hrs). Regularly AAR'd with KC-135's and KC-10's. We and all the Guard units (Battle Creek/Peoria etc) flew it in a FAC role. Shot hundreds of WP rockets but no bombs. The gun was removed. Don't recall any of the issues you mentioned. We had one accident (hit a cable) where both ejected successfully. Fun a/c to fly even after coming from the RF-4C. When and where did you fly it?
@ronrogers7 ай бұрын
Flew it out of Youngstown. We still had the fighter configuration.
@brianmee53987 ай бұрын
The only Cessna with more fuel tanks than a 310.
@ronrogers7 ай бұрын
You got that right!
@giancarlogarlaschi43887 ай бұрын
1976 T 37 Cross Country flight , Williams AFB ... We were entering the Officers Club , I heard a bell , my Instructor pulls me down to the floor. Then he asked me : " Sorry ...but would you like to buy a drink to All these guys ? ". I was barely 20 years old , SATP , Chilean Air Force. My Instructor was First Lieutenant Mr. Kennett Nelson , a True Officer and Gentleman . At the time Willy AFB was Full of Canadian and European Fighter Pilots. Fantastic Memories ! Kindest Regards Ps. Went straigth back to Chile to fly the A 37B " Dragonfly " !
@PetesGuide7 ай бұрын
We’re you allowed to wear BDUs while carrying BDUs under the wings?
@stevetobe44947 ай бұрын
THE USAF didn't wear BDUs until 1987. The Olive Drab fatigues were worn before then. Concerning BDU practice bombs, we assembled thousands of them.
@michaeldolch91267 ай бұрын
I’m amazed a centrifugal jet engine was being used in Vietnam! I thought those were all but extinct after the early 50s!!
@ronrogers7 ай бұрын
The A-37 used the axial flow J-85. The trainer the T-37 used be centrifugal flow j-69.
@michaeldolch91267 ай бұрын
@@ronrogers thanks for the clarification! I thought I might have missed something when I’m the later portion of the video I saw the axial engine.
@softwaresignals7 ай бұрын
Ron, a lot of cool details, excellent! I hope you do a video on what fighter pilots and you thought of Mugs McKeown flipping or tumbling (a lot of pitch axis I think) an F-4 Phantom in 1972 combat, and also in the 1960's in tests. Reference: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gWrCpIiko9iprposi=wdLuBjNYB8QuuahR&t=55
@ronrogers7 ай бұрын
I have heard about using the "departure from controlled flight" maneuver as a tactical maneuver but only second hand. So, as I understand it, it can be done, but no direct experience.
@softwaresignals7 ай бұрын
@ronrogers I'm a flight controls aero engineer, and departed flight is interesting. Mugs McKeown was said to have perfected an F-4 move that flipped it, and he actually crashed one in the 1960's trying it (bailed out). Then the famous Mig dogfight happened, and, to this day, after hearing audio recordings of Mugs talking about it in the Navy Archives, I'm not sure if he meant to flip it in combat !!! He did it though, as his RIO Ensch attests to this day. History favors the bold I guess. Or the Lucky maybe? Seems he might have ripped the tail off if speed was high enough.
@ronrogers7 ай бұрын
Interesting. Out at Edwards AFB, thru Cal Sate Fresno, I almost completed my Masters in Aero and it was coupled with an EE Masters. I was ONE course short and regret I did not complete the dual degrees, but I was getting out of the AF and pursuing an ATP so ran out of time. My understanding was that to get the high AOA required a low speed and by adding in aileron, the aircraft would depart. This was noticeable when maneuvering the F-4 at high AOA and applying aileron which was becoming ineffective. You had to keep the roll going by applying rudder and neutralizing the ailerons, or you would depart. Got into the high AOA situation, but never departed an F-4.
@ronrogers7 ай бұрын
Actually, I do now remember a pilot at the bar telling me how he used the departure maneuver (in training) to evade and get behind an aggressor. It may have been the beer talking however!
@jcheck67 ай бұрын
@@ronrogers I think you are correct Ron. After departure you get one chance to recover and that is with the drag chute.
@PetesGuide7 ай бұрын
Did you ever lose that wiggling bug game and have to buy a round?
@ronrogers7 ай бұрын
Never did!🤣🤣🤣
@ralphleslie18117 ай бұрын
After flying the F-100 in Vietnam and being a T-38 instructor, I went to grad school and found myself in an academic assignment with a mix of rated and non-rated officers. One of several political currents in the unit was the tension between those who saw this as a temporary diversion from a flying career and those who saw academia as a more enlightened career path. Eventually I decided it was time to leave active duty but before actually separating, there was a dining-in to attend. I was not the only unhappy camper at the time and was dared to call "Dead bug" during the dinner. I wasn't planning to do it but a particularly jerkish non-rated leader gave a toast speech disparaging pilots that was the perfect setup. So, I rose to respond and spoke of how fighter pilots and pilots in general, were sometimes perceived to be juvenile in their behavior. Those who knew what was coming had started scooting their chairs back from the formal table. When I offered my response to the accusation of juvenile behavior in the form of "Dead bug!" and half the attendees hit the floor with chairs and utensils flying it was quite a scene and the dumfounded looks on the faces of those who didn't see it coming was priceless.
@PetesGuide7 ай бұрын
@@ralphleslie1811 Please tell me the fearless leader was the last one standing? I never served but my late uncle was a Lt on the Maddox (left before the thing), and I practically grew up sitting in Bob Stirm’s La-Z-Boy ogling all the fighter jets on his fireplace mantle. That’s where I caught the flying bug. Pun intended. Than you for your sacrifices!