Q&A #2 with F-14A/B Tomcat RIO | Ward Carroll 

Every Tomcat pilot must have wanted Ward Carroll in their backseat! Passionate, driven, humble, respectful, fantastic Q&A!

Commander Ward Carroll, congratulations on this interview for Q&A, where you've been answering questions from the audience. I'm thoroughly enjoying it, and your program episodes have been truly fascinating, providing me with valuable insights. I proudly possess the complete collection of your books: "Punk's War" in both front page versions, "Punk's Wings," and "Punk’s Flight." I aspire to have them signed by you someday, and I hope we can make contact. Thank you very much, and congratulations once again, Commander Carroll. Right Hand Salute, Sir! Tomcats Forever Roberto Roux 👍😀

Became “interested” in aviation when I was very young. My earliest memories are of sari g my Dads flight helmet growing up in Halifax. My father served on both Canadian carriers, the Magnificent or “The Maggie” and then Bonnaventure “The Bonnie”. He was an RCN vet.

Brilliant Q&A! Still hoping to see some of the channel's earlier guests on for a Q&A, especially Chris Bolton, Arnulf Hartl and Robert Hierl... and obviously everyone wants to see Jeff Guinn on again!

Mooch, I just finished the Punks trilogy. Please, please, please, pick this series up again and get some more books out. It was fantastic and you have a lot of possibilities for Punk's character. Looking forward to seeing another book soon. Thanks for being you.

47:50 RE: What the F-111 means to me I grew up on a ranch 45 minutes by car from Fort Worth and the General Dynamics plant. When I was 6 years old, GD had prototyped the TFX that became the F-111 and was running test flights. One winter afternoon I walked from the house to the barn to put out hay for our cattle. I heard a noise to the southeast, and turned to look. I saw two aircraft in fingertip formation approaching at a height of about 100 feet AGL. They flew over our ranch about 400 feet from me, climbed a little over the forest, and disappeared over the ridge to the northwest. All the while the wingman was doing slow rolls. At that moment I decided to fly Air Force jets.

Thank you for interviewing Ward and having him on your channel. For that alone, I've subscribed.

Excellent!

Ward is must see TV, and yes, YT superstar

Enjoyed this very much. Mike and Ward 👌👌👌

Excellent episode

Great interview. I’ve heard Ward and other aviators discuss the lack of range in modern naval fighters/strike craft as compared to the F-14. I know Ward was discussing the f/a-18 in particular but others have made the comments relating to the F-35. So while the f/a-18 may be range limited compared to the F-14, the F-35 is not. The F-14 carried 18,000lbs of fuel (with 2 external tanks) to power two engines. The F-35C can carry 20,000lbs of fuel internally for ONE engine. Not to mention increased range due to no parasitic drag. I know we all love the Tomcat but there is no capability it possesses that the Navy doesn’t have currently (including missile range as the aim-120D guided by AESA has an effective range similar to the phoenix’s while being more reliable)

I love listeing to Ward I believe he taght at the NA when my cousin Matt Campbell taughtt here.. might bewrong

Good work!

As far as the instruments and flight controls that functioned in the Tomcat after a total electrical failure. Were these systems powered by the emergency generator that was powered by the hydraulic system?

How hot does it get in the cockpit as you are getting in and getting ready to launch off ?