The Fighter Pilots' Guide to Living

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired Commander Chip 'Biff' King, who accumulated over 5,750 tactical jet aircraft flight hours in his career, including 3,500 hours in the F-14 Tomcat, as well as 969 arrested landings. In the third of four episodes about Biff's naval career, we focus on his time at VF-213 as XO and CO, to include his storied ride with...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired Commander Chip 'Biff' King, who accumulated over 5,750 tactical jet aircraft flight hours in his career, including 3,500 hours in the F-14 Tomcat, as well as 969 arrested landings. In the second of four episodes about Biff's naval career, we focus on his return to two-seat fighters with VF-142 after his time in VF...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired Commander Chip 'Biff' King, who accumulated over 5,750 tactical jet aircraft flight hours in his career, including 3,500 hours in the F-14 Tomcat, as well as 969 arrested landings. In the first episode about Biff's naval career, we focus on his training years and tour at VF-84, and his decision to head to VF-45 fo...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired Commander Jim 'Puck' Howe, whose distinguished aviation career included over 3,800 flying hours in the F-14 Tomcat and F-18 Hornet. In the final episodes about his time flying for the Navy, Puck talks about getting selected for command and going to VF-31 as the F-14 Tomcat was being transitioned out of service. We tal...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired Commander Jim 'Puck' Howe, whose distinguished aviation career included over 3,800 flying hours in the F-14 Tomcat and F-18 Hornet. In the third of four episodes about his time flying for the Navy, Puck talks about the immediate impact that 9/11 had on his flying career, and his participation in Task Force 20, the sec...

Welcome to Cowboy Time at the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today, Mitch 'TACO' Parmentier and Beth Bailey discuss the story that gives the podcast its name. We talk about John 'Yogi' Graham and the lore of aviation culture. To conclude, Beth reads 'The Fighter Pilots' Guide to Living' in full. Calling all aviators - if you've got stories to share and can spin a...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired Commander Jim 'Puck' Howe, whose distinguished aviation career included over 3,800 flying hours in the F-14 Tomcat and F-18 Hornet. In the second of four episodes about his time flying for the Navy, Puck talks about his time at VF-32 and his attendance at the TOPGUN and MAWTS-1 courses. About Puck:Commander Howe was b...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired Commander Jim 'Puck' Howe, whose distinguished aviation career included over 3,800 flying hours in the F-14 Tomcat and F-18 Hornet. In one of four episodes about his time flying for the Navy, Puck talks about his lengthy training process to become a fighter pilot, his time at the RAG, and his assignment to VF-32. Abou...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired U.S. Navy Captain Roe 'Skid' Massey, who flew a combined 4,500 hours in the F-14 Tomcat and F-18 Hornet. In the final of three episodes about his career in naval aviation, Roe talks about attending the U.S. Naval War College, then returning to command of the RAG. Roe then discusses two tours as Skipper, first of VF-241, then...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired U.S. Navy Captain Roe 'Skid' Massey, who flew a combined 4,500 hours in the F-14 Tomcat and F-18 Hornet. In the second of three episodes about his career in naval aviation, Roe talks about the relationship he had with Joe 'Hoser' Satrapa while assigned to the RAG, and being given the choice following his assignment at the RAG...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired Captain Roe 'Skid' Massey, who flew a combined 4,500 hours in the F-14 Tomcat and F-18 Hornet. In one of three episodes about his career in naval aviation, Roe talks about his early flying career, and two deployments with VF-103. In the latter deployment, Roe was one of two Tomcats that intercepted the Egypt Air fligh...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired Commander Alex 'Rattler' Rucker, who flew the F-8 Crusader in Vietnam and brought his skills as a gunner and tactician to Topgun as an instructor before transitioning to the F-14 Tomcat. In the second of two episodes about his career in naval aviation, Rattler talks about the lessons he learned flying the F-14 Tomcat, the inc...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired Commander Alex 'Rattler' Rucker, who flew the F-8 Crusader in Vietnam and brought his skills as a gunner and tactician to Topgun as an instructor before transitioning to the F-14 Tomcat. In one of two episodes about his career in naval aviation, Rattler talks about flying the F-8 during three Vietnam deployments and discusses...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today, I'm so excited to introduce my co-host and the great thinker behind this podcast, Mitch 'TACO' Parmentier. Mitch has 16 years of experience in the Super Hornet, and comes to the podcast with an enduring love of history and aviation. If you've ever been involved with fighter aircraft, we want to host you. Please reach out to bwb...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired Rear Admiral Frederick ‘Bad Fred’ Lewis, who accumulated an incredible 6,500 accident-free flying hours in tactical aircraft and more than 1,200 carrier arrested landings in his flying career. In today's episode, Bad Fred talks about the highlights of the last portion of his U.S. Navy career, and the incredible work that foll...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired Rear Admiral Frederick ‘Bad Fred’ Lewis, who accumulated an incredible 6,500 accident-free flying hours in tactical aircraft and more than 1,200 carrier arrested landings in his flying career. In today's episode, Bad Fred recalls some of his favorite flying memories, including his first flight in the Phantom. We talk about th...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired Rear Admiral Frederick ‘Bad Fred’ Lewis, who accumulated an incredible 6,500 accident-free flying hours in tactical aircraft and more than 1,200 carrier arrested landings in his flying career. Today's episode contains some recollections from Vietnam before moving forward to the earliest deployments Bad Fred wet on with the To...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired Rear Admiral Frederick ‘Bad Fred’ Lewis, who accumulated an incredible 6,500 accident-free flying hours in tactical aircraft and more than 1,200 carrier arrested landings in his flying career. Today's episode focuses on the portion of Bad Fred's military career that spanned his second deployment to Vietnam as a pilot in the F...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired Rear Admiral Frederick ‘Bad Fred’ Lewis, who accumulated an incredible 6,500 accident-free flying hours in tactical aircraft and more than 1,200 carrier arrested landings in his flying career. Today's episode focuses on the first five years of Bad Fred's military career, from his time in the U.S. Naval Academy to a period as...