TOPGUN and Tomcat Days with Navy Commander Dave "Bio" Baranek
Release Date: 01/13/2023
Lessons From The Cockpit
Welcome to Episode 104 of Lessons from the Cockpit! I’m Mark Hasara, former KC-135 pilot, author of Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit, and a lifelong aviation fanatic. For over 60 years, aviation has been my passion, and this show brings you stories from the cockpit, the mission planning room, and beyond. This week, I sit down with Mike Ethridge, a longtime friend and fellow Air Force aviator. We met as cadets at BYU’s ROTC Detachment 855, and he went on to fly the KC-10A Extender, KC-135s and every Boeing airframe Delta Airlines has flown around the world. What’s in This...
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EPISODE #105 – Marine Airpower, the Battle of Ramadi, and Flying the Beast: The F-35 and MV-22 Strap in and arm hot, folks—this one’s a burner. Welcome to Episode 105 of the Lessons from the Cockpit show! I’m your host Mark Hasara, retired KC-135 pilot, author of Tanker Pilot, and a lifelong aviation nut with over 60 years of airpower obsession. This week, I sit down with Colonel Byron “Shrek” Sullivan, a retired United States Marine Corps airpower warrior. And trust me—this is the kind of episode that makes your hair stand up. "Shrek" is a Marine’s Marine—combat leader,...
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🎧 Episode 106 – Rewriting the Rules of Marine Airpower Welcome back to Lessons from the Cockpit! I’m your host, retired Air Force Lt Col Mark “Sluggo” Hasara—KC-135 pilot, Joint Specialty Officer, and full-throttle aviation fanatic for over 60 years. In this episode, we finish a powerful two-part dive into Marine Corps aviation weapons, tactics, techniques, and procedures with my good friend Colonel Byron “Shrek” Sullivan. Shrek is a combat-proven pilot with time in both the F/A-18 Hornet and the F-35 Lightning II. And about halfway through the episode, we’re joined by the...
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Welcome to the ninety-fifth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit Show! I am your host Mark Hasara, former KC-135 pilot and Airplane Nerd! I’m really excited to bring this episode to you! Air Mobility Command's Command Chief Master Sergeant Jamie Newman and I met at the Airlift Tanker Association convention in Dallas earlier this year. Coming up through the Air Force Security Police ranks, Command Chief Newman was not only selected to become an elite Air Force Phoenix Raven, but go through the Army’s grueling Ranger School returning later as an instructor at Fort Benning! Command Chief...
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Welcome to the Lessons from the Cockpit Show and episode number ninety-four! I’m your host retired Air Force KC-135 pilot Lieutenant Colonel Mark Hasara and my passion is everything aviation! This episode is unique! I’ve known this incredible artist for years through LinkedIn and Facebook and thought it would be cool to have him explain how he accomplishes his craft. He is a fellow aviation artist but in a league and class by himself. Aviation artist Wade Meyers tells us his story of how he fell in love with airplanes but later in life made a career change and now draws and paints aviation...
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Welcome to Episode #92 of the Lessons from the Cockpit show! I’m your host Mark Hasara, retired KC-135 pilot and Weapons Officer. I met Colonel Barrett “Scooter” Golden recently at the 2024 Airlift Tanker Association convention in Dallas. Scooter is a long time C-130 pilot and also a graduate of the C-130 Weapons School. During an off station trainer Scooter and his crew were told by the Special Tactics Team on the ground his aircraft did not come off the Red Devil Assault Strip intact. An iPhone photo texted to him from his wingman confirmed his situation not covered in the Pilot Manual...
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Welcome the eighty-second episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit show! I'm your host Mark Hasara, aviation and conflict history expert. Colonel Ray “Donk” Strasburger began his flying career as a Navigator in the B-52, qualifying for a pilot slot when his initial eye test was determined to be wrong! Donk and his wingman were awarded Silver Stars for destroying major elements of the Special Republican Guard Hammurabi Division assaulting Task Force 2-69th Armor at the Muthanna Bridge, called Objective Monty, during the sand storm sweeping through Baghdad on 6 April 2003. The ground...
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Welcome folks to the eighty-third episode of the lessons from the cockpit show! I am your host Mark Hasara, a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force and former KC-135 pilot. Captain John Markle was an F-4 Phantom II pilot in the famous 550th Tactical Fighter Squadron in the spring and summer of 1972, some of the most intense periods of the air campaign over North Vietnam. The LINEBACKER ONE campaign began on 10 May 1972, and John was flying in the famous OYSTER flight, shooting down a MiG-21 Fishbed that day. John also tells us about his shoot-down and Recovery on another...
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Welcome to all my listeners out there to the 81st episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast I am your host Mark Hasara and I'm a veteran of four Wars, an initial Cadre member of the kc-135 weapons school, and curriculum director at National Defense University's Joint Combined Warfighter School One of the great experiences of hosting this show and being a member of the Red River Valley Association is being in contact with these Vietnam heroes. Today we are talking to one of my childhood heroes! Air Force Colonel Chuck DeBellevue was the highest scoring Ace of the Vietnam War, destroying...
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Welcome to the 80th episode… eight zero… of the Lessons from the Cockpit show! I am your host Mark Hasara and for over 60 years my passion has been all things aviation. This is episode two with the Flight Operations Director Jamie McCarthy of Port City Air on what used to be Pease Air Force Base in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In this episode he's going to talk about FBO planning and execution lessons learned when you have everything from big airplanes like a C-5M Galaxy to Executive Jets like Gulfstream G550 needing services at Port City Air. Every once in a while things don't go the way...
info_outlineWelcome to episode fifty-one of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast!
This is an interview I've wanted to do for a long time!
Commander Dave "Bio" Baranek as an F-14 Tomcat Radar Intercept Officer or RIO had a great Naval Aviation career. Leaving college with a passion for flying, Bio got into the Tomcat community shortly after the F-14's introduction into the fleet as the Navy's premier air superiority fighter. Bio saw the Tomcat grow from an air superiority fighter to a precision strike platform when Tomcats began carrying air-to-ground weapons and the LANTIRN targeting pod. While teaching at TOPGUN, he and the instructor cadre were a little surprised when told they would be participating in the creation and filming of arguably the most iconic aviation movie of the 80s with a little know actor in the lead role. Dave Baranek published many of these stories in his three books, which can be purchased through the Amazon links below.
His first book TOPGUN Days tells his story of naval aviation in the 1980s Cold War chasing The Bear, chosen as an instructor RIO at Navy Fighter Weapons School and the filming of the 1986 blockbuster movie TOPGUN staring Tom Cruise, Anthony Edwards, Val Kilmer, and Kelly McGillis. People are still listening to that musical score!
Dave's second book Before TOPGUN Days takes place before the events recounted in his previous memoir, Topgun Days, Bio brings to life the anxieties and excitement of entering the fast-paced world of naval fighter aviation. From a green recruit to an experienced flyer, discover what the journey is like to become a TOPGUN instructor.
His third book Tomcat RIO shares the challenges F-14 aircrews face flying intense missions against known and unknown enemies like a deadly foe called complacency. Learning a whole new mission late in his career, Bio saw the F-14 grow from an air superiority fighter to a precision strike asset. As a Navy expert in fighter tactics and aircraft carrier operations, his experience propelled him into command of a frontline F-14 fighter squadron, the world-famous VF-211 Fighting Checkmates, leading more than three hundred people while deployed on an aircraft carrier under combat conditions.
The Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is financially supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. Help us keep the show going by purchasing one or two of very detailed aircraft profiles printed on vinyl in four, six, and eight-foot-long graphics you can peel off and stick to any flat surface. Wall Pilot can create a custom aircraft profile with your name on the canopy rail, preferred weapons load, tail number, and squadron emblems by contacting them at Wall Pilot's website.
Ready-to-Print aircraft profiles of the Grumman F-14A Tomcat from VF-1 Wolfpack and VF-32 Swordsman are available at these links. Profiles of F-5E Aggressor aircraft which appeared in the movie TOPGUN in the GRAPE and SNAKE schemes are also available from Wall Pilot Ready-to-Print section.
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Thanks for listening and tune in next week for another episode where we debrief the most fascinating and intriguing pilots, aircrew members, maintainers, and aviation enthusiasts from all over the world to hear their stories but more importantly what they learned from their extraordinary military, commercial and private flying experiences.