Behind the Wings

Tom Neff, an SR-71 Blackbird crew chief, takes us inside the careful work that kept one of aviation’s fastest aircraft ready to fly.

In this episode, Host Rick Crandall talks with U.S. Air Force veteran Tom Neff about maintaining the SR-71 at Beale Air Force Base. From treating exterior fasteners to withstand the heat of Mach 3 flight to the tense process of starting the J58 engines, Neff shares what it took to prepare the Blackbird for a mission. He also describes his years in competitive RC flying and how he now coaches the Wings Over the Rockies Predators drone soccer team. This one is going to be cool!
What you’ll hear:
Why the SR-71 could leak fuel on the ground, and why that was expected.
How the Blackbird’s speed and heat shaped its maintenance procedures.
What a crew chief checked before an aircraft was cleared to fly.
Why starting the J58 engines was one of the most stressful parts of the job.
What it was like to arrive at Beale Air Force Base and see the SR-71 for the first time.
How Neff competed in RC combat flying, including international competitions.
How his aviation experience carries into teaching students and coaching drone soccer.
What advice Neff gives future aircraft maintainers: good enough isn’t good enough.
Learn More:
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Major Eric “Porky” Scheibe flew more than 2,087 hours in the AV-8B Harrier II. Now he reflects on the aircraft’s final Marine Corps flight and the people who made its missions possible.
In this episode, Host Rick Crandall talks with Scheibe about flying the “jump jet,” supporting Marines on the ground, and helping close the Marine Corps’ last operational Harrier squadron, VMA-223. From his first hover at Cherry Point to night landings aboard amphibious assault ships, Scheibe shares what it took to fly and maintain this unusual aircraft. This one is going to be cool!
What you’ll hear:
The final Harrier flight: Why Scheibe had to keep his eyes on the lead aircraft as thousands watched the June 2026 sundown ceremony.
Learning to hover: What it felt like to slow a jet until its wings were no longer providing normal lift.
Why short takeoffs mattered: How a rolling takeoff let the Harrier carry more fuel and weapons than a vertical launch.
Close air support in Afghanistan: The mission that became personal when Scheibe met the Marines he had helped from the air.
Flying from amphibious ships: How wind, aircraft weight, fuel, and deck schedules shaped every launch and recovery.
Landing at night: The concentration required to bring a Harrier down vertically on a moving ship.
The people behind every flight: The trust between pilots, maintainers, plane captains, and flight deck crews.
The Bulldogs’ next chapter: What VMA-223’s Harrier legacy can carry into its planned transition to the F-35B.
Learn More:
Read about the AV-8B Harrier II+ at Wings Over the Rockies
Read the Marine Corps account of the Harrier sundown
Donate to Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum
Explore more Behind the Wings episodes
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From the Marine Corps’ final Harrier squadron to the SR-71 Blackbird, Season 9 of Behind the Wings brings you the people and stories behind extraordinary aircraft.

Join host Rick Crandall for 10 new episodes featuring the most exciting stories from across aerospace. Behind the Wings began in support of Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum’s mission to educate and inspire. More than 80 episodes later, we’re still exploring flight and space through the voices of the people who fly, build, study and preserve them.
New episodes drop every other Monday, starting October 26. Subscribe wherever you listen, and explore the full Behind the Wings library while you wait.
Learn more:
Explore the podcast archive at wingsmuseum.org/podcast
Support Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum

Go inside Constant Peg, the once-secret Cold War program that gave American fighter pilots the rare opportunity to train against real Soviet MiG aircraft.
In this special bonus episode, get a full-length lecture from former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot John Mann. A veteran of the F-4 Phantom II, F-15 Eagle and Operation Desert Storm, Mann flew MiG-21s and MiG-23s with the Red Eagles during Constant Peg. He shares an extraordinary firsthand account of the aircraft, people and training program that transformed American air combat preparation.
What you'll hear:
Lessons from Vietnam: Why the U.S. Air Force reexamined its aircraft, weapons and fighter training
The origins of Constant Peg: How real Soviet aircraft became part of a highly classified adversary program
Meeting the MiGs: Mann’s first encounter with MiG-17 and MiG-21 aircraft during training
Flying the MiG-21: Its impressive turning ability, unforgiving handling and unconventional cockpit systems
Inside the MiG-23: Tremendous speed, variable-sweep wings and dangerous flight characteristics
Training against the real threat: How Constant Peg taught American pilots to recognize and counter Soviet aircraft
The maintenance heroes: How crews kept unfamiliar MiGs flying without factory support, technical manuals or standard replacement parts
Risk and secrecy: The strict security rules, hazardous test flights and sacrifices behind the Red Eagles program
Preparing for Desert Storm: How realistic adversary training helped give American aircrews a decisive advantage
See the aircraft: Learn more about the MiG-23 on display at Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum
Learn More:
Visit Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum to see the MiG-23
Donate to Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum
Subscribe and leave a review to support the show
This episode is supported in part by United Airlines.

What can a few grains of asteroid dust tell us about the origins of life on Earth?

In this episode, Host Rick Crandall talks with NASA astrochemist José C. Aponte about the organic chemistry preserved inside asteroid Bennu. From NASA’s OSIRIS-REx sample-return mission to amino acids, nucleobases, and the mystery of life’s left-handed molecules, Aponte explains how scientists search for clues to our chemical origins. This one is going to be cool!
What you’ll hear:
Why NASA traveled to Bennu: Pristine asteroid material offers evidence that meteorites altered by Earth’s environment cannot.
How scientists prevent contamination: A fingerprint can contain more organic material than the tiny Bennu samples researchers analyze.
What researchers discovered: Bennu contains 14 of the 20 amino acids used to build proteins and all five nucleobases found in DNA and RNA.
Why molecular diversity matters: Thousands of nitrogen-bearing compounds reveal the complex chemical environment of the early solar system.
How a mass spectrometer works: Aponte explains how scientists use molecular fragments to identify compounds inside asteroid material.
The mystery of left-handed amino acids: Life uses almost exclusively one mirror-image form, but scientists still do not know why.
The search for tryptophan: Researchers found tentative evidence that could represent the first extraterrestrial detection of this complex amino acid.
What Bennu’s salts reveal: Minerals formed through evaporating water suggest Bennu’s material originated in a different part of the solar system.
Learn More:
Read the full show notes on the Wings Over the Rockies website
Donate to Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum
Subscribe and leave a review to support the show
This episode is supported in part by United Airlines.