Blackbirds in the Sun

<v Announcer>The WPBT production of Blackbirds in the Sun is made possible by a grant from the <v Announcer>Emil Bueller Trust dedicated to the advancement of general aviation education. <v Announcer>Additional production funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the <v Announcer>Southern Educational Communications Association. <v Announcer>[music] <v William Shatner>Morning in the Florida Keys, the sun awakens the local world <v William Shatner>to another glorious day of bountiful oceans and cobalt blue skies, comfortably <v William Shatner>punctuated by a vast array of grey. <v William Shatner>Yet for many, even here, the thought of another day on the job is as unappealing <v William Shatner>as it is mundane, highlighted perhaps by the occasional thought of

<v William Shatner>winning the lottery or the approach of quitting time. <v William Shatner>Maybe it is a universal truth. <v William Shatner>Work is work. <v William Shatner>Even in paradise. <v William Shatner>Unless, of course, you're a Blackbird. <v Speaker>[static over air conversation] <v William Shatner>On any given day, high above the tranquil waters surrounding the dry tortugas, <v William Shatner>sleek fighter jets camouflaged as a Russian MiGs, engage U.S. <v William Shatner>Navy FA-18s and F-14s in full scale air matters. <v Speaker>[static over air conversation] <v William Shatner>They are the blackbirds of VF-45. <v William Shatner>One of only four naval adversary squadrons in the country, <v William Shatner>the blackbirds have the extraordinary mission of teaching air-to-air combat to visiting <v William Shatner>fighter and attack pilots of the Atlantic fleet.

<v William Shatner>In essence, to instill in them the knowledge, confidence and experience <v William Shatner>to defeat the enemy in the event of genuine combat. <v William Shatner>[music] <v William Shatner>Six miles northeast of Key West, Thriving discreetly amidst the sailboats,

<v William Shatner>mangroves and emerald waters of Boca Chica lies the Key West Naval <v William Shatner>Air Station, home to VF-45, The Blackbirds. <v Larry Lakser>Our main training here is as an evolution called the strike farp. <v Larry Lakser>Strike Farp is a strike fighter air combat readiness program. <v Larry Lakser>All we do is not too much different from what Top Gun does in San <v Larry Lakser>Diego. Instead of taking one or two pilots in each squadron <v Larry Lakser>as Top Gun does, we take the entire squadron and we bring them here to Key West for a two <v Larry Lakser>week evolution. <v William Shatner>Commander Larry Lakser, callsign Nacho is commanding <v William Shatner>officer of the Blackbirds. <v Larry Lakser>They'll bring all their airplanes and all the crew or some of the maintenance folks. <v Larry Lakser>And for two weeks we'll give them intensive classroom <v Larry Lakser>lectures, possibly 15 hours of lectures and 11 flights for <v Larry Lakser>each of those aircrew against our adversaries.

<v Larry Lakser>We set a scenario here which is as close to combat as we can make it, and we <v Larry Lakser>duplicate the threat as best we can. <v Larry Lakser>And that's not only Soviet threat, but any other third world threat that we may get <v Larry Lakser>involved with and given them that experience by giving them an intensive <v Larry Lakser>training scenario. <v William Shatner>This program explores the blackbirds over the course of a two week training period. <v William Shatner>Their unusual mission as adversary instructors and the fascinating subject <v William Shatner>they teach. In classrooms on the ground and 20,000 <v William Shatner>feet over paradise. <v William Shatner>It is a distinctive environment, visiting pilots sometimes joke that they have traveled <v William Shatner>too far south and landed in Cuba. <v William Shatner>Yet with all its dramatic potential, the Soviet motif exists merely as a device <v William Shatner>to set the scenario. <v William Shatner>For it is the flying that brings the visiting squadrons to Boca Chica. <v William Shatner>And in the summer of 1989, they were the sun liners of VFA-81,

<v William Shatner>an FA-18 strike fighter squadron from the USS Saratoga. <v Larry Lakser>The sun liners and the tiger tails, welcome. Welcome back for you guys. <v Larry Lakser>This time it's a little bit bigger than it was before. <v Speaker>This squadron just recently transitioned to the F18. <v Speaker>So they are brand new to the airplane. <v Speaker>And the goal here is to get them up to speed and be prepared to go to sea <v Speaker>to join the air wing as a only functional squadron. <v Larry Lakser>Want you to develop your tactics. We're going to try to let you have the freedom <v Larry Lakser>to do your own planning and fight the way you think you're going to fight it if a real <v Larry Lakser>war came. <v Gerry Hoewing>This is a very concentrated period of flying. <v Gerry Hoewing>We'll fly at least once a day. Sometimes over the next 10 days or so, we'll end up <v Gerry Hoewing>having a couple days where we'll fly twice in one day. <v William Shatner>Commander Hoeing is the commanding officer of the Sunliners. <v Gerry Hoewing>From a tactical perspective, that gives us the opportunity to develop our tactics <v Gerry Hoewing>at the squadron level. It gives us the opportunity to work together in sections, <v Gerry Hoewing>get to know your wingman. It's also the best flying that you can possibly do.

<v Gerry Hoewing>That's why we come here. <v Larry Lakser>We will challenge you. I guarantee it. <v Larry Lakser>And we'll try to confuse you and introduce the fog of war. <v Larry Lakser>I think you're gonna have a good week. Welcome. <v William Shatner>For Commander Larry Lakser it is a bittersweet time. <v William Shatner>He will be relinquishing command of the blackbirds at the end of the strike farp and <v William Shatner>retiring from the Navy in December. <v Andy Coss>Realistically, I wouldn't trade jobs with anyone. <v William Shatner>Commander Andy Coss, callsign Flash, we'll be taking over for Commander Lakser as <v William Shatner>the new commanding officer of the blackbirds. <v Andy Coss>To do our mission here is extremely enviable because we fly <v Andy Coss>twice a day. Not unusual. <v Andy Coss>We fly the best airplanes. <v Andy Coss>F-16's are a primo fighter in the world. <v Andy Coss>A-4's are a real challenging and fun airplane to fly that is extremely <v Andy Coss>good performing in this mission. <v Andy Coss>And so we're having we're doing something that's exciting. <v Andy Coss>That is really challenging and really competitive

<v Andy Coss>because we are out there actually engaging in simulated combat. <v William Shatner>For the next two weeks, commanders, Lakser, Coss and the rest of the blackbirds <v William Shatner>will fly their A4's and F16's against the Sunliners simulating a variety <v William Shatner>of threat aircraft in diverse scenarios and combat situations. <v William Shatner>They will be the bogey's, the Sunliner's the fighters and the training will progress from <v William Shatner>basic combat maneuvering to advanced tactics and communications. <v William Shatner>After the rules and regulations are reviewed the training gets underway with the first <v William Shatner>two lectures of a nine part series. <v Dave Emich>Today's lecture, what we're gonna study are three French aircraft and two Soviet <v Dave Emich>aircraft. They're the percentage threat out in the world today. <v Speaker>We have about an hour and a half lectures every day and they talk about threat <v Speaker>capabilities as well as the tactics that the smart people <v Speaker>are learning and using. Smart people, I mean, Top Gun, the adversary squadrons,

<v Speaker>what they're seeing and what works the best. <v Tom Sullivan>How about this slide here? Does this look like realistic odds to ya? <v Tom Sullivan>The new miracle superiority that many of our potential adversaries possess must be taken <v Tom Sullivan>into account when we form our approach toward section tactics. <v Speaker>It's an invaluable part of the training here. You really can't do the <v Speaker>air to air tactics, the flying tactics, until you've been taught how to do them on the <v Speaker>ground over the years. <v Speaker>Several of the people hear the same lectures over and over, but every time you hear the <v Speaker>lectures, ya know, you learn something that you didn't know before and they're they're <v Speaker>key to the training that we get here. <v William Shatner>Soviet meets French Mirages. <v William Shatner>By the end of the SFARP, the sun liners will know their performance capabilities and <v William Shatner>characteristics inside and out. <v William Shatner>More importantly, they will know how to best employ the speed, maneuverability <v William Shatner>and weapons systems of their FA-18 Hornet to beat their opponents in combat.

<v William Shatner>After the two lectures today, each sunliner will take part in their first flight of the <v William Shatner>strike farp in a one versus one scenario against the Blackbirds. <v William Shatner>Today, Commander Lakser will be flying his F-16 to simulate a MiG 29 <v William Shatner>or Fulcrum, looking to hold on to a certain piece of sky. <v William Shatner>Flying against him will be Commander Hoewing of the Sunliners in his FA-18 <v William Shatner>Hornet. Together, they will go through several exercises, concentrating <v William Shatner>on how best to maneuver in behind the other for the kill. <v William Shatner>Each flight, or hop, consists not only of the flying, but just as importantly, <v William Shatner>a brief prior to the actual flight and a debrief following it. <v William Shatner>In the briefing portion. The participants will first review the administrative aspects <v William Shatner>and conduct of the flight. <v Larry Lakser>The administrative portion is just how are we going to get to the area and then how are <v Larry Lakser>we gonna get back and what we're gonna do as far as training rules and safety. <v Larry Lakser>And you can imagine that these these flights are hazardous in many ways, and we try to

<v Larry Lakser>minimize to have hazards by adhering to very strict uh rules. <v Larry Lakser>Safety bubble, 500 feet, always assume the other aircraft does not see you. <v Larry Lakser>No sk-no sky goes high in the flight crossing situation. <v Larry Lakser>Obviously, exception here is if your nose is high but you're coming down and your <v Larry Lakser>ballistic or you're on the limiter. <v Larry Lakser>The rest of the brief is designed to accomplish a training goal, <v Larry Lakser>for instance, on a 1 v 1 sortie one of the training goals is to establish <v Larry Lakser>basic fighter maneuver confidence for that pilot, to where he can get in that airplane <v Larry Lakser>and do the seat of the pants type flying, stick and throttle flying, that is gonna be <v Larry Lakser>required of him in combat. And we concentrate on that. <v Larry Lakser>We also concentrate on what kind of game plan he's going to use against the type of <v Larry Lakser>adversary he's going out against that day. <v Larry Lakser>Obviously, if it's a type airplane that his aircraft is superior in, <v Larry Lakser>in one particular regime, then he should take advantage of that regime to <v Larry Lakser>to win against that type of adversary. <v Larry Lakser>Up here, we're gonna have some fun today.

<v William Shatner>Utilizing basic skills such as rolling scissors, flat scissors and loops, <v William Shatner>these one versus one scenarios will help establish the urgency and importance of quick <v William Shatner>and efficient maneuvering. <v William Shatner>Though while aviation technology has improved vastly since the early days of World War I, <v William Shatner>the basic tenet of dog-fighting, positioning oneself behind the other for <v William Shatner>the kill is as vital today as it was in 1917 over <v William Shatner>the open fields of France. [music] [Song: Eye in the Sky Extended Version by The Alan Parsons Project] <v Larry Lakser>When you prepare for the fight, you need to lock out all other things and particles of <v Larry Lakser>business or items of business that you would be doing at your desk. <v Larry Lakser>And as you walk out, you review the flight. <v Larry Lakser>What are the instructions? What's the scenario? <v Larry Lakser>How am I gonna do this? <v Larry Lakser>Get to the airplane and now the only thing I want to think about is it this airplane <v Larry Lakser>ready to fly? I want to do a very thorough preflight look at all the items that need to <v Larry Lakser>be looked at. Feel satisfied, take one big look around after you finished with <v Larry Lakser>the details. Just take a look at the airplane itself, how it's sitting. <v Larry Lakser>Jump in through the start procedures, make sure you're, the machine's operating properly.

<v Larry Lakser>And then once your're fully satisfied with that get into the tempo of things as they're <v Larry Lakser>going to come and they come in a certain order: the clearance, the taxi, the post <v Larry Lakser>star checks and then off to the runway to meet your wingman and then take <v Larry Lakser>off. <v Larry Lakser>So you're not thinking about the thrill of flying, right now, you're thinking about doing <v Larry Lakser>your job and making the business turn out right. <v Larry Lakser>You don't have the time to just sort of look around and say, this is a great day. <v Larry Lakser>Sometimes you do. Sometimes you don't. <v Larry Lakser>And it's a very intensive flight, but you're just so much you can absorb, so much you can <v Larry Lakser>do and so you're limited to just the business at hand. <v Larry Lakser>I think. [music] [Song: Dreams by Van Halen] <v William Shatner>In modern air to air combat, there are three levels of engagement.

<v William Shatner>First, there is the BVR stage, which stands for Beyond Visual Range. <v William Shatner>This is the arena where fighter pilots would launch missiles at a target once spotted on <v William Shatner>radar. For the FA-18 the missile would be the AIM 7 Sparrow. <v William Shatner>Known as a semi active radar missile, the sparrow locates the target by homing in <v William Shatner>on the echoes it gives off while being illuminated by radar from the attacking aircraft. <v William Shatner>The sparrow has a maximum speed of four times the speed of sound in a published range <v William Shatner>of 56 nautical miles. <v William Shatner>In more time, the FA-18 Hornet would be expected to eliminate a good number of enemy <v William Shatner>aircraft in this manner. Well before the opposing jets even saw each other. <v William Shatner>For the bogey's that made it through the layer of sparrow missiles, and history suggests <v William Shatner>that there would be a substantial number of them, the next two levels of air combat would <v William Shatner>both take place in the close in air to air arena, the furball, <v William Shatner>as it is referred to by the pilots, where maneuvering and tactics become <v William Shatner>life and death.

<v William Shatner>These two levels include utilizing the heat seeking Sidewinder missile, which hones in on <v William Shatner>the exhaust of the opposing jet's engines and closer in the FA-18's <v William Shatner>20 millimeter cannon. <v William Shatner>The Blackbirds instruct the Sunliners on all three levels. <v Speaker>After the flight we'll, we'll come back and into one of our several debriefing rooms. <v Larry Lakser>Okay, ho, was a great hop. <v Gerry Hoewing>It was a it was a dandy. <v Larry Lakser>Good hop. OK. Was there any adminn for me as far as getting out and coming back to the <v Larry Lakser>area? <v Gerry Hoewing>No. Just as briefed. <v Larry Lakser>We'll will look at the uh the head camera film and try to analyze what was good <v Larry Lakser>or other than good in his performance. Did he meet his uh his <v Larry Lakser>plan? Did he execute his plan well? Did he fly his airplane well? <v Larry Lakser>And what can we do to improve his performance? <v Larry Lakser>Vis-a-vis the adversary he flew against. <v William Shatner>The HUD, or heads up display, is a small transparent screen located <v William Shatner>on top of the instrument panel in front of the pilot. <v William Shatner>A variety of information is projected on the glass in such a way that the pilot can still

<v William Shatner>see through it, maintaining his view on the target while accessing needed details. <v William Shatner>The speed is displayed in nautical miles per hour, including a listing for mock speed <v William Shatner>or the speed of sound. Altitude is shown in thousands of feet. <v William Shatner>Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, the pilot uses the HUD to aim his various <v William Shatner>weapons. The pilot tries to line up the opposing jet in the circle displayed on <v William Shatner>his HUD screen while listening for his missiles to let him know with a variety of tones, <v William Shatner>when they have locked onto their target. <v William Shatner>The flight is recorded on videotape, complete with the HUDs intricate graphics for review <v William Shatner>after the hop. <v Larry Lakser>The F-18 pilot sees that and says, well I see this guy coming down hill I'ma try a lead <v Larry Lakser>turn, but uh doesn't realize how slow the F-16 is expecting him to <v Larry Lakser>fly out in front. And what happens is the F-18's nose falls through the F-16 is so slow <v Larry Lakser>he actually falls in behind the F-18 and consummates a kill. <v Gerry Hoewing>Just like they did in the flight, just like we did in they did in World War I or <v Gerry Hoewing>World War II, Korea, uh the close in basic fighting, dog fighting

<v Gerry Hoewing>that you saw in those other wars. <v William Shatner>Both commanders got their individual shots in, but scores are not kept. <v William Shatner>And there was never any adversarial relationship. <v William Shatner>It is the experience of a high speed, high energy dogfight the Blackbirds are trying to <v William Shatner>impart not personal competition. <v Larry Lakser>To be an emissary pilot is not only to have the skills to fly an airplane and simulate <v Larry Lakser>the bad guy, but to come back and give those the training lessons to the fighter pilot <v Larry Lakser>and strike fighter pilot in a debrief like you just saw. <v Larry Lakser>Well, we can't remember every detail. <v Larry Lakser>What we do is do a little spaghetti card. And on that card we'll make a few <v Larry Lakser>jiggle jaggle notes of what we did in that particular fight. <v Larry Lakser>And oh, we can't do move per move, time, real time, we can look at that card <v Larry Lakser>and remember that particular fight. <v Larry Lakser>And it's sort of a cue to bring us back to that fight. <v William Shatner>A combined 96 hours of instruction later including 16 adversary flights <v William Shatner>and roughly 50,000 gallons of jet fuel, the first day is over by

<v William Shatner>7 p.m. For the blackbirds time to head home. <v William Shatner>For the sunliners, a chance to enjoy Key West and unwind. <v William Shatner>For everyone the satisfaction of knowing that they'll get to do it all again over <v William Shatner>the next 9 days. <v Doug Cooper>There are a bunch of Navy pilots on Liberty in France, and they were <v Doug Cooper>they were out drinking probably one or two light beers. <v Drew Stegon>Light light beer. <v Doug Cooper>And this truck went down the street and ran this mouse over. <v Doug Cooper>So they thought it was real funny. They went and got a spatula and scraped him off <v Doug Cooper>and laminated him. And now that junior pilot in this squadron has to carry him <v Doug Cooper>and he's been like through two ejections in naval aircraft, he's been on a couple <v Doug Cooper>cruises, he's probably bought more drinks for people than than any <v Doug Cooper>living human being. <v Speaker>You should know. <v Brian Niemi>What Key West does for us down here, it gives us the opportunity to fly against one <v Brian Niemi>high performance aircraft, which is the F-16 and professional

<v Brian Niemi>bogey drivers who just drive it. <v Barry Hull>Maybe we're a little biased, but the F-18 is the best fighter built today. <v Barry Hull>And we're just hopefully within the next two weeks we'll be able to employ <v Barry Hull>it as a better weapon and <v Barry Hull>uh just be able to hold our own. Right now it's I personally just feel <v Barry Hull>like I'm kind of a beginner at the whole thing and I hope within two weeks I'll <v Barry Hull>be much better at it. <v Bob King>Every day it's their job down here and we're trying to figure out how all <v Bob King>work. [music] <v Randy Coss>I'd say flying is like a personal extension of yourself and in this role here, air <v Randy Coss>combat and as adversaries, that's what we do day in and day out a couple times a day. <v William Shatner>Commander Andy Koss has been a naval aviator for 16 years and a member of the blackbirds <v William Shatner>for 1 year as the aquadron's executive officer.

<v Andy Koss>I'm aware that I couldn't have a better job for myself. <v Andy Koss>It encompasses adventure, excitement, exhilaration <v Andy Koss>of flying. And so naturally, every day I go to work, I <v Andy Koss>look forward to it. <v Andy Koss>It's always very beautiful, the setting down here in the <v Andy Koss>in the Keys and where we fly, it's really probably <v Andy Koss>only mitigated by the weather that we might happen to have. <v Andy Koss>Morning, afternoon, evening all have their beauty, <v Andy Koss>whether it be the sun rising, the sun setting or high in the sky. <v Andy Koss>So they're all, it's all very beautiful. <v Andy Koss>All these things, like I say, it's incredible and we get to go out and fly over all this <v Andy Koss>beauty and still do what we're doing. <v Andy Koss>The days are not routine, knowing that I'm not going to be here forever. <v Andy Koss>And that is the best job in the world. <v Andy Koss>So I'm really appreciative and glad every day I do drive to work.

<v Andy Koss>The fact that this is my job. <v Andy Koss>Amazing but it's a great deal. <v William Shatner>It is the stuff Hollywood lives for, daring young men in their flying machines <v William Shatner>raging through subtropical skies at speeds and levels of a maneuverability formerly <v William Shatner>reserved for [inaudible] In aircraft so appealing we <v William Shatner>are drawn to them like flying sculpture. <v William Shatner>Yet Hollywood would most likely portray such men with a twisted perception of <v William Shatner>what is truly dramatic. Choosing to perpetuate the popular image of <v William Shatner>the macho, brooding fighter pilot. <v Larry Lakser>There are some Hollywood versions of what a fighter pilot is. <v Larry Lakser>And I think if you look at the Top Gun image, <v Larry Lakser>for example, I think that's quite overblown. <v Larry Lakser>You would never see a young aviator get <v Larry Lakser>away with some of the things he did as far as lack of air discipline.

<v Larry Lakser>The young men who are here who fly for the squadron are very disciplined. <v Larry Lakser>They are pro-very professional, and set the example for the other pilots who come here <v Larry Lakser>for training. <v Larry Lakser>We don't we don't really foster <v Larry Lakser>a let loose atmosphere. <v Speaker>[movie clip] You know, I can take my pick of any backseater in the squadron you want out <v Speaker>you just say so. <v William Shatner>If the movies manage to overlook such crucial attributes as maturity <v William Shatner>and discipline in the perennial presentations of the macho, they are at least <v William Shatner>appreciative of a special quality that attracts the attention of popular <v William Shatner>culture. In fact, there is an almost metaphorical intangible <v William Shatner>element that serves as a common denominator beyond the variety of personalities <v William Shatner>and the more palpable traits of perfect health and solid intellect, journalist <v William Shatner>Tom Wolfe called it, the right stuff. <v William Shatner>But what is the right stuff? <v Andy Koss>Well, I guess I would define the right stuff as being an ability to rise above <v Andy Koss>any personal fears or

<v Andy Koss>questions to where you're, you are basically very confident in yourself <v Andy Koss>that you will be able to perform. <v Andy Koss>That you are able to draw upon all the talents that you know you have, plus all <v Andy Koss>the talents that have been developed through your training and to rise above <v Andy Koss>any personal fears, anxieties and so on without being foolish, <v Andy Koss>but to be somewhat fearless in the terms of right stuff to <v Andy Koss>to do it and get satisfaction out of it, I believe would probably be the real essence of <v Andy Koss>it. <v William Shatner>The blackbirds are touted by the Navy as a squadron of experts. <v William Shatner>Each pilot has an average of 2,500 hours in tactical jet aircract <v William Shatner>and at least one tour of sea duty, which translates to 2 years at sea <v William Shatner>flying off of an aircraft carrier. <v William Shatner>In addition, all have been through specialized training at Top Gun to become certified <v William Shatner>advisary instructors. <v Andy Koss>The screening process of of finding not just those who want <v Andy Koss>to be here, but finding the absolute best people that we can.

<v Andy Koss>And I can tell you this, everyone that's here wants to be here. <v Andy Koss>I can also tell you that there's probably a pretty good line of people that want to get <v Andy Koss>here and there just aren't enough slots available. <v Andy Koss>So we do have the enviable position of being able to screen people <v Andy Koss>and pick really the best. <v William Shatner>Lieutenant Peter Smurf Murphy is representative of the pilots who make it. <v William Shatner>The 31 year old Massachusetts native has been a Blackbird for 2 years and a <v William Shatner>naval aviator for 7. <v Peter Murphy>I enjoy being an advisary instructor. <v Peter Murphy>The flying is great. <v Peter Murphy>The uh the people you get to train are already pilots who have some experience in what <v Peter Murphy>they do and it's very enjoyable. <v Peter Murphy>People come down and they want to do real well at being a fighter pilot or shooting air <v Peter Murphy>to air missiles, so there's a lot of enthusiasm for the learning and it makes it more <v Peter Murphy>enjoyable. <v Peter Murphy>When I first got down here most of the F-18 squadrons were new. <v Peter Murphy>In other words, they had just transitioned, so like myselves-myself, they were mostly

<v Peter Murphy>A-7 background type pilots and very limited air to air capabilities. <v Peter Murphy>So when they come down initially, things don't go as well as we would have hoped. <v Peter Murphy>They went, but the learning curve is high. <v Peter Murphy>And by the time they leave to progressing and doing a lot better. <v Peter Murphy>Like, for example, the squadron down here right now, they're doing really well. <v Peter Murphy>Today's flight, the one-v-one I had, I'm very happy with that. <v Peter Murphy>The uh the performance was good. And this is someone new. <v Peter Murphy>As the instruction gets better, the pilots are gonna get better and you will see a <v Peter Murphy>definite curve in the upward direction from when squadrons first show up <v Peter Murphy>to when they leave and that's what we're here for. <v Peter Murphy>[music] <v William Shatner>The visiting fighters have progressed a great deal during their first week of encounters <v William Shatner>with the blackbirds. And there is emerging within them a greater sense of <v William Shatner>self-confidence. <v Craig Bertolett>For me personally, I feel I feel good. I feel like the learning curve is getting steeper. <v Craig Bertolett>When you first show up there's a lot that you've taken in.

<v Craig Bertolett>There's a lot to try to learn. The uh the way that 45 teaches it with the very <v Craig Bertolett>professional, very thorough debriefs, you learn an awful lot. <v Craig Bertolett>You don't go out and make the same mistakes. <v Craig Bertolett>You build on what you learned the day before. <v Craig Bertolett>And uh flying's a real perishable skill. <v Craig Bertolett>So even if we've seen these techniques or skills previously, <v Craig Bertolett>if we haven't practiced them in a month or two. <v Craig Bertolett>We forget how to do them, not necessarily forget how to do them but if you gotta do them <v Craig Bertolett>well and quickly when the heat of the fight gets <v Craig Bertolett>on. <v Gerry Hoewing>We've done extremely well so far. <v Gerry Hoewing>Lots to learn yet. We're now getting into the complex tactics both on our side and on <v Gerry Hoewing>the bogey side. So, you know, the the proofs in the pudding, there's still a lot <v Gerry Hoewing>to go but right now we're pretty happy with the way things are going. <v William Shatner>By this point in the SFARP, the visiting sunliners have advanced past the lecture series <v William Shatner>and the one versus one aerial encounters with the blackbirds. <v William Shatner>They will now team up as pairs or sections and face the blackbirds in

<v William Shatner>two versus two, and two versus four scenarios. <v William Shatner>[radio talk] The <v William Shatner>training goals progressed from the basic fighter maneuvering of the one versus one <v William Shatner>exercises to section tactics and communications. <v Larry Lakser>In the later hops we try to to create a scenario that would be <v Larry Lakser>something that would be reasonably considered a real world scenario. <v Larry Lakser>As the hostilities uh potential for hostilities and their mission is to <v Larry Lakser>go out and be defensive in nature, or the hostilities may <v Larry Lakser>have already commenced and their job is just to go out and strike and or shoot down the <v Larry Lakser>enemy airplanes as they find them. We also try to inject a bit of <v Larry Lakser>command of control. <v Larry Lakser>We don't just try it say go out and kill everybody, you see. <v Larry Lakser>We try to simulate the type of rules he may be under <v Larry Lakser>in any particular area of the world. <v Larry Lakser>He is closely controlled.

<v Larry Lakser>He cannot just go out and shoot down a guy that another aircraft that is there. <v William Shatner>One such scenario is training flight number four, which places an F-A18 <v William Shatner>section in a situation where they must first visually identify the adversaries <v William Shatner>before engaging them in combat. <v Speaker>U.S. Task Force has established a naval blockade of a threat commercial port facility. <v Larry Lakser>We try to give him an exercise where he must obey the rules of engagement <v Larry Lakser>so that when he does get in a situation where the rules of engagement are <v Larry Lakser>prohibitive or restrict him, that he knows exactly what he must do <v Larry Lakser>and how to obey those rules. <v William Shatner>The scenario places an FA-18 section against an unknown number of blackbirds <v William Shatner>simulating Chinese built F7s and MiG 29s with their A4's and F-16's. <v William Shatner>Two sunliners will act as part of a fictitious Navy task force. <v William Shatner>Their job is to intercept a group of potentially hostile fighters closing in on the <v William Shatner>fleet. <v Peter Murphy>MIG Sweep, 35 nautical mile intercept to engagement.

<v Peter Murphy>That'll be what we're trying to do today. <v Peter Murphy>Wild-card bogey's will be out there for today and any subsequent engagements you have for <v Peter Murphy>the rest of your time down here. So be aware of the wildcard. <v William Shatner>For the Sun liners the game plan today will be to identify the hostile aircraft while <v William Shatner>merging with them, utilizing their FA-18's greater speed and maneuverability <v William Shatner>to outdistance the simulated F7s and pulled tightly back around for the kill. <v Peter Murphy>The idea is to get behind who you're fighting. <v Peter Murphy>There's a lot of different maneuvers you can use to do that. <v Peter Murphy>This loops which you use vertical up and back around <v Peter Murphy>almost like a ferris wheel going up and around, up and around. <v Peter Murphy>There's a rolling scissors, which is pretty much the same thing, except you don't have <v Peter Murphy>enough air speed to take it quite all the way up over the top. <v Peter Murphy>So you gonna have to roll over to one side or the other. <v Peter Murphy>Then there's the old flat scissors where you try to stop your downrange travel. <v Peter Murphy>And as you try to stop your downrange travel, you try to get slower than the other person <v Peter Murphy>in and you try to weave and get behind 'em, but the whole idea is to get behind

<v Peter Murphy>the other person to get a shot. <v Peter Murphy>[radio talk] Now with today, with having forward quarter missiles, you don't necessarily <v Peter Murphy>need to get what's, what used to be known as the fur ball or they real close in dogfight <v Peter Murphy>may be to your advantage to hit the merge, to get some separation, come back, <v Peter Murphy>shoot him in the face and depending on who you're going against that may <v Peter Murphy>be the alternative of choice. <v Craig Bertolett>There's actually a lot of physical build up that you do when you do a lot of <v Craig Bertolett>ACM or dog-fighting. It's a fairly physically straining maneuver, <v Craig Bertolett>turning around in your seat, neck muscles get bigger. <v Craig Bertolett>I'm willing to bet that everybody's collar size increases about an inch by the time they <v Craig Bertolett>leave. <v Craig Bertolett>[classical music] You're pulling five or six G's, your head, which weighs about a fifth <v Craig Bertolett>of your body weight gets awful heavy. <v Craig Bertolett>If you're looking over your shoulder, it gets tiring. <v Craig Bertolett>Everybody comes back drenched.

<v William Shatner>G-forces are the punishment nature administers for traveling fast while turning sharply. <v William Shatner>The F-16 can easily pull 9 G's, meaning there is nine times the force <v William Shatner>of gravity exerted upon the pilot. <v William Shatner>A 200 pound man can find himself weighing 1800 pounds in the course of only <v William Shatner>a few seconds. <v Andy Koss>What it does physically, you get a little tingling feeling. <v Andy Koss>You also feel this again, this actual force, like there's somebody else in the cockpit <v Andy Koss>with you sitting on you, pushing on you. <v Andy Koss>And then when you get to the very extreme where the higher G's states that force <v Andy Koss>uh manifests itself in fogging of the vision, actually a tunneling of the vision. <v Andy Koss>And of course, that's due physiologically because of the blood leaving the head. <v Andy Koss>Uh and it can get to such extremes that you might lose <v Andy Koss>your vision. You may even actually black out. <v Andy Koss>And of course, in the worst case, lose consciousness. <v Andy Koss>What I find is it tends to make the fight, the actual air combat, the actual engagement, <v Andy Koss>a real physical thing. You're actually now engaged with another airplane and <v Andy Koss>it's and it hurts. You're not just sitting there playing a video game.

<v Andy Koss>You are now physically involved. So much so that you know, you have to <v Andy Koss>impart a lot of force within, that it's actually taking physical strength to fight this <v Andy Koss>fight. [radio talk] [music] <v Peter Murphy>The fight was a lot of fun. It went well, it really did.

<v Peter Murphy>Well, can't really get into what missiles we had and the type of scenario, but they did <v Peter Murphy>what they were supposed to do and they did a real nice job out there. <v William Shatner>Some sunliners will spend the next hour and a half examining the flight and the tactics <v William Shatner>employed. No scores are taken or ever kept. <v William Shatner>The visitors just know they get better. <v William Shatner>Besides, it's the weekend. <v William Shatner>[music] [Song: Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffet] <v William Shatner>Weekends in the Florida Keys. <v William Shatner>The sheer beauty is overwhelming. <v William Shatner>Colors come alive, illuminated by a light unique to South Florida. <v William Shatner>It all adds to the allure of the job. <v Larry Lakser>Free time is excellent when you have free time. <v Larry Lakser>You can fish and windsurf, excellent diving.

<v Larry Lakser>It uh once in a while it gets a little, you get some cabin fever because Key West <v Larry Lakser>is a small, small place. I think the hard part is uh the <v Larry Lakser>wife gets to stay when the husband gets to play. <v Larry Lakser>So it's not as easy out her. <v William Shatner>The Lakser's have been married for 12 years. <v Lora Lakser>It's like everything else that exists by definition. <v Lora Lakser>If you come into marriage feeling that it's a quid pro quo <v Lora Lakser>proposition. <v Lora Lakser>It's equal. It's not. <v Lora Lakser>It's it's almost like there's a third party. <v Lora Lakser>And the third party is the Navy. <v Lora Lakser>The Navy comes first. <v William Shatner>With a master's degree from the University of Virginia. <v William Shatner>Mrs. Lakser speaks with an eloquence and a sense of humor in presenting the reality of <v William Shatner>married life in the Navy. <v Lora Lakser>You learn very early not to assume he's going to be home for <v Lora Lakser>anniversaries, birthdays, Christmas, even um a specific <v Lora Lakser>evening. You you can't make um long term

<v Lora Lakser>plans of any sort. And the wives that make it in the Navy and <v Lora Lakser>as a group, I think I respect them more than any other <v Lora Lakser>group of women I've ever known. Uh are really special. <v Lora Lakser>You ask them, what do you think about being a Navy wife? <v Lora Lakser>And they'll say something horrible, ugh, but then they laugh and they accept <v Lora Lakser>it. They accept it with incredibly good grace, with humor, and they love their husbands, <v Lora Lakser>not because they are this exciting cardboard caricature flying an <v Lora Lakser>airplane or something, but because they can love them and they can accept <v Lora Lakser>the um things about their personal lives <v Lora Lakser>that maybe are not so pleasant. <v Lora Lakser>It's just the price that we all have to pay so they can <v Lora Lakser>defend America and have a lot of fun doing it, flying airplanes. <v William Shatner>The final four days of the SFARP begin, undoubtedly for Commander Lakser

<v William Shatner>or the sight of jets coming in will have a very special meaning this week. <v William Shatner>For the sunliners, the learning curve shows a steep increase building upon the lectures <v William Shatner>and the basic flying of the first week, they will now fly as divisions. <v William Shatner>That is, as groups of four concentrating on teamwork and divisional tactics, <v William Shatner>as well as mastering the FA-18's extensive radar capabilities. <v William Shatner>With the Hornet, the radar can scan the surrounding sky in a number of different <v William Shatner>directions and distances, depending upon how the pilot has programmed it. <v William Shatner>When the long distance aims Seven Sparrow missile is chosen, the radar may be programed <v William Shatner>to scan up to 80 nautical miles. <v William Shatner>When the shorter range Sidewinder missile is selected a 20 nautical mile scan may be <v William Shatner>preferred, or down to five nautical miles when the weapons mode is switched to guns. <v William Shatner>The pilot can continuously switch from one mode to the other. <v William Shatner>Tracking up to ten targets simultaneously. <v William Shatner>This week, the sun liners will work on cultivating these crucial radar skills as

<v William Shatner>divisions, coordinating their combined capabilities by conducting MiG sweeps <v William Shatner>or group radar searches for the enemy. <v William Shatner>As the training progresses, the sunliners begin turning the experience they are getting <v William Shatner>into victories against the adversaries. <v William Shatner>Victories that are hard fought and very rewarding for the blackbirds. <v Peter Murphy>That's our job. And I'm I'm glad, I mean, obviously, no one likes to have <v Peter Murphy>another jet behind them shooting them. We also simulate several different planes. <v Peter Murphy>If we go out there with an F-16, we're not necessarily going to go out there and simulate <v Peter Murphy>a fulcrum. We may be out there simulating MiG 21, for example, which is the performance <v Peter Murphy>isn't isn't the same. <v Peter Murphy>Therefore, they should be able to beat you using different tactics or maneuvers that <v Peter Murphy>they would otherwise not use against a MIG 29. <v Peter Murphy>And those examples, they should be able to beat you, and they should be able to beat you <v Peter Murphy>readily. When they do that, it's good. <v Peter Murphy>And I feel pretty good about that, because that's my job. <v Peter Murphy>Make sure that they're able to do that. <v William Shatner>It is a mission the Navy will be upgrading within the next year.

<v William Shatner>The blackbirds will begin flying F5s along with their current deployment <v William Shatner>of A4s an F-16s. <v William Shatner>Additionally, they will also introduce an advanced computer known as the Tactical Air <v William Shatner>Combat Training System, or TACTS. <v William Shatner>This extremely complex system receives information from a missile like pod attached to <v William Shatner>jets involved in air to air combat. <v William Shatner>The TACTS range translates the data into computer generated images, views <v William Shatner>of the dog-fighting, which can be seen at literally any angle desired. <v William Shatner>The TACTS range can show the engagement in real time as it is occurring while <v William Shatner>recording it to be used later as a training aid for pilots reviewing the flight. <v Scott Grundmeier>Three-D all all, all round. <v Scott Grundmeier>Each way we have the data on each airplane. <v Scott Grundmeier>Specifically, what happens is the aircraft go out, fight a fight, and in <v Scott Grundmeier>close quarters at obviously very high speeds a 1,000 miles an hour closing. <v Scott Grundmeier>Systems can pick all that up. You can see maneuvering. <v Scott Grundmeier>That's the key point to the whole thing, is being able to get air to air weapons onto

<v Scott Grundmeier>another target without actually having to expend targets and drones to do that. <v Scott Grundmeier>And we get the full amount of training from that portion of it. <v Scott Grundmeier>And we can see that from any view looking down on 'em to the side or whatever, you can <v Scott Grundmeier>put a pilot, a pilot view on the uh on the screen there and <v Scott Grundmeier>actually see the uh world as the pilot sees it from his aircraft, <v Scott Grundmeier>as how the tax raises. If there are other other other other airplane in front of them. <v Scott Grundmeier>We'll see the other airplane in from-in front of them. We can watch him actually do what <v Scott Grundmeier>we see, oftentimes that actual guns kill or something very close. <v Scott Grundmeier>So it's a very dynamic system. And it's and it really gets down to the minutest detail. <v William Shatner>The TACTS range is able to handle up to 36 planes instantaneously, <v William Shatner>pinpointing each one's exact position in the sky by two to three feet. <v Scott Grundmeier>The TACTS ranges isn't an answer, it's an addition to what we've already got. <v Scott Grundmeier>There's nothing that can really replace pilot experience. <v Scott Grundmeier>You know what the bogey driver saw from his years of flying plus when he saw that day, he <v Scott Grundmeier>knows what the guy's what the guy did wrong or right.

<v Scott Grundmeier>And and this is just another tool along with what we have in the airplanes and so forth <v Scott Grundmeier>to uh to enhance and to really drive home the point of what we need to teach <v Scott Grundmeier>the guy. The young pilot was flying against us. <v William Shatner>At 50 million dollars for the entire setup or less than the cost of two F-14 tomheads. <v William Shatner>The tax range is promoted by the Navy as a bargain for the enhanced training capability <v William Shatner>it delivers. What about the training program itself? <v Larry Lakser>Well, it's really hard to put a dollar sign on something that if you don't <v Larry Lakser>do may cost you to lose a war. <v Larry Lakser>But I think training gets an adversary and it doesn't have to be exclusively air to air. <v Larry Lakser>The air the ground troops train against simulated adversaries also. <v Larry Lakser>It's the best way to give American fighting person <v Larry Lakser>experience as close to combat as he can get. <v Larry Lakser>Now, what does it cost us here? We're using airplanes that probably would have been <v Larry Lakser>retired if we weren't using them.

<v Larry Lakser>A4 is subsonic airplane that was built <v Larry Lakser>in the, initial flight was in the early 50s. <v Larry Lakser>The airplanes we have are some of them, almost 30 years old, in fact, may be older than <v Larry Lakser>the pilots who are flying them. <v Larry Lakser>And the Navy is getting their money out of that airplane. <v Larry Lakser>Some of them have over 7,000 hours of uh flight hours on 'e. <v Larry Lakser>The new airplanes we have the F-16 were bought at a very good price and are <v Larry Lakser>maintained by a contractor. <v Larry Lakser>And the amount of fuel that they burn is really small compared to the amount of fuel <v Larry Lakser>in the entire training plan. So I would say if you could put a price tag <v Larry Lakser>on what we're doing here, it's it's a bargain. <v Larry Lakser>The Navy, the government, the American people are getting their dollars worth from <v Larry Lakser>dollar invested here as to what it does for their capability in case in the <v Larry Lakser>event that they had to go fight. <v William Shatner>Recent history tends to support him. <v William Shatner>Towards the end of the war in Vietnam, after U.S. <v William Shatner>pilots were exposed to intensive air combat training prior to entering the conflict,

<v William Shatner>the Navy's kill ratio rose 400 percent from 3 to 1, in the early '60s.That <v William Shatner>is three victories for every one lost to a rate of twelve to one by 1971. <v William Shatner>More recently, events in the Middle East proved the political expedience and national <v William Shatner>need for winning such limited engagements. <v Larry Lakser>As you know, aircraft carriers have been the major source <v Larry Lakser>of uh deterence. <v Larry Lakser>Not so much in the potential battle with the Soviets, <v Larry Lakser>but in regional conflicts, I think the aircraft carrier has been called upon more than <v Larry Lakser>any other branch or arm of the U.S. <v Larry Lakser>services. To do, to provide uh defense. <v William Shatner>Such was the case in January of 1989, when two Libyian MiG 23's <v William Shatner>engaged a pair of U.S. Navy F-14 Tomcats on patrol over international <v William Shatner>waters. [radio talk] This <v William Shatner>is the actual HUD video and audio from the event.

<v William Shatner>Two Libyian MiG 23's continuously vectored in on a pair of F-14 Tomcats. <v William Shatner>An F-14 pilot fearing that they might be fired upon, launched a Sparrow missile at the <v William Shatner>MiGs from 13 miles away. <v William Shatner>The sparrow destroyed one of the MiGs. <v William Shatner> And then the other MiG was shot down by a sidewinder in close in <v William Shatner>air combat. [radio talk] <v William Shatner>With Navy carrier pilots often the sole U.S. <v William Shatner>air power represented American interests in these affairs. <v William Shatner>The pilot's performance often determines the outcome of the dispute. <v William Shatner>Towards the end of the training period, the F45 hosts what has become a blackbird's

<v William Shatner>tradition known simply as the Boat X. <v William Shatner>Everyone meets at the Bachelor Officer Quarters Lounge for drinks and an exchange of <v William Shatner>plaques. <v Gerry Hoewing>We came down here, I think, with the right attitude, and that was to learn as much as we <v Gerry Hoewing>could from what I think is the most professional adversary squadron in the in <v Gerry Hoewing>the U.S. Navy. And I think we owe F45 a round of applause right here. <v Gerry Hoewing>You guys do it like it's supposed to be done. <v Gerry Hoewing>This is a little plaque from VFA-81 to the blackbirds <v Gerry Hoewing>for SFARP July 1989. <v Gerry Hoewing>And it's from the sunliners. Who said sunliners. [music] <v William Shatner>Then it is a short excursion offshore to enjoy one of the most spectacular <v William Shatner>sunsets in the United States. <v Larry Lakser>When you go to sea for six months at a time, you tend to become a rather <v Larry Lakser>close knit group. You know, it's almost like a marriage between all these different

<v Larry Lakser>people and uh boy, being down in Key West. <v Larry Lakser>I guess it's kind of like being out on an aircraft carrier. <v Larry Lakser>It's a close knit and small group. <v Larry Lakser>And I guess we have a lot of the same interests and enjoy doing the same things and it's <v Larry Lakser>fun. It's nice to get together. <v Larry Lakser>And I guess a lot of that is uh due to the higher ups as well. <v Larry Lakser>The COs, the department heads, the squadron kind of unifies <v Larry Lakser>around this group of people and it makes a lot more enjoyable. <v Gerry Hoewing> I think they planned it this way. <v Gerry Hoewing>I'm not sure, you know, they've had a good time here, boy, ya know the suns just about to <v Gerry Hoewing>go down about an inch and a half above the horizon. <v Gerry Hoewing>The beaches are still warm, the beer's still cold. <v Gerry Hoewing>What a way to spend the day. <v Speaker>We we all showed you a good time last night and uh we're gonna try and show you a good <v Speaker>time again today.

<v Speaker>It's time to uh forget the friendships and get the fangs out and put the thinking caps <v Speaker>back on. Pretty much take everything we learned, the whole SFARP put them together <v Speaker>and uh throw 'em together in one hop here, bringing all the best <v Speaker>that you learned and putin' them together here. <v William Shatner>The last day of the SFARP arrives with a final scenario that will challenge the Sunliners <v William Shatner>to incorporate all that they have learned over the previous nine days. <v William Shatner>Eight fighters will go against a dozen bogeys. <v William Shatner>Half of the sunliners have already flown the scenario the day before, and the final <v William Shatner>half will fly it today. For the blackbirds it involves coordinating <v William Shatner>a simulation that would make even Cecil B DeMille envious. <v Speaker>The scenario here, it's uh during a previous strike of the terrorist training camp. <v Speaker>They found a probable nuclear weapons facility. <v Speaker>Uh your job, you've got to get in there and you gotta go now and you gotta take it out. <v William Shatner>The logistics of the scenario will force the sunliners to fly past three enemy airfields <v William Shatner>and a dozen bogies who will be intercepting them as simulated MiG 23s

<v William Shatner>and Chinese built F7s before reaching their target. <v William Shatner>After the bogey leader sets the scenario, the Sunliners <v William Shatner>meet to determine their game plan. <v William Shatner>They will designate two of their FA-18's as the attack aircraft, which <v William Shatner>will drop the bombs, and the remaining six will escort them to their target, protecting <v William Shatner>them as divisions and sections. <v Zack May>The bombers working to get good shots, conserving your missile. <v Zack May>So we're looking for for kill shots and not necessarily a <v Zack May>low probability shots. <v Dave Emich>Okay uh last time for these guys, last set of the last set <v Dave Emich>of fighters working. <v William Shatner>The blackbirds game plan will be to engage the Sunliners in three different areas, <v William Shatner>throwing everything they have at them. For commando Lakser it will be the last <v William Shatner>flight of his naval career and it is on everyone's mind as they set the ground rules <v William Shatner>for all to get their last shots in on the way back to the base. <v Dave Emich>Just remember, this is uh Nacho's last flight here, and I'm sure he doesn't want to <v Dave Emich>gunned on his last flight.

<v Dave Emich>Skipper can regenerate as often as he wants. <v Dave Emich>Everybody might as well get a piece. [music] [radio talk] <v William Shatner>

<v William Shatner>For the skipper, one more naval tradition commending the final flight of <v William Shatner>a distinguished career. <v Larry Lakser>I was almost in tears to see all those smiling faces of those people <v Larry Lakser>who I've known last 2-2 and a 1/2 years. <v Larry Lakser>And, you know, it's always hasn't always been good times. <v Larry Lakser>So we've worked hard to get where we are. <v Larry Lakser>They're like family. I can tell you that right now, they're part of your family. <v Speaker>Remember, you're flying here of course. <v Larry Lakser>You know, we've given some of these way and this one means so much. <v Larry Lakser>It really does. Thank you. <v Larry Lakser>Oh, it just hit me when I was coming back. <v Larry Lakser>It was just very peaceful, very quiet. <v Larry Lakser>Just one airplane coming back across the Gulf of Mexico. <v Larry Lakser>The water and the clouds, the sky.

<v Larry Lakser>I just sort of absorbed it all and was very thankful for the opportunity to be here <v Larry Lakser>and to have had this great tour. It'd be hard to forget <v Larry Lakser>it. But it was very nostalgic with a great hop, by the way. <v Larry Lakser>The [inaudible] were looking for me to pounce on me. <v Larry Lakser>And uh they did get a shot but it was after two of them got shot by me. <v Larry Lakser>So I feel I did okay. Three to one. <v Speaker>Went out, went out with a bang. <v Larry Lakser>Yeah, I think we did it right. <v Speaker>Okay, uh recap on the scenario. <v William Shatner>One final debriefing with the sunliners. <v Speaker>Previous strike of uh terrorist training camps, a probable nuclear weapons facility as <v Speaker>seen under construction in violation of treaty accords. <v Craig Bertolett>It went well. We're done. We're on our way home. <v Craig Bertolett>Had a real good time, learned a lot of stuff. Did a lot of hard flying. <v Craig Bertolett>They showed us a bunch of different scenarios, made it tough on us, especially that last <v Craig Bertolett>hop. Threw, threw everything at us. <v Craig Bertolett>The fog of war, I believe is what their skipper likes to call it. <v Craig Bertolett>And uh all the deedle deedles are going off in the cockpit and everybody's talking on

<v Craig Bertolett>their radio at once. It gets, it gets pretty foggy. <v William Shatner>The bogeys and fighters spend two hours reviewing the flight step-by-step <v William Shatner>analyzing missile shots, communications and tactics. <v William Shatner>For everyone it was a success. <v William Shatner>The Sunliners lost to FA-18's in the simulation, but they destroyed their objective <v William Shatner>and shot down a lot of bogeys in the process. <v Gerry Hoewing>The uh evolution is uh is gone virtually as it was designed to go, <v Gerry Hoewing>the learning curve amongst the junior officers, and some of us old guys, too for that <v Gerry Hoewing>matter, has been almost, almost vertical and boy, has just been <v Gerry Hoewing>tremendous. You know, the training is has been superb from day one, the lectures, <v Gerry Hoewing>the briefs, the debriefs and then the flight training, in-flight training. <v Gerry Hoewing>I just can't say enough about it. I think we're we're much better at our mission now than <v Gerry Hoewing>we were when we came down here. And that's that's the purpose of this. <v Gerry Hoewing>This SFARP training. <v William Shatner>As quickly as they arrived the Sunliners head back to their home base at Cecil Field in <v William Shatner>Jacksonville. More capable and more confident.

<v William Shatner>They leave Boca Chica prepared for whatever they might encounter during their upcoming <v William Shatner>tour at sea. <v William Shatner>They depart, leaving the blackbirds and commander Lakser preparing for tomorrow's <v William Shatner>change of command ceremony. <v Larry Lakser>I'm sure it will be an emotional day. <v Larry Lakser>But uh Andy is ready to be CO. <v Larry Lakser>Uh Commander Foster's ready to be SO. <v Larry Lakser>[music] [American National Anthem] And they're going to press on and the squadron's going <v Larry Lakser>to do great and it will just be a change of hats. <v Larry Lakser>So I will feel very satisfied and I <v Larry Lakser>think the timing is about right. <v William Shatner>Perhaps satisfaction is the best word to sum up the atmosphere at Boca Chica. <v William Shatner>It permeates the scene along with the ongoing heat, an ever present odor of jet fuel. <v William Shatner>An immense and virtually complete sense of satisfaction. <v William Shatner>As the Cold War ends and peace begins to shine throughout the smaller and smaller world, <v William Shatner>young Americans will always be expected to rush into harm's way in defense

<v William Shatner>of U.S. interests. So the training will continue with its danger, <v William Shatner>thrill and satisfaction. <v William Shatner>Yet these are not the two dimensional cardboard characters of Hollywood, Madison Avenue <v William Shatner>and Armed Services advertisements. <v William Shatner>These are real people. <v William Shatner>Quiet heroes. Silently placing their lives at risk almost every day on the job. <v William Shatner>In genuine service to the country and to the human spirit, fulfilling a <v William Shatner>certain fantastical part of its potential in the life they lead for all of us. <v William Shatner>For Commander Lakser, a new life. <v William Shatner>For the blackbirds, a new leader. <v William Shatner>Another plaque on the wall. <v William Shatner>And a little more experience to impart to the next group that will come to Boca Chica. <v William Shatner>[radio talk] [music] <v Announcer>The WPT production of Blackbirds in the Sun is made possible by a grant from the

<v Announcer>Emil Buehler Trust dedicated to the advancement of general aviation education. <v Announcer>Additional production funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the <v Announcer>Southern Educational Communications Association.