PODCAST

Fite History

Brian Burke and Mark Silvers

Fighter pilots Brass and Mr. Chow profile incredible fighter pilots from World War 1 to Modern day.

history aviation

All Episodes

46:29

13. Frank Tinker: Inner-War Years Soldier of Fortune

Fite History ·

2025/08/17

Frank Tinker Jr. was a generation too late for World War 1, a generation too early for World War 2, but sounds his crusade over the mountains of the Iberian Peninsula in the Spanish Civil War. Join Brass and Mr. Chow as they discuss the trials, tribulations, and ultimate tragedy of Tinker's journey to Spain to fly and fight in the pre-season of the Second World War.

52:09

12. World War 1 Wrap-up (for now)

Fite History ·

2025/01/13

Join Brass and Mr. Chow as they put a bow on their coverage of WWI fighter pilots, comparing and contrasting the personalities, strengths, and weaknesses of each pilot, and discuss the various attributes that bind them together.

68:32

11. Eddie Rickenbacker: A Life of Many Acts

Fite History ·

2024/12/04

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote "There are no second acts in American lives." He'd obviously never met Eddie Rickenbacker. Join Brass and Mr. Chow as they discuss the multi-faceted life of America's Ace of Aces of WWI as well as methods for making friends on transatlantic cruises and ways to make your name sound "less German."

68:55

10. Albert Ball: The Lone Wolf

Fite History ·

2024/09/15

Lanoe Hawker was returning from a patrol over the lines when he spotted a Nieuport of No. 11 Squadron returning to base. Deciding to show this newcomer what dog-fighting was all about, Hawker pounced on the tail of the Nieuport just to give him a scare. Hawker, however, was the one surprised when the Nieuport pilot saw the move, quickly reversed the position, and a mock dog-fight broke out in earnest. After a couple of minutes, during which neither pilot could best the other, the two British pilots

63:57

9. The Lafayette Escadrille: A Menagerie of American...

Fite History ·

2024/08/16

In June of 1916, Oswald Boelcke was taking a brief respite from fighting over the skies of Verdun when a German pilot came running with urgent news: "The Devil's loose at the front." He said. "There are six Americans up aloft. I distinctly saw the American flag on their fuselages. They're damned impudent fellows; they came right up to the lines and crossed them." Boecke replied, "Well, let us go say 'how do you do?', it's the least that they can expect, and courtesy requires it of us. Join

61:43

8. Richthofen Part 2: The Red Baron

Fite History ·

2024/05/24

"Fly on and fight on, to the last drop of blood, the last drop of blood, to the last beat of the heart." -Manfred Von Richthofen, "The Red Baron." In this episode, Brass and Mr. Chow discuss Richthofen's transformation from glory-seeking hunter to tormented hero.

62:19

7. Richthofen Part 1: The Hunter

Fite History ·

2024/03/27

Hunting trophies are the ultimate proof of a hunter's triumph and reminders that cunning, patience, and marksmanship won the day. Most hunters hang the heads of deer, moose, and bear forever frozen in their last fight. Manfred Von Richthofen was a hunter with an entirely different set of trophies; in his room hung serial numbers cut from the tails of airplanes, machine-guns torn from wrecks, salvaged propellers, and dozen of little silver cups each with a unique inscription. In this episode we

76:38

6. Lanoe Hawker: The British Boelcke

Fite History ·

2024/01/02

Lanoe Hawker looked across the circle at the German pilot. After thirty minutes of turning, looping, and diving neither pilot had been able to best the other. It had become obvious that this was no ordinary dogfight. Hawker had finally found a German who could match his skills in flight. Continuing to look across the circle, Hawker gave the German a little wave, and Manfred Von Richthofen, better known as "The Red Baron" waved back. This episode explores the life and contributions of Lanoe Hawker,

64:53

5. Dicta Boelcke: The First Fighter Tactics Manual

Fite History ·

2023/12/20

In late June of 1916, Oswald Boelcke found himself on a train racing away from the war on the Western Front. Deemed as too important to lose after the death of Max Immelmann, Boelcke was left with no battle to wage. Instead, he turned his energies into distilling the lessons learned from two years of fighting. This distillation led to the "Dicta Boelcke," the first codified set of air to air tactics. Combined with daily flight briefs and debriefs, Boelcka unknowingly set the standard that all air

82:15

4. Oswald Boelcke: The Father of Air Combat

Fite History ·

2023/12/09

In February 1916, along the west bank of the Meuse, a hell unlike any ever known to man descended upon the French fortress of Verdun. Over 1,000 German heavy guns fired a combined 1,000,000 shells - in just the first 9 hours. A French officer who survived the bombardment wrote “Forevery 5 defenders, two are buried alive, two are wounded, and one is waiting.” The Germans had just begun their latest offensive and the largest battle ever fought by mankind to that point. Above this churning hell, the

57:32

3. Max Immelmann: The Eagle of Lille

Fite History ·

2023/11/25

Much has been said about “the right stuff” that separates fighter pilots from everybody else.People have tried to define the fighter pilot archetype as aggressive, type A, and arrogant. They aresupposed to be playboys and hard partiers, and certainly, many fighter pilots have fit that mold. MaxImmelmann wasn’t one of them. Small, quiet, a vegetarian and tee-totaler, not many would expectImmelmann to be the aviator to strike fear into the hearts of British pilots on the Western front.Nicknamed the

42:13

2. Adolphe Peguod: The First Fighter Ace

Fite History ·

2023/11/25

We specialize in Air-to-Air Combat. Everyone else in our squadron specializes in Air-to-Air combat. We all secretly dream of becoming fighter Aces, and so it is surprisingly that none of us had heard of the world’s first fighter ace – Adolphe Pequod. It’s time to remedy that.

51:29

1. Roland Garros: The First Fighter Pilot

Fite History ·

2023/11/25

The Roland Garros Tennis tournament is a two weeklong event held In Paris at the end of May every year. The event draws more than 600,000 spectators to watch the world’s best tennis players compete to be the Champion of the French Open. Not surprisingly if you google the name Roland Garros today, you’ll see pictures of tennis courts and perhaps Rafael Nadal, who’s won a record 14 times. Therefore, it may be surprising that Roland Garros was not a great tennis player. He was a pioneering aviator, a

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