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Pinbag Shaw | 10 Percent True | EP83 Part 2

In Part Two of our conversation, Thomas “Pinbag” Shaw takes us operational.

From Korea to Germany, this is life in a Cold War Phantom squadron — where Victor Alert was real, nuclear strike planning was routine, and NATO air defence timelines were measured in minutes.

In this episode we discuss:

• What sitting nuclear Victor Alert actually meant

• How QRA posture worked in Europe and the Pacific

• Intercept geometry against Warsaw Pact aircraft

• NATO strike planning and readiness discipline

• The psychology of Cold War aircrew culture

• Transitioning from Phantom to the Strike Eagle era

This is Tactical Air Command at its most serious — a force built around the assumption that the next launch might not be an exercise.

If you enjoy long-form, technical conversations with the people who flew the jets, subscribe and join the conversation.

0:00 Intro teaser – North Korean MiG-21 intercept

3:52 Welcome back, Pinbag

4:28 The Nellis influence

9:28 Leaving MacDill – SERE school

20:28 Korea and PACAF disposition

27:15 36th Fighter Squadron

33:35 Introduction to Korea

38:00 Areas of responsibility, command structure, and settling in

44:20 Training, digesting the vault, and other in-theatre assets and threats

49:10 Equipment – F-4E variants

53:25 Radar presentation, trade-offs, and features (TISEO, Combat Tree, Pave Spike)

1:04:44 Turnover of airframes

1:06:02 Operation Paul Bunyan – the axe-handle murders and redeployment of assets (including GBU-15 / AGM-65) for possible engagement with a tree

1:11:35 One year later – the Army’s turn and the lost Chinook

1:15:38 North Korean Air Force and South Korean MiGs (and Beagle)

1:26:12 AN-2s and skunk boats

1:27:30 How a prospective war would have unfolded

1:32:05 North Koreans in Vietnam; Soviets and North Koreans flying with the Egyptians

1:34:24 GCI and bullseye intercepts

1:36:50 Integration, improvement, and the prospective order of battle

1:40:40 Evolution in war planning and the birth of Large Force Employment

1:46:30 Lakenheath leadership influence and differences from PACAF

1:54:40 Battles over the Taiwan Strait and ROKAF checkouts – similarities and rumours

1:57:30 Alert story – possible SA-2 site

2:01:12 Peacetime Aerial Reconnaissance Program (including intro teaser story) and alert scramble