10 Percent True - Tales from the Cockpit

Pinbag Shaw | 10 Percent True | EP83 Part 3In the final instalment of my conversation with Thomas “Pinbag” Shaw, we close out his Phantom career.From Cold War nuclear strike planning in Europe to flying large-force exercises at Nellis and combat-ready deployments in the Pacific, Pinbag walks us through the evolution of the F-4E and the realities of fighter operations in the late Cold War.We talk about weapons school culture, the arrival of systems like Pave Tack and ARN-101, Sparrow missile performance, Soviet encounters in the Pacific, and what it was really like operating the Phantom at the edge of the Cold War.And he finishes with one of the most striking stories in this entire interview series.0:00 Intro Story – Cultural Differences
3:23 Welcome Back, Pinbag
4:24 Follow-on Assignment from Korea – Hahn (Germany)
9:59 TISEO “Qualification”
11:26 AGM-65 – In-Theatre Limitations
12:46 European Theatre – Differences from PACAF & Culture
16:10 B-61 & B-57, SIOP, Hard Crewing
19:52 Certification – Related Stories
27:15 Victor Alert Targeting & “The French View” on West Germany
28:38 Local Traditions & Low Flying
31:00 TISEO in Operation
33:50 To Nellis (Not Moody?!)
38:03 The Place to Be – Red Flag, RDJTF, F-15 Integration & “The Box”
45:58 Radar – Follow-Up
47:30 The Eagles
49:40 Personal Development Journey
54:45 Back to PACAF – Clark (F-4 Fleet, Weapons, Equipment & 3rd TFS History)
1:06:00 PAVE TACK
1:08:10 WESEP / Combat Sage – ORU-1 Radar Upgrade & AIM-7 Developments
1:17:00 Weapons School Experience – Culture Shift, Academics vs Flying, Staying Out of “The Box”
1:28:10 The Aggressor Problem
1:31:00 Fisher vs Glosson – Culture of the Time
1:34:10 Focus on North Korea & Shadowing the Russian Navy
1:38:15 Changes After KAL 007 Shootdown
1:41:58 Post-Weapons School – Taegu as Weapons Officer (PAVE TACK & Range Betting)
1:51:06 ROK Maintenance & Marshall Enforcement – Intro Story
1:55:55 Evolution of the Rear Cockpit
2:09:00 Battle Damage & Oddities
2:11:05 Thank You, Pinbag

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Pinbag Shaw | 10 Percent True | EP83 Part 2
In Part Two of our conversation, Thomas “Pinbag” Shaw takes us operational.

From Korea to Germany, this is life in a Cold War Phantom squadron — where Victor Alert was real, nuclear strike planning was routine, and NATO air defence timelines were measured in minutes.

In this episode we discuss:
• What sitting nuclear Victor Alert actually meant
• How QRA posture worked in Europe and the Pacific
• Intercept geometry against Warsaw Pact aircraft
• NATO strike planning and readiness discipline
• The psychology of Cold War aircrew culture
• Transitioning from Phantom to the Strike Eagle era

This is Tactical Air Command at its most serious — a force built around the assumption that the next launch might not be an exercise.

If you enjoy long-form, technical conversations with the people who flew the jets, subscribe and join the conversation.

0:00 Intro teaser – North Korean MiG-21 intercept
3:52 Welcome back, Pinbag
4:28 The Nellis influence
9:28 Leaving MacDill – SERE school
20:28 Korea and PACAF disposition
27:15 36th Fighter Squadron
33:35 Introduction to Korea
38:00 Areas of responsibility, command structure, and settling in
44:20 Training, digesting the vault, and other in-theatre assets and threats
49:10 Equipment – F-4E variants
53:25 Radar presentation, trade-offs, and features (TISEO, Combat Tree, Pave Spike)
1:04:44 Turnover of airframes
1:06:02 Operation Paul Bunyan – the axe-handle murders and redeployment of assets (including GBU-15 / AGM-65) for possible engagement with a tree
1:11:35 One year later – the Army’s turn and the lost Chinook
1:15:38 North Korean Air Force and South Korean MiGs (and Beagle)
1:26:12 AN-2s and skunk boats
1:27:30 How a prospective war would have unfolded
1:32:05 North Koreans in Vietnam; Soviets and North Koreans flying with the Egyptians
1:34:24 GCI and bullseye intercepts
1:36:50 Integration, improvement, and the prospective order of battle
1:40:40 Evolution in war planning and the birth of Large Force Employment
1:46:30 Lakenheath leadership influence and differences from PACAF
1:54:40 Battles over the Taiwan Strait and ROKAF checkouts – similarities and rumours
1:57:30 Alert story – possible SA-2 site
2:01:12 Peacetime Aerial Reconnaissance Program (including intro teaser story) and alert scramble

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Pinbag Shaw | 10 Percent True | EP83 Part 1
Thomas “Pinbag” Shaw flew the F-4E Phantom II at a pivotal moment in USAF history.
Commissioned during the draft era, he entered Tactical Air Command just as the Air Force was absorbing the hard lessons of Vietnam and rebuilding its fighter culture from the ground up.
In this first part of our conversation, Pinbag explains:
• Why the J79 smoked — and how crews worked around it
• What Red Baron reports actually taught young Phantom crews
• How Fighter Lead-In training at Holloman reshaped post-Vietnam tactics
• The reality of Sparrow employment before modern radar displays
• AIMVAL/ACEVAL and what it revealed about missile combat
• Combat Tree, radar geometry, and “hot” vs “cold” scope discipline
• Nuclear delivery training in the F-4E
• And how a loose ejection seat pin bag became a permanent callsign

We also explore the cultural side of 1970s Tactical Air Command — from Aggressor briefings to the infamous “vulnerability period” at the O-Club — and how the Air Force transitioned from the Vietnam experience into the F-15/F-16 era.
This episode is a deep dive into Phantom air-to-air tactics, radar intercept mechanics, and fighter culture in the years between Vietnam and the Eagle.
Part Two will take us operational — Korea, Germany, Victor Alert, and real-world air defence.
If you enjoy long-form, technical conversations with the people who flew the jets, subscribe and join the conversation.

0:00 Intro teaser – O-Club tale
2:32 Welcome Pinbag and episode outline
4:25 Matthew’s subscriber question – smoky J79s
8:03 Visual acquisition ranges
8:45 Pinbag’s background and route to the Phantom (nav school and dreamsheets)
23:30 Dual controls question
26:28 Back to Holloman and dreamsheets
35:00 Off to Holloman AFB
38:32 Uniform standards – TAC style
40:45 Mandatory formation – O-Club
43:10 The “Green Door”
45:15 Leaving Holloman
46:17 Osan → Hahn → Nellis → Clark → Taegu → Lakenheath (after staff job)
49:25 Learning from Red Baron reports (classified material?)
51:25 TAC rules, callsigns, naming ceremonies, and the Doofer Book
53:20 “Opinions are like assholes…”
55:00 Fridays at the O-Club – bell rules and intro story
1:01:00 McDill for the F-4 RTU – O-Club and games
1:07:43 F-4 “of the day” – equipment fit, avionics, etc.
1:15:01 Combat Tree
1:21:20 Back to the RTU and a callsign story
1:26:02 Through the training phases
1:29:49 Back to day one
1:36:32 Why the air-to-air preference?
1:44:50 Navy terminology – tough for WSOs
1:48:28 Nuclear strike?
1:50:15 What was going on in TAC
1:58:04 Pave Spike
2:00:20 USAFE realignment, Ready Eagle, and DOC taskings
2:06:30 Sparrow developments

Jif Paines | 10 Percent True | EP82Chapters
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In this episode, former RAF Harrier pilot and X-35B test pilot “Jif” Paines explains how the F-35B’s revolutionary STOVL flight control system was born.
From early Harrier night attack operations to experimental fly-by-wire research on the VAAC Harrier, Jif traces the technical and philosophical battle that led to Unified Flight Control — the system that made the F-35B dramatically easier to fly.
Along the way he discusses:
• Auto-eject systems and pilot safety philosophy
• The lift-fan mechanics behind the F-35B’s STOVL capability
• The X-35 concept demonstrations and engineering decisions behind them
• Why automation can “de-skill” pilots — and why that may be necessary
• How test pilots and engineers negotiate control authority
• And why automation forces a fundamental rethink of the human role in combat aviation
This conversation provides rare insight into test pilot culture, engineering decision-making, and the future of autonomous airpower.

0:00 “A stupid question?”
1:15 Welcome Jif
1:38 Auto-eject subscriber question (Sedlo)
4:24 Thanks to Super for the introduction
4:48 Jif’s introduction
11:40 Transferring TPS knowledge and skills to testing in the X-35
14:00 What decisions had been made before joining the program?
17:12 VAAC Harrier control laws and pilot resistance to the concepts being developed
20:15 Unified Flight Control explained
25:15 Engineering the “feel” for the pilot — reversion and safety features, de-skilling
31:10 “A stupid question?”
32:16 Integration of the control laws into the X-35
34:19 Lift-fan dynamics and operating process
37:00 Differences between flying the VAAC Harrier and the F-35
38:10 STOVL initially implemented in Harrier style — why?
40:22 Flying characteristics and aircraft feel
43:16 Exciting?
44:40 Transferring expertise to the X and F variants and defending Unified Flight Control
49:40 The Farley climb
53:50 The future of the pilot in military aviation
57:30 Thanks Jif (please return!)

EE Lightning P1B | 10 Percent True | EP84 – Part 1
In a secret barn in East Anglia, former RAF Lightning pilot Ian “Blackie” Black reveals the extraordinary story of the very first English Electric Lightning P1B — the first British aircraft to reach Mach 2.Built by English Electric and flown by Battle of Britain ace Roland Beamont, this hand-built prototype marked Britain’s leap into the supersonic age.
Decades later, after museum life, near-scrapping, and years hidden away, the aircraft is being painstakingly restored — with plans to unveil it publicly for the first time in 30 years.
Blackie shares Lightning combat stories, Cold War memories, flying with his father, and what it really felt like to strap into Britain’s only true Mach 2 fighter.
This is about preserving heritage and history — one step at a time.