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TOPGUN graduates
Currently located at Naval Air Station (NAS) Fallon, Nevada, TOPGUN – the US Navy Fighter Weapons School (NFWS) – was established in 1968 to teach Navy aircrews the core air combat tactics, to train others in those tactics, and to ensure that naval aviation “never again” forgot its lessons learned.
The history of air combat has seen one recurring theme—new tactics are learned in battle, forgotten or discarded when battle concludes, and relearned at great cost during the next war. This cycle continued into the 1960s, when America was drawn into the Vietnam War. Despite having a skill and equipment advantage, US Navy aircrews were faring poorly against North Vietnamese fighters. Air combat lessons learned during prior wars, and since forgotten or deemed inapplicable due to advances in technology, were once again relevant.
Before TOPGUN, Navy F-4 Phantom II fighter crews in Vietnam managed only a 2.5:1 kill ratio versus Soviet-built MiG-17 and MiG-21 fighters: after TOPGUN formed, the community tallied a 12.5:1 kill ratio. Since then, TOPGUN has become the standard-bearer of Navy fighter and strike fighter tactics and training, and is recognized worldwide as a center of excellence. The 1980s also brought worldwide attention to the school from the Paramount movie Top Gun.
TOPGUN graduates tend to be a little bit uppity
Do TOPGUN graduates tend to be a little bit uppity?
Adam Daymude, former US Navy EA-18G Growler pilot, explains on Quora;
‘Eh! Maybe a little bit. We’re very confident, that’s for sure but for the most part, we’re set up to teach, not buzz towers.
‘That patch is really hard to earn. First off, you have to excel compared to other amazing pilots, all of whom are the best of the best. Timing helps, too, if your squadron needs a new weapons instructor.
‘You will lose, and lose often, early on during your run through Top Gun. The real name is SFTI, or in my case GTI, Growler/Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor school. For fuck’s sake, you’re fighting the best pilots the Navy has. Instant humility. So you hit the books. You read what your predecessors developed. You sit up late at night going over the next hop. And yes, we do use our hands to try and play out each scenario as we’re sitting alone in our BOQ room in NAS Fallon. We study our asses off so that we don’t show our ass on our next flight.
‘We sit through so many lectures, so many tape reviews, so many debriefs. All to make us better at what we do so that we can teach the next generation of Naval Aviators how to fight with their steed.
Uppity during active duty
‘I really only got uppity once during active duty, and once only. It was with my CO. He was a terrible, horrendous pilot that had somehow snuck his way up the career ladder. Terrible isn’t even close to describing him. Us LSO’s went to his boss (CAG) and told him he was not safe to fly around the boat. Ignored. So I pulled him aside (I was an O-4 department head) and laid out the truth as respectfully as I could.
‘I basically told him you get to fly fluff missions but leave the real fighting to us. How do you think that went over? But my word was gospel…that’s how highly regarded a GTI/SFTI grad is. I benched our commanding officer and there wasn’t anything he could do to fight it. Combat doesn’t give a shit about your rank. There was no way I was going to let this guy drag some newbs into a fight and potentially get them killed. No way.
A MUCH better fighter pilot than me
‘Epilogue: Libya 2011. Our squadron was first on scene. Who do you think lead those missions? Not him, that’s for sure. My wingman and I were first through the breach. We crushed all surface to air threats in one flight (Libya was pretty run down at that point) so we swapped over to air to air. Intercepted 2 aircraft and had them dead to rights. Didn’t shoot them though…they were defectors.’
Daymude concludes;
‘At no point during those missions did I think I was better than my wingman. Hell! I had taught half these guys from the ground up. And some of them were way better at certain things than me. This one dude just got dogfighting. He was better than me at the same stage. I still whooped him, but he went on to be a MUCH better fighter pilot than me.’
Photo credit: Paramount Pictures
