First of all, I cannot believe nobody here has written a legitimate in-depth review of this book before, so I'm going to have to do it myself. I don't think anyone's going to read this, but I hope my efforts are worth it for any Top Gun fans (or not) out there who is deciding whether or not to read this book (or have read this book and just wanted to read some thoughts from someone else). Disclaimer: this review is going to feature lots of spoilers for the film, and since I assume most people reading this will probably already have seen Top Gun, I'm not going to be using spoiler tags, but if you haven't, please consider yourself warned! :D A riveting seat-of-the-pants flight into the lethal world of the fighter pilot' Dan Hampton, author of Viper Pilot Read more Details What resulted was nothing short of a revolution -- one that took young American pilots from the crucible of combat training in the California desert to the blistering skies of Vietnam, in the process raising America's Navy combat kill ratio from two enemy planes downed for every American plane lost to more than 22 to 1. Topgun emerged not only as an icon of America's military dominance immortalized by Hollywood but as a vital institution that would shape the nation's military strategy for generations to come. On March 3, 1969, the United States Navy established an elite school for the top one percent of its pilots. Its purpose was to teach the lost art of aerial combat and to ensure that the handful of men who graduated were the best fighter pilots in the world. They succeeded. Today, the Navy calls it Fighter Weapons School. The flyers call it: TOP GUN." Probably one of the best films of the eighties Top gun was shown here in real terms to be a hard ,gritty and technical flying experience from the best of the best Dan shared his life in full and it was a terrific read going through his naval career and family life.

Another neat segment was about the Topgun instructors heading over to Area 51 to fly against captured MiGs. It makes perfect sense, as how else would tactics instructors know how to exploit their adversary’s weaknesses. Tom Cruise has gotten behind the controls of a real fighter jet for the new movie, naturally (Picture: Paramount Pictures) Archive photo of the Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN) founding instructors. (Photo: via Dan Pedersen/Hatchette Books)Trerice v. Pedersen". United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. F2d (769): 1398. 28 August 1985. Primarily a biography rather than a deep dive into Topgun, but still an enjoyable read for a number of reasons. Pedersen conveys personal experiences well. The Fighter Weapons School was established on 3 March 1969. [6] [7] Following the implementation of the program, the Navy kill ratio in Vietnam went from 2.5:1 to 24:1. [8] [9] [10] [2] :173 Ap (1981-07-29). "SKIPPER IS ACCUSED IN SAILOR'S DEATH (Published 1981)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-12-31. In 2019, his book TOPGUN: An American Story was published to critical acclaim. [17] [18] In the book he warned that U.S. Naval Aviators weren't getting enough flight time, weren't practicing dogfighting and that an over-reliance on technology risked repeating the situation that occurred in the early years of the Vietnam War. [19] See also [ edit ]

The last chapter, as well as other parts of the book, felt like they were an outlet for Pedersen’s frustration with the government, specifically Secretary McNamara. It was interesting to read about what is happening with naval aviation in modern times and read about Pedersen’s perspective, but he was definitely dissing on people in the book. The founder of the "Topgun" Navy Fighter School shares the remarkable inside story of how he and eight other risk-takers revolutionized the art of aerial combat. The impetus to create this sort of training environment sprung from the rapid drop in the Navy’s kill ratio in Vietnam, with more American jets being shot down for every one enemy jet shot down. The man who was selected to set the programme up was Dan Pedersen, who wrote this book. When I did the first interviews, I had somebody from the Navy sitting in,” he explains. “After the first interview, I said, ‘This is not going to work. I’m sorry, I can’t talk to these people with you sitting in the room.’ They agreed, so I went forward. Not that [the pilots] had anything to say that was wrong or anything, but they could open up a little more about their private lives.” day trial period in which Topgun would operate semi-independently to evaluate whether the trial balloon rose or popped

In April 1975, he joined Carrier Air Wing Fifteen aboard the USS Coral Sea in preparation for taking command of the wing. During this time, he flew fighter cover in support of the Mayaguez Incident. [2] :212–9 For information or assistance, call Cineworld on 0330 333 4444 Mon-Sun 09:00 - 22:00. Calls to this number are charged at standard national rate and are included within your mobile network minutes. Top Gun: The New Book by Navy's Program Founder Is a Rare Aviation Literary Gem". The Aviationist. 2019-04-30 . Retrieved 2020-12-31. Overall, I enjoyed the book a lot, a great read to start out 2023 for me, and I would definitely recommend it! Top Gun is a movie that I take a lot of inspiration from. There’s a lot more to it than dogfights and beach volleyball. Top Gun itself is a school that was designed to teach dogfighting (as the starting scenes of the original and the recent sequel remind us). Its curriculum was systematically designed to produce the best naval aviators in the world, to push these young pilots to their limits and sharpen their skills and abilities beyond what they thought was possible.