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Warfare

Fighter Jets: A History

Warfare

History Hit

History

4.5943 Ratings

🗓️ 20 September 2022

⏱️ 45 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This month marks 75 years since the establishment of the United States Air Force (USAF). So to mark this anniversary, we wanted to follow up on listener Rick Harrison's request for more air power. Well Rick, we hope this will suffice!


In this episode James is joined by Lt Col Whit 'Skate' Collins, a current USAF fighter pilot with the 64th aggressor squadron who is responsible for knowing, teaching, and replicating  adversary tactics in order to train aircrews of the US and its allies.


Skate was kind enough to take us through the long, explosive history of jet fighter aircraft from the last months of the Second World War through to the constantly evolving Top Gun world of today.


Note: Out of respect for the late Queen Elizabeth II, this episode was moved from the day of Her Majesty's funeral on Monday September 19 to Tuesday September 20. Warfare's normal Monday & Friday schedule will return next week.


For more Warfare content, subscribe to our Warfare Wednesday newsletter here.


If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - enter promo code WARFARE for two weeks free + 50% off your first three months' subscription. To download, go to Android or Apple store.

Transcript

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0:00.0

In a change to our normal schedule and out of respect for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II,

0:05.4

this episode of Warfare was moved from Monday the 19th of September,

0:09.6

the day of Her Majesty's funeral, to Tuesday, September 20th.

0:14.0

Our normal Monday and Friday warfare schedule will return next week.

0:18.0

Hello everyone, welcome back to the Warfare Podcast.

0:22.0

I'm your host James Rogers and I'm on the move

0:24.4

across the US this week heading down to work with the US Air Force and in fact it just

0:29.8

so happens that this week marks 75 years since the US Air Force was established.

0:35.7

So to mark this anniversary I wanted to follow up on one of our listener requests by Rick Harrison

0:41.3

and he said that he wants us to cover more air power so you ask and we shall

0:45.3

deliver so I've bought lieutenant colonel wit a Collins onto the podcast now

0:50.1

Collins is an aggressor pilot with a 64th aggressive squadron at Nellis Air Force Base

0:55.2

Nevada. He is also a real life Thunderbird, not the puppets with the strings of course,

1:01.1

but a Yousath Air Demonstration Squadron Thunderbirds pilot,

1:06.0

where he is lead solo pilot and slot pilot.

1:10.0

So, I thought the best way to cover the history of the US Air Force was to draw on Collins's remarkable

1:16.8

knowledge to hear first hand about what he thinks the best fighter jets in history really are. So we're going to take you all the way

1:24.7

back to the Second World War and all the way through to today. Enjoy. And then. Lieutenant Colonel Collins skate how you doing I'm doing great. Thanks for having me on this morning.

1:54.0

No, not a problem at all. Welcome to the Warfare Podcast. It's great to have you on. A genuine bonafide practitioner expert on the jet fighter. Tell us a little bit about... a and our

2:15.0

job is to know, teach and replicate our Blue Air Forces, or combat Air Forces on all our adversary tactics.

2:18.0

So what we do is we study the tactics and the techniques

2:21.0

and the procedures of any adversary that we may face in air combat and we

...

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