F-15 West Demo Team Pilot Capt Sam "Nuke" Joplin

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These are the show notes to an audio episode. You can listen online right here by clicking: http://media.libsyn.com/media/airspeed/AirspeedF-15Demo.mp3.

We interviewed Capt Sam “Nuke” Joplin of the F-15 West Demo Team on Sunday, July 6 from the Battle Creek Field of Flight Air Show and Balloon Festival.

The F-15 West Coast Demo Team is one of the seven single aircraft demonstration teams assigned to the USAF Air Combat Command. The F-15 West Team originated from Holloman AFB in New Mexico and moved to Tyndall AFB in Florida before settling at Eglin AFB in the early 1990s. The name "West Coast" has been retained for heritage purposes.

Capt Joplin spent some time talking about the return of the Eagle fleet to service after having been grounded for some time in 2007 and early 2008, as well as the operational capabilities of the aircraft, what it’s like to do heritage flights, how he received his callsign, and whether Eagle drivers read Air Force Blues.

Here’s s shot of the F-15/P-51 heritage flight on Saturday, July 5 at Battle Creek this year.

Another shot of the heritage flight as it passed over the crowd on Saturday.

More information about the F-15 West Demo Team:
http://www.acc.af.mil/aerialevents/westcoastf-15demoteam.asp

More information about the USAF Air Combat Command:
http://www.acc.af.mil/

Air Force Flight Careers:
http://www.airforce.com/careers/subcatg.php?catg_id=1&sub_catg_id=1