Wild Weasel over Vietnam - Flying the F-105 in SEA - Ben Fuller

[@jimlobdell5251]

I was Ben and Norms Crew Chief. Two great men. It was my plane and I let them use it.

[@10percenttrue]

Awesome, Jim! What tail number?

[@jimlobdell5251]

@@10percenttrue 63-8329 3 SAM sites. Both Ben and Norm received the Silver Star

[@nichille]

@@jimlobdell5251 Thank you for your service, Jim. Curious, did you ever run into a Thud Driver named Bob Lodge during your time at Takhli?

[@Dan-qp1el]

Jim, I hope someday there's a podcast of maintainers talking about the challenges they faced.

[@MarkMullins-r5v]

Such an honest humble man….. no swagger….. no puffed up chest….. a common man who did his job….. excellent person….excellent interview….

[@JoJo-vm8vk]

1:24:56 Doppler: - basic instruments give airspeed and magnetic heading. So it doesn’t take into account wind drift. - navigation Doppler sends waves toward the ground and uses Doppler effect to measure ground speed and drift, so it’s helping to solve the “navigation triangle problem”. By knowing the drift and ground speed you can guess the wind vector. And (air vector + speed vector) = ground vector.

[@julianbrattoni]

Your interview style is fantastic and more to the point, because you have some flying experience and aren’t just a fan boy, your questions are well constructed and directed from the perspective of someone who understands it from actually sitting in the seat and trying to put the machine where you want it. Thank you.

[@jasoncollier4961]

Appreciate how you allow Ben to tell his story without interrupting, will be back and subbed👍

[@10percenttrue]

Thank you, Jason!

[@williger1]

This is fascinating as well as nostalgic as I was at Takhli at the same time as Ben and was a maintainer of the F-105 weapons control systems working the flight line (fire control guy).

[@tbuc76]

Hey mate, just to let you know that your channel is by far, and I really mean it, by far the best channel on military aviation history etc. I am particularly interested on Cold War, SEA, and this one on the Weasels is probably one of the best. Cheers!

[@10percenttrue]

Cheers, mate!

[@boggy8557]

That was a magnificent interview. I watch the documentary Thud Pilots last night and Ben was in that too. Really enjoyed this interview and would love to hear more from Ben and what it was like finishing up in Vietnam and going home, life after the war and further career development. Also, I would love to hear what a typical mission was like and tactics and procedures of the F105. Either way , anything from this era is brilliant. Thanks Steve and Ben!

[@10percenttrue]

Thanks, Bogdan! Am doing my darndest to get a Part 2 booked with Ben...

[@therocinante3443]

An OG Thunderchief man... What a wonderful interview!

[@-theflea-4561]

Great insight into the Wild Weasels! I hope you get a chance to talk more about Ben and his life before and after Vietnam. Keep up the good work.👍

[@10percenttrue]

Thank you. I may well get to speak to Ben again later this year. Here’s hoping 🤞🏼

[@eicjc]

(Uncharacteristically) late listening/watching this episode. I had (futile) aspirations of listening while driving back home on holiday while the kids slept soundly in the back. Yeah right. I kept this one back because I knew it would be a good one and I wasn’t disappointed. Having read most if not all of Col Broughton’s books over the years, it was both fantastic and touching to get Ben’s perspective on the mission where his friends were shot down. Not an easy thing to do to relive that for KZbin but God Bless him for doing so and for giving his time for another brilliant interview. As always, thanks Steve.

[@terrancemccaffrey9954]

This is a fantastic interview. Thanks for doing it. We need to get as many of these brave men as possible to share their story. Without you Steve, these stories would not get out there! Thanks!!

[@10percenttrue]

Cheers, Marco! That means a great deal.

[@dutchbrotherfan1284]

As a kid we lived on acres and I built models in early 70s I built a airbase from model rail road items played Vietnam with models these guys were my hero’s.

[@fredkitmakerb9479]

Thank you for this interview. I look forward to the second part. The F-105 war in Vietnam is a focus of mine.

[@bt7112]

First, really enjoy your interview style. And I so enjoyed this particular interview with Col Fuller, a true patriot. My father and Ben flew together at Spang and this is the first time I'm hearing what a "day at the office" must have been like. Thank you for putting these together, a part of history, but also a part of growing up for me that I wasn't even aware of.

[@10percenttrue]

Glad you enjoyed it, Bill.

[@josephgoss1013]

This is without a doubt some of the best interview I’ve ever heard.

[@rtd12]

Always enjoy the interviews!

[@hinglemccringle5939]

Great interview and amazing stories. Those Thud drivers did some great work

[@10percenttrue]

Thanks, Hingle

[@jaynuck]

Thanks as always.

[@ryans.6889]

Dude you have probably one of the best KZbin Channels period, amazing interview and amazing stories.

[@10percenttrue]

Wow, thank you!

[@jasontennant8994]

Another typically brilliant interview. Steve, what you are doing here with your guests is documenting history with the people who made it. I don’t mean to sound disrespectful to those you’ve interviewed at all, but have you searched out people from the other side of these conflicts? I know there’s always language barriers and other challenges but your interview style would work well with those that might not feel that they’ve had a chance to relate their own perhaps relatively unknown but nonetheless equally important experiences. Former Yugoslav Fulcrum pilots are just one example I can think of.

[@10percenttrue]

Thanks, Jason :) I would love to capture the view from the other side of the fence. The question is simply one of connections - I don't know anyone! If anyone can make an introduction, I would be glad to make it happen...

[@jasontennant8994]

@@10percenttrue First one... Ahmed Salem ex IrAF

[@10percenttrue]

@@jasontennant8994 Jason, do you have contact details for him? Can you share to [e-mail]

[@yungcaco1443]

Brilliant interview and channel. Glad I’ve found it. Thank you. 🇬🇧

[@old_guard2431]

Wouldn’t hurt to have a one-paragraph background/ history of the pilot in the description. (No big deal - great series)

[@livelurked4103]

Thanks for this.

[@Dan-qp1el]

Steve, would you consider doing a book on the wild weasels?

[@pugloverg6671]

Real talk about the mechanics and their planes

[@nobodybusiness4739]

love the content

[@tonyaughney8945]

The down vote is from Jane Fonda.

[@10percenttrue]

This made my day.

[@colderwar]

You'd really improve the listening experience by including adverts for NordVPN and RAID:Shadow legends. I love those :)))) You reached out to Casmo yet ? he's a KZbinr who flew the OH-58 in recent conflicts and an interesting and engaging guy with good insight and very good stories.

[@10percenttrue]

I think that adverts ruin the viewing experience and they won't be appearing on my channel unless I decide to give up my real job and become a KZbinr! I don't have a problem with brand sponsorship, though.

[@colderwar]

@@10percenttrue I only ever see adverts that are placed in videos by the creator, Adblock removes everything else. The two companies I mentioned are the only ones that actually annoy me because they are everywhere, not completely open about their products and irrelevant. You should think about doing some merch, I'm sure it could sell well.

[@10percenttrue]

Ahhh. The penny drops! Need to get my sarcasm detector fixed. Looking into the merch angle... thank you!

[@lubtp7133]

Another great interview. My only complaint about your channel is how hard it is picking what to watch next. I hope these interviews get more exposure soon, they're amongst the best I've seen.

[@SpawnofChaos2010]

Wonderful interview, really hope you get Ben back on so we can hear of his exploits prior to and post Vietnam. Side note... much prefer interviews like this over anything related to the disinformation minefield that is Ukraine. EDIT: Was hard not to get choked up when Ben recollected the story of his wingmen being shot down. Glad they survived.

[@lrw3984]

what was the book written by the F105 maintainer Ben mentioned?

[@wiesenbefeuchter]

100% true

[@lsdzheeusi]

Is there a part 2? I can’t find it 😭

[@10percenttrue]

We couldn't make Part 2 work for technical reasons, I'm afraid. I have updated the title. Thanks.

[@wiesenbefeuchter]

When the second part ?

[@10percenttrue]

When I get to see him in person. Sadly, we couldn’t get the recording to work on the three occasions we tried to do Part 2.

[@0MoTheG]

They had dumb bombs to bomb sam sites?! ZSU-23 ? Now I get the 'basket', the Shrike did not have guidance during the ballistic phase! It must have a timer that delays the guidance.

[@10percenttrue]

Or an accelerometer?

[@0MoTheG]

@@10percenttrue Equally possible but more expensive and heavy. Likely the terminal radar guidance had already taken all the space.