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Flying the 'Mig-28': the making of "Top Gun".

Article Excerpt
August 1985. Two gray F-14 Tomcats are on station in military airspace over the Pacific, 60 miles southwest of San Diego. I'm in a group of five aircraft 10 miles east of them: three single-seat F-5Es and a two-seat F-5F all painted black and in tight formation, with a Lear Model 25 loose to our north. I'm in the back seat of the F-5F. It's about 5:30 on a Tuesday afternoon; the sun is low but still bright adding to the dramatic lighting. As mission commander, my pilot makes a radio call and the two groups turn in toward each other. Pilots in the opposing lead aircraft focus on specks in the distance as they grow progressively larger. The wingmen in each group are briefed to stay in formation.

We're flying slower than we normally would in this situation, each group going 'only' 300 knots, for u closing speed of 600 knots. If this were u normal training flight, the opposing sides would each be flying at 400 to 600 knots; closing speeds of 1,000 knots were not unusual.

We're flying slower than we normally would in this situation, each group going 'only' 300 knots, for a closing speed of 600 knots. If this were a normal training flight, the opposing sides would each be flying at 400 to 600 knots; closing speeds of 1,000 knots were not unusual.

Inside of a mile both lead pilots make tiny adjustments to ensure they have a close pass but don't collide. Wingmen adjust to hold the formation. At this speed it takes ten seconds to go from one mile to the merge when the formations pass each other. The wingmen maintain relative position on the leads, but we all see the oncoming aircraft in our peripheral vision. Instinct is to maneuver to avoid a collision, but it would be dangerous if all seven jets tried to do this, so we remain in formation. I reflexively flinch as the Tomcats streak past and fly out behind us.

"Cut! Let's set up for another shot. This time it has to be closer."

In the spring of 1985, Topgun Commanding Officer CDR Tom 'Otter' Otterbein announced at a meeting of instructors that Paramount Pictures had been granted approval from the highest levels of the Navy to make a movie about Topgun. He sketched the concept of an F-14 pilot and RIO going through the class, with a lot of Hollywood drama thrown in to make more interesting to movie audiences. A young actor named Tom Cruise would be the star; most of us had barely heard of him. I had been a Topgun instructor less than a year, after completing more than three years as a RIO in a Fleet F-14 squadron, and I couldn't believe my good timing.

This whole enterprise had started in 1983 when producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson saw an article in CALIFORNIA magazine describing a Tomcat crew going through Topgun. Written by Ehud Yonay, the article was illustrated with dynamic professional-quality photos by Chuck 'Heater' Heatley, an F-14 pilot and former Topgun instructor himself. Bruckheimer and Simpson were inspired. Paramount contacted Navy officials at the Pentagon, pitched their idea, and the Navy gave the project an official green light.

The project really got started when several limousines brought the producers, a cinematographer, and other Paramount people to Miramar to meet with Rear Admiral Tom Cassidy, the two-star in charge of Navy fighter and E-2 operations on the West Coast. Once he was personally satisfied, Admiral Cassidy called Topgun looking for Commanding Officer Otterbein and the Executive Officer, Lieutenant Commander Bob 'Rat' Willard. Otter and Rat were just getting out of a couple of jets after a day of dogfighting on the range near Marine Corps Air Station Yuma (Arizona) when the admiral told them to come over immediately. They walked into the meeting wearing their flight suits--after all, they were fighter pilots--and I'm sure the Hollywood crowd loved it. After the Admiral described the idea, Otter looked at Rat: "You've got it, XO." They came back to Topgun carrying an early version of the script.

Rat worked with Paramount to come up with the concept that Topgun's A-4 Skyhawks would retain their normal camouflage paint schemes and represent the adversary aircraft flown in the class. The script called for encounters with "enemy MiGs," and it was decided our F-5 Tiger II's looked more sinister so they would stand in for the MiGs. Just to ensure there was no doubt, they were painted black with red stars, and were given the fictional designation 'MiG-28' to defuse criticism that they were not "real MiGs." There was no doubt that the Grumman F-14 would star as the Good Guys' aircraft. It was the Navy's primary fighter at the time, as the last days of the F-4 were in sight and the F/A-18 was just coming on the scene. When the movie was filmed, the Navy still had roughly 20 F-14 squadrons.

By the time Otter briefed the staff on the project a few days later Rat had spent some time with the script and found that it had major flaws. But when he mentioned this to higher-ups in Washington they told him this movie was going to be made, so he'd...

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