F-14A/B Tomcat RIO | Ward Carroll (Part 1) 

Love the way you asked him one question and he just went for it for 40 minutes

Ward is an excellent ambassador for Naval Aviation and the F14 specifically, always time well spent listening to his words.

What an easy interview. Ask him one question, and he talks for 40 minutes! Love listening to this kind of content.

My dad was a RIO in VF-103 Sluggers back when they had F-4’s I was just a little kid, but I remember going to squadron parties with the families at Virginia Beach. They would fly up to Maine for touch-and-goes and get lobsters and crabs to fly back down to VA with them in modified wing tanks. They would then broil the lobster and crabs with corn and potatoes in a galvanized steel trash can over a bon-fire on the beach. I just remember b’cause my dad told me we were having “supersonic lobsters.”

El Toro was destroyed by aliens in 1996.

Crazy similar experience with Desert Storm. I was flying AH-1F Cobras in West Germany 87-90. I was rushed through the AH-64A Apache course to go to Desert Storm. Graduated the day the war ended. Years later in 2007 I re-joined the Army and rushed through the AH-64D Apache Longbow course. Graduated and went straight to Iraq where I finally saw combat.

I am a retired flight surgeon…aircrew with a small “a”, always admired the class A crowd and was proud to serve them and the operators.

Ward has the skill only possessed by great story tellers. He gets a listener to buy in almost immediately with his soft eyes and comforting smile. Once so captivated he spins and interesting story disclosing just enough personal facts to lead one in marvel as the story is woven with humor and information. His talent learned from his Marine Office Dad. Great combination.

Ward is amazing, what a life he has lead.

Holy f**k Mooch, let Mike get in a question! 😂 Enjoyed the first half and looking forward to the second.

Mooch: I was watching your Part 1 bio and am not sure who your VF32 CO was. Did you say "Soup Campbell?" If so, I met (then) LCDR Campbell when he was flying RF8's onboard the Nimitz. I was an LSO attached to VA35. Here's a story that you will appreciate. We were operating near the Straits of Hormuz prepping for the Iranian Rescue Attempt. It was a clear but hazy day in that part of the I.O. I was on the platform that day when Soup boltered. As you know, you could fly a perfect F8 approach only to bolter. The plane had a very flat approach which was conducive to boltering. Soup bolters again and again and again. After his 5th bolter things are starting to get serious. We resort to the TP (Toilet Paper) trick. We placed several rolls of TP under the 2 and 3 wires to lift the CDP. The F8 and A7 were notorious for losing snub pressure on the tail hook. A tailhook with low snubber pressure would hit the flight deck and bounce over the CDP. Soup hits the tanker and comes down for approach #6. The TP is set, he flies a perfect pass and bolts again! Finally, our A6 tanker driver, Pappy Boynton, takes an airborne look at Soup's tailhook. Pappy comes up on common and says "Yea, there's something wrong with your hook . . . it's on BACKWARDS!" When Soup was performing his preflight checks he couldn't see the tailhook because the tail of his F8 was over water. The ship got emergency diplomatic clearance for Soup and he drank beers that night in Oman. He came back the next day (Hook Repaired) and became the first USS Nimitz F8 Centurion. FYI. LT Donnie Cochran was also in that RF8 squadron. It was no surprise that Donnie end up with the Blues. He was one of the best pilots on the ship. Also, you mention that the majority of your RIO peers were Boat School grads. As a reminder, after Vietnam, there was a RIF and most Naval Aviators / NFO's came from the Academy. Very few aviators came from civilian universities. I was fortunate to be one of those civilians selected during this time frame. Our FY 79 year group was the most critical since the end of WW2 producing slightly more than 700 aviators. Something like that and that included USNA graduates.

Ward just goes from strength to strength.

Nice, nice, nice 😀two great youtuber with top and interesting content at once...🙏🏼

He laughed about seeing the Blue Angels flying F-11's. I love the looks of that jet.

We all grew fond of Mr. Ward. Sincere respect and gratitude.

The hiton had a great mexican resraunt at the top of it at that time. If Ward gets ever reads this, i was on deck with you up on cat 1. Best sleep i had that whole cruise when we got our blue noses up by norway.

Used to sit in orange groves by El toro drinking beer and watch the f 4 's in burner go over our heads my God did the sound of freedom echo in our heads lol from 50 ft or so.

What a time you had, wow.

I’d love to drink a beer and talk with Ward! What a guy.

Met him at Tailhook last September. Super nice guy been following him fir a year now

Mooch I was on Carl Vinson. Attached to VF-51. The showers got shutdown during reactor drills quit often. But loved my time in and don't regret it one bit.

Mooch! Was wondering if you'd ever have him on, great interview!

Well. There was only one question and Ward told his whole lifestory😅😅😅. I really enjoyed it

The "Fisher Price" comment made me spit out the drink I "was" having. There are certain comments that just hit you funny because most people wouldn't appreciate just how accurate that statement is. Thanks to both of you for this fantastic video. And yes... Ward took the "When did you first become interested in aviation" question to some other level and Mike just went with it. Mike...thanks for being gracious and allowing Ward to take us on that journey.

I also had to take an extra year in college for Math and Physics to get a degree in Aviation Management. Ward is an inspiration to many.

As a patriotic Englishman I have to say, I love the F14 Tomcat… Some aircraft just look right, perform right and earn that legendary status. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 Edit: Love that Martin Baker seat is mentioned.. my grandad worked for Martin Baker in Denham, Buckinghamshire for 40 years

Great narration Mooch!!

Dear Ward - wonderful. Having listened to this, I realize why you are a better narrator than an interviewer.

I can relate to a lot of what Mooch has said. I somehow ended up in the German Naval Academy in the same manner: family business. Unfortunately my aspirations to fly in the German navy did not materialize, at least not in the formula 1 class, which was Tornado at the time (and of course the F-14 was high on the agenda in those days). Did not want to fly helicopters or MPAs and quit the navy after six years as a junior officer. Did a master's degree in political science and at least took my PPL, accumulating hours for the last 35 years.

That 10 inch screen in the rear seat..🤩

Hi, Ward! I'm visiting your channel as we celebrate USNA Service Assignment day! We found out today that our MIDN will be a Navy NFO and we are thrilled to be continuing to learn about his new world.

Teacher Ward the best in aviation

It’s weird to see Mooch being interviewed instead of doing the questioning. Great guy from a good family.

As an engineer HT to be exact hearing about those Forrestals I'm proud about how much better our habitability was and this was decades later. She wasn't perfect but we never had water hours. The secret to cutting out/ down the JP5 taste was to make the water coming out of the scuttlebutts as cold as possible. I'm also the ONLY HT to perform a braze job on an F-14. VF-154. Edited because I figured naming the ship just might be a little helpful. USS Kitty Hawk 1999-2002.

Love the very candid, informative, and skillful story telling.

Ward Carroll is a super communicator. I get a great kick out of his contributions on RU-vid.

Always enjoy listening to “mooch” talk shop.

Of course Ward is a political science major, and slightly subversive cartoon maker. A man after my own heart. What a great career and interesting life he leads, great interview!

That was brilliant I can't wait for part 2

Great to see Ward here and through him I found this channel. Applaud this cooperation between channels, will start following you guys and see what you are all about. But be aware...........Ward sets the bar high with his channel 😀

Great to hear Wards accounts.

I'm always hooked by your stories. You know how to tell them 👍🏻😁

You made the last cruise on the CVA -66 and I made the first two cruises. I was on the commissioning crew.

Easiest interview & edit ever. Legendary

One can never underestimate the impact Hyman RIckover had on the US Navy and probably even the history of the world, due to the impact the Nuclear US Navy had on history. Much of it due to his personal steadfast pursuit of perfection. Of course making him a difficult person and the inevitable "faults" that would imply.

Ward has a great channel. The insight he put into his video about the Gulf of Sidra incident was fantastic! Had no idea I laid eyes on one of the jets involved, at the Smithsonian. His personal experience in the “Have Peg” program is awesome!

I worked as a us navy contractor supporting Kuwaits F-18c/d Air Force on Al Jaber air base. I’ve seen first hand the gigantic holes in the weapons bunkers while I was their. 2011-2014

About time 😀

Thx for the trip Ward very interesting, F-14 is such a cool aircraft and your career interesting too. Hello from Canada!

Great interview found out some new stuff about Ward

Great interview!

Sounds like we had the same inertial nav system. Kept everyone honest. That’s for sure! Great interview gents. 👍

Great stuff. Mooch just keeps going.

Great background information. My time in Kuwait certainly didn’t involve going to Fuddruckers. We were stuck (imprisoned) behind a fence line in the middle of nowhere. Plenty to do in the camp, but it was damn hot.

Great 👍👍👍...as always

Great video

been watching ward's channel for a long time and learned more about ward watching this hmm.

I grew up about 1 1/2 hours from Cherry point. Lived in New Bern for 6 months, it wasn't uncommon to see jets from Cherry Point fly over.

My son went to ECU and I drag raced next to El Toro Air Base.

“So, Mooch…how did that Navy thing work out for ‘ya?” 🇺🇸⚓️

“The water taste like JP5” 😂

YOU GO COMMANDER,THE DECK IS CLEAR SHIPS IN TO THE WIND.CHIEF PAO SENDS SEMPER-FI.

Cool! I was wondering when this would happen.

Fantastic

This is an AWESOME video. I enjoyed every moment. I have been following Ward for some time now but did not know much about his active navel career. Great stories and insight.

great interview

Excellent.

Love to watch Ward! As for an interview view it seems more like a autobiography. Where was the interviewing?

Nice. Mooch is a storyteller by nature and still is full of this almost boy-like enthusiasm. The best guests on this channel have that in common.

Ward's a legend

HA! "The Blues" flying F-11s - my first air show was at NAS Moffett Field, and the F-4 Phantom was the newest aircraft in the fleet. The F-4 raced a Curtis Pusher that left some location in the San Francisco East Bay while the F-4 flew up to Sunnyvale from Pt. Mugu. The F-4 came in second by about 3 minutes.

Bit of nostalgia hearing Ward describe the INS and early GPS patchwork. Had similar experiences in the earlier OH-58D(i) with a very basic GPS velcroed to the glare shield. Once a dedicated GPS was integrated to autonomously update the INS, navigation got much easier.

Amazing my wife worked for ADM Mullins still get cards from them My Wife is LCDR (LDO) Cowell while she was at the pentagon

Teacher Ward the best

Blue Angels F1-11 show would have been awesome.

Wow, I lived at MCAS El Toro, MCAS Kaneohe Bay as well as Cherry point. Probably went to school with Ward at some time.

So interesting.

I did 4 deployments with 2 different sqdn/Air Wings aboard Kitty Hawk. Never any water issues, but the air conditioning in our berthing sucked!

Excellent interview! Thank you!

Been a Sub of Mooch's for years, you should visit his channel. This was a great interview as he is a great speaker with a rich history and plenty of topics for discussion - and lots of great friends for his interviews. Loved it.

Interesting stuff

Ward's a cool guy to talk to! Really love his stories

Ward is sure a hard guy to interview. "How did you get started in aviation Ward" And that is the only question Aircrew had to ask for 40 minutes

I worked F 4 D,E,G s and A 10 AS with the litening pod 2003

Great storytelling about a great life. Ask a Navy flyer (pilot, NFO, aircrew) one question and you will hear our life story. It's what defines us and bonds us.

Goooooooooooooooood video!

I could listen to him talk all day he’s had an interesting career

Ward is cool af

Isn't AI going to mention that Ward has his own great RU-vid channel (except for a short mention in the comments)??? His YT channel is great for everyone who likes military aviation.

In which episode of Ward Carroll’s postings does he discuss Kuznetsov’s crew members being aboard a US carrier?

According to Google, the Tomcat was retired by the U.S. Navy on 22 September 2006. I didn't think it was that long ago.

I used to live very close to MCAS El Toro in the late '80's early '90's. My alarm clock was a bunch of F-18 firing up in the morning. The last airshow I attended was the one where the F-86 slammed into the runway. We were front row and could feel the heat from the fireball. I was also at the one where the F-18 crashed, too.

I luv,d jets…CL41,s & T33,s… Viet era who tried transfer to Marines, CMO Pendleton

Water hours🙄 I wish they had bottled water onboard back then. Funny story, I was touring the USS Wasp, LHA in Boston, 07/01/12 with buddy 20 year SC QM & I asked the ?? E- 2 or 3 if they went on water hours often & his response was (What’s that?) 😂 Then he explained how they made their fresh water underway, reverse osmosis, 🤔 if only😢 🫡

tacan, radar appch, formation, ins etc

Nice vid…. Informative. Question, to Ward and you…. Part of a debate. AIM54s.. Phoenix. The best missile ever created. Someone said to me that the Phoenix could only use its seeker head under 13 miles. The RIO who tells the Phoenix what to target (multi targets of anti ship and boomer fleet going after US carrier fleet. Once launched it uses the F14 to assist zeroing in in the target. However, it’s own radar seeker head, I believe, once aimed by the RIO, can operate to target with its radar over 50 miles from the target. So the F14 can “fire and Forget”. The Phoenix has a range past 100 miles. The info I have, no way the Phoenix has to be within 13 miles zero in on its target using its own seeker. Ward would know. None of this is classified anymore.

What year in VT-86? Two weeks after I retired went to VT-86. Lockheed had the contract then. MCPO Ret

was this Soup Campbell in VFP-63 on the Nimitz CAG 8 during the Iran Hostage deployment??

I always thought that SNORT took money from F-14 AIM-120 AMRAAM development, not from AIM-54 Phoenix. Phoenix did retire in 2004 while Tomcat retired in 2006.

25:35 What is on *Station 3?* Kind of resembles a _Durendal_