Could You Pass the Navy's TOPGUN Program?

The Navy runs the elite TOPGUN program at an airbase in Fallon, NV. Formerly based in Miramar, CA the program instructs pilots on strike force tactics.

The top 1% of Navy pilots are invited to the TOPGUN program. They use the skills they learn in the program to teach other pilots at their respective naval stations.

The TOPGUN program was created in 1969. The original intent was to train pilots to become better combat pilots after poor performances were uncovered during the Vietnam War.

While the moniker TOPGUN doesn't actually stand for anything as an acronym, the program does have a title. It goes by the name Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor Program

Not all of the TOPGUN program is about flying. Over 100 hours are spent in the classroom as opposed to about 25 in the air.

The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 has two turbocharged engines. It's capable as a fighter and an attack platform. It has a max speed of mach 1.7 and is so versatile that it's used by both the Navy and the Marine Corps.

TOPGUN's original location was at the Miramar Naval Base in San Diego, CA. It was known as Fightertown, USA. Miramar is now home to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, as well as more than 12,200 Marines, sailors and civilians.

The birth of the TOPGUN program resulted from the U.S. military's abysmal kill ratio during the beginning of the Vietnam War. The program analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of the MiG and the F-4 and created a new fighting style that helped increase the U.S. kill ratio to 12 Vietnamese MiGs gunned down for every 1 American plane.

A dogfight is an aerial battle between fighter aircraft at close range. It relies on a pilot's skill to maneuver the airplane in order to place it in a prime location for taking advantage of the enemy aircraft.

The original plane used in the TOPGUN program was the F-4 Phantom. Experienced pilots determined that while the F-4 wasn't as agile as the Soviet MiG, it was able to climb faster. This led to a change in fighting style.

The F-4 Phantom was originally designed as a long-range bomber and only carried air-to-air missiles. However, after suffering serious losses to Soviet-built MiG fighters they began to carry 20-millimeter cannons for more effective close-range dogfighting.

In 1961, an F-4 set the world speed record at 1,604 mph (2581 kph) on a 15-mile circuit. It routinely travels at twice the speed of sound on its missions.

Fighting in an F-4 Phantom was a team effort. That team consisted of a pilot up front and a radar intercept officer (RIO) behind. The RIO's tasks include monitoring weapon status, handling radio and navigation equipment, searching for enemies and mission organization.

The Sparrow is a radar-guided air-to-air missile. It's propelled by a rocket motor and has a range of 30 nautical miles.

The Ault Report, also known as the Air-to-Air Missile System Capability Review, was created by Capt. Frank Ault. After a disappointing start to the air-combat missions during Vietnam, Ault wrote a report listing all of his recommendations for increasing performance, the most pivotal being the start of the TOPGUN program.

The Vietnamese used both the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 and MiG-21. Both are supersonic jets designed by the Soviets as air-to-air combat fighters and interceptors.

Navy pilots learned that the F-4 wasn't being out-gunned. It was being out-maneuvered. They had to find the MiG's weak areas. They discovered that while they couldn't keep up with most maneuvers, the F-4 could climb faster. TOPGUN instructors taught their pilots to climb to the top of the imaginary egg and then dive down and under the MiG's blind spot.

The U.S. Navy acquired some MiGs in order to seek out its weak areas. One startling find they made was that the MiG had a blind spot under its nose. This discovery allowed the Navy to develop tactics to overtake the enemy aircraft.

VF-121 Lt. Cmdr. Dan “Yank” Pedersen was given the task of creating the TOPGUN school. Eight men (four pilots and four Radar Intercept Officers), along with Pedersen, gathered intelligence and aircraft, and devised an operating procedure that endures to this day.

While the movie "Top Gun" was great advertisement for the military program, the heads of the school have had it with the movie's quotes. Every time an instructor says a line from the movie, he or she is charged $5.

Becky Calder entered the Naval Academy in 1994. The then-deputy commandant of midshipmen Charles Bolden suggested that she would make a great fighter pilot. The Department of Defense had just amended its policy prohibiting women from serving in combat positions in 1993.

The U.S. military struggled to combat with the Vietnamese MiG fighter pilots. The F-4 was designed for long-range missiles, but the Vietnamese continuously engaged U.S. fighter pilots in up-close dogfights, forcing the Navy to change the way it trained its pilots.

The TOPGUN program is currently 9 weeks long. During this time teachers and students spend more than 100 hours in the classroom and 25 hours in the air engaging in combat missions against other aircraft.

Naval Air Station Fallon, or NAS Fallon, is the Navy’s premier tactical air warfare training center. It is home to the Fighting Saints of VFC-13, the Desert Outlaws of Strike Fighter Wing Pacific and the Naval Strike Air Warfare Center (which includes the TOPGUN program).

The Navy occupied Miramar for over 50 years training fighter pilots and instructors. A fitting name for a town that housed F-14 squadrons and the TOPGUN program.

The average length of the runway on an aircraft carrier is 300 feet. In order to take off on such a short runway, four steam-powered catapults are used to thrust a 48,000-pound aircraft from zero to 165 miles per hour in two seconds. Upon landing, the pilot snags a cable to arrest its forward movement.

Kaiden Lambert was a 7-year-old boy from Neenah, Wis., who came to the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center (NSAWC) as a part of the Make a Wish foundation. He was awarded with an honorary graduation from TOPGUN.

Aptly named since these nine graduates flew the F-4 Phantom, the first graduates of the TOPGUN program were a proven success. They went back to their squadrons upon graduation and shared the newfound knowledge with fellow pilots.

The Ault Report identified 242 areas as needing improvement. The most important was the recommendation to retrain pilots in a way that would allow them to be successful fighting against MiG pilots. This recommendation led to the formation of the TOPGUN program.

The F-35 Lightning II is the next generation fighter to support the US Navy, Air Force and the Marine Corps. It is designed to perform ground-attack and air-superiority missions.

The wingman is a pilot who supports another in a potentially dangerous flying environment. The wingman was originally the pilot flying beside and slightly behind the lead plane, however with the changes made to flying formations, the wingman now takes other positions.

Fighter pilot call signs are given at naming ceremonies. They are usually based on how the pilot performs certain maneuvers, a play on the pilot's name, the pilot's personality or just the whims of the other pilots. Usually, once a pilot flies with a call sign in combat they keep it for their career.

A person sitting or standing experiences 1 G-Force. At 9 G-Forces (the maximum modern fighters experience in training), a 200-pound person feels as though they weigh 1,800 pounds. These extreme forces can cause “G-induced Loss of Consciousness,” or G-LOC.

These 9 pilots were tasked with going back to their units and teaching the techniques they learned to their fellow pilots. Lt. Jerome Eugene Beaulier and Lt. Stephen John Barkley made the first kill following the TOPGUN program.

Charles B. DeBellevue had a total of six kills and was one of only five American aviators to achieve ace status in Vietnam. DeBellevue flew in a F-4 Phantom II.