Operation Midnight Hammer through the eyes of the F-16 Wild Weasel fighter pilots who flew into Iran. Ghost” Trembly and “Cash” Croghan were the wing and squadron weapons officers for the 55th Fighter Squadron, the F-16 Wild Weasels who flew Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses ahead of the B-2 strike on Iran.
Common terms:
Watch the three-part documentary series on Afterburn Defense:
Part I:
Part II:
Part III:
This is the full, unedited interview.
They planned the F-16 portion of the strike package. In this conversation, they explain why a fourth-generation fighter flew into Iran alongside the B-2s and F-35s, how the squadron reconfigured from the Yemen fight in a matter of hours, and why nobody in the squadron believed the mission was real until it was.
Before Iran, the 55th Fighter Squadron fought over Yemen in Operation Rough Rider, a sustained air campaign against Houthi surface-to-air threats. What they learned there is the reason the F-16 Block 50 and the AGM-88 HARM were part of the strike package on June 21st, 2025.
These interviews were recorded between December 2025 and January 2026 and preserve firsthand accounts from pilots, maintainers, intelligence officers, and logistics airmen who were there.
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0:00 Preparing the Squadron for Deployment
5:16 New Equipment: AESA Radar and the F-16 Block 50
8:52 Operation Rough Rider: Counter-UAS Over Yemen
15:31 Mission Planning on a Folding Table
21:14 Five Days Out: Nobody Believed It Was Real
28:49 Reconfiguring the Jets From Rockets to HARMs
31:45 The Night Glitch Shot a SAM in 8 Seconds
41:21 Why the F-16 Was the Only Jet That Could Do It
46:38 The 15-Minute Brief Before Flying Into Iran
49:47 A 300 Mile Ingress Into Iranian Airspace
1:05:50 Is That a Missile Coming Off the Ground
1:12:41 How Tight the Fuel Really Was
1:20:40 Bunker Diving and Life on the Base
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The Epstein wars
israels best airfighters
Great show! That being said, I've been a follower of military aircraft and history since I was a young boy (I'm in my 60's now) and I had a real hard time guessing the meaning of many of the acronyms. I'd highly recommend you or your guests explain some of their story in layman terms so as to widen your audience following.
All that training to kill school girls en masse for peados
Can you imagine if Iran had a real Air Force and if the Israeli had not basically destroyed all of Iran’s anti-aircraft defences? Things could’ve turned out much different with American losses and casualties.
This is SO cool!! Loved hearing these guys talk!!
thanks for that Rain that was a really cool inteview. these guys are amazing !!
Thank you Gentlemen. You are truly American Heroes!
Very unprofessional from USAF, people had to rely on investigative journalism to know about the losses and jets shot down in Iran war. USAF is supposed to be honest.
SEAD would absolutely be the most anxious thing ever. I just wouldn’t be able to keep a cool head knowing what was about to be lobbed at me.
Great at starting wars, the best, proper shit at winning them.
Like watching a podcast in Chinese
Hello Rain, I have a suggestion for a podcast topic; make an episode about how a squadron operates at the home base and during a deployment. I know pilots have an extra task in the squadron, besides flying, to keep it running. But who does what? Who decides to do what and when?
Steak night lol gotta get tht last good meal in ya never know I’m glad the it went smoothly and they all made it back I can’t wait to hear the stories from all this year in Iran thanks.🇺🇸🇺🇸
Banger video i'd also like to thank all the pilots maintainers, and everybody involved y'all, are legends.🦅🧨🧨🇺🇸🇺🇸
How about u explain some of the acronyms Not all of us are military fighter pilots on here
These airmen know ball.
bros got the reverse Hitler stache
This was such an amazing interview! I have the Col Kevin Hicok episode in my que next. You did a really good job putting this together! I cant imagine what was truly in the back of these pilots minds knowing they're flying into Iran. Just thinking about it raises hairs on my neck. I'm glad these guys are on our side. And if any of these Pilots, Maintainers, Airmen, Marines, Sailors, Soldiers and even veterans are reading these comments. Thank you for your service and all of your sacrifices, I appreciate everything you guys do and have done for us!
Being Aircraft maintenance for 20 years (weapons to be exact) I appreciate the shout out being made to all of us to make sure you all have/had green jets to put warheads on foreheads