So There I Was

This is what happens when you put a Navy Tomcat legend behind a camera and let him tell the story his way. Heater takes us from KC-135 tanker ops with that infamous hard hose, to the kind of “how’d-you-do-that?” plug where he’s steady on the basket and still managing to grab photos mid-refuel. Then we pivot into Top Gun lore from someone who was actually there: the “Star Wars on Earth” in more ways than one; the image that helped ignite the franchise; two days of filming “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’,” and the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it mystery of a possible Darth Vader lurking in the background of the bar scene. Along the way, Heater breaks down what aviation photography really takes: planning, timing, composition, and the occasional blind shot that somehow becomes iconic. And years later, he’s still uncovering gems in old slide boxes that prove the best pictures sometimes outlive the moment by decades. Long-form, hilarious, and packed with aviation history and insider detail. F-14 on the Fantail Heater Paint Scheme

This week’s sponsor: Antigravity A1 Drone. Learn more at sothereiwas.us/antigravity Episode 190 is what happens when you hand the mic to Captain CJ “Heater” Healy and then just try to keep up. Heater takes us from a childhood obsession with WWII airplanes to roller-coaster “G-training,” to flying—then teaching—at the highest levels of naval aviation. Along the way, we hit the $10 “Mexican Justice of the Peace” wedding that turned into a 53-year marriage, the fighter-pilot path that almost didn’t happen, and the mind-bending world of MiGs at Area 51 — yes, the ones that “smelled like a hydraulic leak with an electrical fire.” — Heater also reveals how a single photograph helped spark Top Gun, plus what it was like being on set and shooting real missile events that almost ended VERY badly with a very non-digital camera… including mid-flight film surgery. This one’s a top-five all-timer—no doubt. The Shot that Changed His Life Heater’s Paint Scheme

In this week’s episode of So There I Was, Ike joins us with stories so wild they make the Quigley, Beirut, and Cherry Point weather sound like minor inconveniences. We open with Ike casually mentioning that he once found himself upside-down over the North Atlantic at night — because of course he did. From growing up under the Nashville approach path to being choked in boot camp for laughing, to nearly “smoking” the British ambassador in Beirut when his door gunner got jumpy, Ike’s journey from farm kid to single-seat attack pilot is a rollercoaster with no safety bar. We hit everything: CH-46 shenanigans, A-4 aileron rolls where drop tanks were definitely still attached, Harrier culture, maintenance-shop misery, and why flying vertical is basically a religion. Add in toilet installations on mountain peaks, British PT instructors who try to kill you, and Marines being Marines… and you’ve got an episode that is equal parts chaos, nostalgia, and aviation gold. Screenshot

B-2 stealth bomber test pilot Sparky joins So There I Was to explain why the world’s sneakiest bomber still can’t go direct to Liberal, Kansas without a paperwork migraine. From “switches up, auto missile, eat a sandwich” bomb runs to 24-hour missions fueled by go-pills, honey buckets, and a hacked-together cot, he walks us through life in a jet built for nuclear armageddon but terrible at simple IFR. Then we follow him to test pilot school at Edwards, where he flies everything from F-16s to flying boats, helps beat up the “Franken-tanker” KC-46, and explains how big airliners survive stalls, rejected takeoffs, and absurd crosswinds. Sparky also tells the sobering story of losing a classmate in a T-38 crash—and the piano-burning tradition that followed—before closing with the truly unbelievable tale of how Wayne Newton kissing his wife on stage earned him his call sign. Burning a Piano B-2 School Mates Last TPS Flight Using the Good Part of the Runway While Craters Get Fixed

Strap in, because Sparky’s ride from the C-17 to the B-2 is basically the aviation version of “What could possibly go wrong?” — except when everything did go wrong, and somehow nobody died. We open with Sparky nearly spearing aPassenger Airliner 737 at FL280 when the T-38’s pitot-static system decided to take the day off. That set the tone. Next, he walks us through dropping flares directly onto a detainee camp in Kandahar (oops), landing a 585,000-pound C-17 on a 3,000-foot dirt strip, and descending at 25,000 feet per minute because… why not? Then we move to the B-2, where one of the highlights is pressing one button and starting all four engines at once, like a nuclear-hardened Nespresso machine. Sparky’s stories swing from hilarious to jaw-dropping, and many would make an FAA inspector faint. It’s chaos, comedy, combat aviation, and classic So There I Was—all wrapped into two monster episodes… This week and next we are honored to welcome our first B-2 Spirit Pilot