This week on So There I Was, we’ve got three stories that cover the full range of aviation life — from Harrier Sundown memories in North Carolina, to an Army helicopter tale that takes a sharp turn – a listener-submitted story that proves the best ones are often the ones we never saw coming.
Putty gets us started with a Harrier story that reminds us why these episodes matter: the people, the missions, and the moments you don’t forget. You can feel the setting immediately — the visit, the reunion, the shared history, and that mix of pride and mischief that always shows up when Marines get together and start telling stories.
Then come Gallo and Lawman, another Harrier Sundown story, and this one has all the ingredients of a classic ready-room tale: a little tension, a little chaos, and just enough bad judgment to make the rest of us glad we were only listening. The details are the kind that make you grin because you know exactly how the story is going to go, even if you don’t know where it’s going to land.
Candyman, an Army helicopter pilot from episode 44 tells a story which is exactly what we hope for. That’s the whole point of this show: real stories from real aviators, whether they come from the squadron, the field, the cockpit, or somebody’s memory that finally got put on tape.
If you’ve got a story, send it to us. We want the near-misses, the good-natured disasters, the war stories, the sea stories, and the ones that only make sense to the people who were there. That’s what keeps So There I Was worth listening to
Next, “Rizzo” takes listeners to Fallujah and Al-Amariyah during the height of the Iraq War. What started as a routine night of illumination runs turned into a low-altitude gun run that blew straight through the 2,000-foot floor — down to 60 feet, right in the alley. The story closes two decades later, when one of the kids who scavenged his spent shell casings tracked him down on Facebook and sent them back as shot glasses.
Two pilots, two eras, one wild ride!
Candyman, an Army helicopter pilot from episode 44 tells a story which is exactly what we hope for. That’s the whole point of this show: real stories from real aviators, whether they come from the squadron, the field, the cockpit, or somebody’s memory that finally got put on tape.
If you’ve got a story, send it to us. We want the near-misses, the good-natured disasters, the war stories, the sea stories, and the ones that only make sense to the people who were there. That’s what keeps So There I Was worth listening to
Next, “Rizzo” takes listeners to Fallujah and Al-Amariyah during the height of the Iraq War. What started as a routine night of illumination runs turned into a low-altitude gun run that blew straight through the 2,000-foot floor — down to 60 feet, right in the alley. The story closes two decades later, when one of the kids who scavenged his spent shell casings tracked him down on Facebook and sent them back as shot glasses.
Two pilots, two eras, one wild ride!
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