Retired Col. Thomas Kirk shares his story of surviving solitary confinement for two years as a prisoner of war at the “Hanoi Hilton."

In this episode, Host Rick Crandall talks with Tom, a fighter pilot, squadron commander, and Vietnam War POW. From one of the most intense air-combat battlefields in history to the harrowing story that followed, Kirk explores what it took to persevere through the unthinkable. There is a lot to learn!

🎧 What you’ll hear:

• Inside Hanoi airspace: What it felt like flying through dense SAMs, AAA, and MiGs
• October 28, 1967: Leading a major strike, getting hit, and making the call to finish the mission
• Ejection and capture: The moment everything changed
• Life inside the “Hanoi Hilton”: Torture, isolation, and survival
• Two years alone: How routine, discipline, and mindset kept him going in solitary confinement
• The tap code: Communication, connection, and resilience among POWs
• Leadership under pressure: Commanding pilots in one of the most dangerous theaters of war
• Coming home: The physical and emotional return after 5.5 years
• Perspective: Faith, service, and “every day above ground is a great day.”

Key takeaway:

Kirk’s story reframes resilience as endurance over years, built on discipline, belief, and connection to others.

About the guest:

Col. Thomas H. Kirk is a retired U.S. Air Force Colonel and combat veteran of both Korea and Vietnam. He commanded the 357th Fighter Squadron and flew missions over North Vietnam in the Republic F-105 Thunderchief. Shot down on his 67th mission, he spent more than five years as a prisoner of war. He was awarded the Air Force Cross, four Silver Stars, and multiple Distinguished Flying Crosses. After his release, he returned to active duty in leadership roles before retiring and later built a successful business career, continuing to speak on leadership and resilience.

Learn More:

• Read the full show notes on the Wings Over the Rockies website
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• Subscribe and leave a review to support the show

This episode is supported in part by United Airlines.

Season 8 of Behind the Wings podcast is here. Hosted by Rick Crandall, the next 10 episodes deliver first-hand accounts from across the aerospace world, spanning historic combat missions, classified Cold War programs, and pivotal moments in space exploration. This season continues the show’s focus on connecting past, present, and future through the people who lived it.

Release Schedule:

New episodes drop every other Monday, beginning April 20, 2026.

More Info:
Visit Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum.
Support Wings' Mission of aerospace education and inspiration.

Special thanks to United Airlines for supporting the podcast and helping bring these stories to life.

Get an inside look at NASA’s Quesst mission and the effort to bring supersonic flight back over land, without the disruptive sonic boom.

For more than 50 years, civil aircraft in the U.S. have been effectively barred from flying supersonic over land, not because of speed, but because of noise. NASA aims to change that paradigm with the X-59, a purpose-built experimental X-plane designed to reshape shockwaves so they reach the ground as a quiet “sonic thump” rather than a window-rattling boom.

We’re joined by Cathy Bahm, Low Boom Flight Demonstrator Project Manager at NASA Armstrong, who leads the design, build, and flight test progression of the X-59, and Lori Ozoroski, Commercial Supersonic Technology Project Manager at NASA, who oversees mission planning, acoustic validation, and community response testing, and how that data is delivered to regulators.

Why it matters: if regulators adopt a noise-based limit, commercial supersonic routes over land could become realistic again, potentially cutting long U.S. flights nearly in half.