AH MARCH 2019 AGGRESSOR FLIGHT - Topgun instructor Dave Baranek, in a Northrop F-5F Tiger II, forms up with his wingman in an F-5E during a U.S ...
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March 2019 AVIATION HISTORY AH MARCH 2019 AGGRESSOR FLIGHT Topgun instructor Dave Baranek, in a Northrop F-5F Tiger II, forms up with his wingman in an F-5E during a U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School (NFWS) training exercise.
TOPGUN TURNS 50 FOUNDED IN RESPONSE TO AIR COMBAT SHORTCOMINGS DURING THE VIETNAM WAR, THE U.S. NAVY’S FIGHTER TRAINING PROGRAM CONTINUES TO TURN OUT ELITE AIRMEN BY BARRETT TILLMAN
IN 1968 THE U.S. NAVY HAD A PROBLEM. ACTUALLY
IT HAD SEVERAL PROBLEMS, NEARLY ALL INVOLVING
THE FOUR-YEAR-OLD VIETNAM WAR.
But one of the most pressing was carrier fighter North Vietnamese MiGs for each F-4 Phantom or
squadrons’ disappointing record against North F-8 Crusader lost in air combat.
Vietnam’s air force. Mostly flying subsonic MiG- Ault resolved to do something about it. The
17s, the Vietnam People’s Air Force had exacted upshot was a 480-page assessment called the
an unexpected toll on American fighter-bomber “Air-to-Air Missile System Capability Review,”
squadrons from 1965 onward. released in early 1968. It became famous as the
Enter Captain Frank Ault. Known as an uncom- Ault Report.
WORK IN PROGRESS promising truth teller, Ault had little ambition Among nearly 250 recommendations, one
A Grumman F-14 to make admiral—something of a rarity for an stood out. Ault’s team proposed establishing a
Tomcat prepares to Annapolis graduate—but his reputation and atti- post-graduate fighter weapons school at Naval Air
engage simulated tude compelled the hierarchy to pay attention. Station (NAS) Miramar, north of San Diego. Its
bandits at Naval Air During his 1966-67 tour commanding the attack mission: provide objective, real-world instruction
Station Miramar during carrier Coral Sea, Ault realized that naval aviation for Pacific Fleet fighter squadrons to meet the chal-
the Topgun training was not living up to its historic potential. He was lenge over Southeast Asia.
program started by especially concerned about the air-to-air victory The Navy leadership accepted Ault’s recom-
Lt. Cmdr. Dan “Duke” record. Depending on the numbers cited, Navy mendation, and the word filtered down from
Pedersen (opposite). pilots and aircrews were downing barely two Washington to PacFleet to the Miramar wing
top-notch “scopes,” all with a burning desire to
teach and win. Moreover, with the war stretching
to infinity, Pedersen told his team, “We hold lives
in our hands.”
One of the RIOs was Lieutenant Steve Smith,
whom Pedersen reckoned could sell ice to an
Eskimo. Smith was a natural-born scrounger, and
for a case of whiskey he convinced a construction
crew to lift an unused trailer off a building site and
set it down beside Miramar’s Hangar 1. He also
commander to VF-121, the West Coast Phantom connived two safes, some barely adequate desks
training squadron. There the job landed on the and chairs, and assorted gear.
large shoulders of Lt. Cmdr. Dan Pedersen, a
combat-experienced F-4 pilot leading the unit’s THE NAVY The senior RIO, Lieutenant J.C. Smith, was a
former pilot who lost his aviator wings, returned to
tactics phase training.
Pedersen, call sign “Duke” for his stature and FIGHTER the Navy and finished atop the first RIO class. In
June 1965, flying with Commander Lou Page, he
voice similar to John Wayne’s, was an inspired
choice. As a newly minted, 33-year-old lieuten- WEAPONS had controlled the Navy’s first MiG engagement
over Vietnam, resulting in two kills for no losses.
ant commander, he was senior enough to get
things done and junior enough to be considered SCHOOL BEGAN Another RIO was Lt. (j.g.) Darrell Gary, call sign
“Condor” because, as Pedersen said, “Birds with
expendable. VF-121’s skipper, Commander Hank
Halleland, gave Pedersen as much latitude as WITHOUT A his traits tend to become endangered.” Benefiting
from unauthorized flight time at Miramar, he later
possible, merely cautioning, “Don’t lose a plane
and don’t kill anybody.” FACILITY, A aced pilot training at Pensacola, returning as an
NFWS student pilot, then pilot instructor.
Pedersen had a ton of work to do in minimal
time. Between December 1968 and March 1969, CURRICULUM, Pedersen designated each of his instructors as
subject specialists. Lieutenant Jim Ruliffson knew
A STAFF,
PREVIOUS SPREAD & ABOVE: ©DAVE BARANEK; ABOVE RIGHT:
he had to organize the Navy Fighter Weapons just about everything regarding the Sparrow radar-
School (NFWS), starting without a facility, a cur- guided missile. Lieutenant Mel Holmes was per-
COURTESY OF DAN PEDERSEN VIA BARRETT TILLMAN
riculum, a staff, aircraft or a budget. As if that
wasn’t enough, three weeks before the first class AIRCRAFT OR haps the world’s finest F-4 pilot at the time, a self-
taught aerodynamicist. Lieutenant Jim Laing, an
convened, he and his back-seater ejected from a
burning Phantom offshore. That hiccup barely
registered with Duke, who got on with the job.
A BUDGET. RIO, had a MiG and two ejections to his credit.
Each of the others were masters of their specialties.
In the run-up to the first class, Pedersen and his
Despite the starting shortages, Pedersen had an team wrote and rewrote its manual, then rewrote it
enormous advantage. For instructors he selected again. They practiced their presentations remorse-
four other F-4 pilots and four radar intercept offi- lessly. The self critiques were so brutal that the
cers (RIOs) whom he knew well. They were highly staffers called each session “The Murder Board.”
respected: combat-experienced super “sticks” and The phrase remains today.
tactics authorities and instructors, spreading the
NFWS gospel. As the first few classes graduated,
a Topgun patch became a sought-after item. The
Navy fighter community began to recognize the
worth and prestige of a NFWS diploma, and the
school flourished. Pedersen rolled out in 1970,
succeeded by J.C. Smith, but Duke’s influence has
lasted half a century.
After President Lyndon Johnson declined to
run for reelection in 1968, the air war “up north”
lapsed into a coma. Few missions were flown
into North Vietnam as Richard Nixon sought
a negotiated end to the war. But in March 1970
word suddenly came that a Navy Phantom had
downed a MiG-21. The Topgun staff held its col-
lective breath: “Wouldn’t it be great if it was one
T
of our guys?”
GETTING RESULTS he Navy Fighter Weapons School opened Finally the details emerged: Lieutenants Jerry
Top: A Northrop T-38A for business on March 3, 1969. It was Beaulier and Steve Barkley of VF-142 off Constel-
Talon adversary aircraft immediately christened Topgun—one lation got the kill. Alumni of Class 01! An instructor
LEFT: COURTESY OF DAN PEDERSEN VIA BARRETT TILLMAN; RIGHT: COURTESY OF PAUL NICKELL
ABOVE: ROBERT L. LAWSON PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION, NATIONAL NAVAL AVIATION MUSEUM;
parks in front of NAS word—though Navy F-4s never had recalled, “We closed early and went to the club.”
Miramar’s Hangar 2. an internal gun. Four crews from two USS Thereafter, however, the air war remained rel-
Above: A scrounged Constellation F-4 squadrons became NFWS Class atively quiet. Ambitious fighter crews began to
construction site trailer 01, unlearning as much as they learned. At the wonder if there would be another dogfight in the
served as the school’s time, the Phantom community was hard-wired endless conflict.
original headquarters. for fleet defense, and dogfighting had fallen into Meanwhile, Topgun fought on the home front.
disfavor. However, Topgun and a few squadrons Because the school depended entirely on VF-121
recognized the changed reality in Vietnam and for staff and aircraft, there were perennial short-
began revising naval fighter tactics. Their guiding ages. Finally things came to a head when the
philosophy: “Fight like you train.” Miramar CO, World War II double ace Captain
Pedersen and company pushed the big brute Armistead “Chick” Smith, wanted a comparison.
of a Phantom well beyond its intended use. They How would Topgun fare if it operated separately
took it straight up, to zero airspeed, and flew it from 121? After a short trial period, the results
back from the near edge of uncontrollability. “We were favorable, and the NFWS became an inde-
threw away the F-4 tactics manual and wrote our pendent command in July 1972, under Com-
own,” said Pedersen. mander Roger Box. Meanwhile the school moved
Topgun graduates took more than advanced into permanent spaces in the new Hangar 2.
combat techniques with them after their train- By then the air war over North Vietnam had
ing ended. They returned to their squadrons as resumed in full force owing to the Communist
38 AH MARCH 2019
combined-arms invasion of South Vietnam. Skyhawks to simulate MiG-17s was a major step
Topgun graduates began downing MiGs almost forward. Retired Vice Adm. Dave Frost explained,
routinely, and the school’s expanded instruction
program for fleet squadrons also produced a crop IN VIETNAM, “Fighting against a more realistic MiG simulator
was as important as any other factor in improving
of MiG killers.
At the end of U.S. involvement in Vietnam in TOPGUN the fighter community’s readiness to win....”
Air combat training experienced a renaissance
1973, the previous 2-to-1 kill-loss ratio had vaulted
to a claimed 12-to-1. Only later did the final num- GRADUATES in 1975 with the arrival of Cubic Corporation’s
Air Combat Maneuvering Range. The San Diego
bers become available, as 12-1 reflected the Navy
figures without the Marine Corps. Thus, the actual BEGAN firm, working closely with Topgun, established a
grid of tracking stations near Yuma, Ariz., with
fighter ratio was nearly 9-1, still far better than the
Air Force’s overall 2-1, little changed since 1968. DOWNING datalink relay to a trailer at Miramar. Instructors
and students could replay any engagement in real
U.S. involvement hardly had ended in Vietnam
when Topgun faced another crisis, coming low MIGS ALMOST time or stop-frame motion from a variety of per-
spectives. Missile shots were easily verified whether
and fast under the radar. In October 1973, com-
bined Arab forces launched the Yom Kippur War
against Israel, severely threatening the Jewish
ROUTINELY. in or outside successful launch parameters. No
longer were debriefs reliant upon hastily scrawled
notes or sometimes garbled tape recordings. The
nation’s survival. Topgun had long enjoyed warm reality was there for all to see.
F
relations with the Israel Air Force, but could do lit-
tle to help, except by contributing aircraft. Almost ollowing the Carter administration dol-
overnight the NFWS was stripped of all but one drums, the Navy refocused on fleet defense
of its adversary jets, as the Israelis badly needed as the F-14 Tomcat continued replacing the
replacement A-4 Skyhawks. Phantom. The school’s syllabus expanded
Without aircraft, the school faced a grim future. considerably, absorbing the Top Scope program of
The CO at the time, the puckish, colorful Lt. the E-2 Hawkeye early-warning community. With
Cmdr. Ronald McKeown, believed that it’s bet- F-4 and F-14 squadrons working hand in glove
ter to ask forgiveness than permission. He learned with Hawkeyes, it made sense to combine the two
of some Air Force T-38 Talon supersonic trainers curricula against the growing Soviet threat.
awaiting disposal as target drones and arranged But there was always room for more innova-
to take them to Miramar. Without proper tools or VINTAGE FOE tion. In 1980-81 Commander Lonny McClung
gear, his innovative maintainers got two Talons The Douglas A-4 delighted in conspiring with his “blue suit” Air
flying in short order. Skyhawk represented Force colleagues. He established a permanent
Meanwhile, one of the original instructors was subsonic dogfighters NFWS detachment at Tonopah, Nev., to enhance
working behind the scenes. Lieutenant Com- such as the MiG-17s short-notice air combat maneuvers.
mander Jim Ruliffson, an original NFWS instruc- encountered over Back at Miramar, individual student aircraft
tor and later CO, had testified before Congress North Vietnam. This were sent to the Catalina Island operating area for
on budgetary matters, and his influence resulted A-4F is carrying a pod an unknown “one vs. many” scenario. Navy crews
in Topgun receiving two-seat adversary aircraft that electronically might encounter a B-52, or even a nocturnal SR-71
for improved student instruction. transmitted details of streaking through the atmosphere at Mach 3.
Before Topgun, F-4s mostly had trained against air-to-air engagements For a graduation exercise, Topgun classes flew
F-4s, or occasionally F-8s. Obtaining jets such as for later review. a “mini war” at China Lake, Calif., with full elec-
against the Air Force’s MiGs. Those were great
days in the fighter community.”
Topgun also expanded its service by taking
classes on the road. The Fleet Fighter Air Combat
Maneuvering Program exposed deploying squad-
rons to the school’s updated tactics, maintaining a
sharp edge on the aerial trident.
As the Soviets gained greater capability in tacti-
cal and maritime aviation, Topgun worked hard to
keep up. In the 1980s, CO Ernie Christensen wrote
a report analyzing Navy adversary aircraft versus
the emerging Communist threat. He found that 5
to 10 percent of the adversary jets were supersonic
capable compared to nearly 90 percent supersonic
fighters in Soviet service. Eventually Topgun and
the Navy generally received more supersonic F-5s
and F-16s along with the school’s own Tomcats.
Procedures also evolved. Working with fleet
and training squadrons, Topgun helped develop
“Chainsaw” tactics that established long-range
combat air patrols far from a carrier task force.
Since Soviet cruise missiles had a 200 nautical mile
range, training focused on forward interception of
Russian bombers before they could launch their
missiles—a key element of late Cold War tactics.
In the early 1980s, Topgun began incorporat-
ing a third fighter into the curriculum when the
F/A-18 Hornet went operational with the Navy
and Marines. As a dual-mission aircraft, equally
adept at air-to-air and air-to-surface, the Hornet
required extra classroom and flight time.
Then in 1986 Topgun rocketed to world acclaim
with a spectacular movie starring a young Tom
Cruise. The script was inspired by a 1983 maga-
zine article describing the adventures of an F-14
crew at the school. Paced by a pounding, soaring
musical track and some of the finest aerial pho-
tography ever shot, Top Gun (two words) set box
office records.
Top Gun also proved to be one of Hollywood’s
most effective recruiting films. There were reports
of Air Force recruiters in theaters showing the
movie. Knowledgeable viewers dismissed Top
Gun as “a live action cartoon” for its stereotypical
characterizations and innumerable errors. One
instructor said of Cruise’s character, “Maverick
had the right stuff but with an attitude like that
we wouldn’t let him in the back door.”
In 2020 Cruise will reprise his role of 33 years
ago as a much older and perhaps wiser aviator in
FROM PRACTICE TO tronic warfare simulations. It was a rare oppor- the movie’s sequel, Top Gun: Maverick. Lacking the
THE REAL THING tunity to combine everything learned during the original’s iconic Tomcats, the new version pre-
Above: An F-14A and course in one intense scenario. sumably will rely upon Hornets and—perish the
A-4F make a close Eventually the curriculum settled on eight six- thought—drones.
I
pass during a Topgun week classes, leaving two weeks for school year
dogfight in 1982. Top: intervals and a much-needed two-week respite at n 1993 events well north of Miramar spurred
A Tomcat of fighter year end. As McClung noted, “The post-Christ- the eventual displacement of Topgun from
squadron VF-213 mas event at Tonopah was just the thing to shake its origins. Marine Corps Air Station El Toro
patrols over the out the cobwebs. A three-day ACM [air combat near Los Angeles succumbed to unchecked
Persian Gulf in 2005. maneuvers] fest was a whole lot of fun, flying residential growth that finally forced the 50-year-
40 AH MARCH 2019
old facility to close. Amid political bickering and
maneuvering over base closures, Congress man-
dated that the Marines move to Miramar and the
Navy move to…Nevada.
NAS Fallon lies in the high desert east of Reno,
its remoteness an advantage for low-level tactics
training and live-fire exercises. Thus, it was home
to the Naval Strike Warfare Center. That
was the good news.
The bad news: Institutionally, Topgun
was back where it started, a department
within a larger organization. And proba-
bly nobody who ever lived in San Diego
wanted to live in Fallon. The 1996 move
was hard on everybody, especially since it
occurred in the middle of an NFWS class.
Thanks to the leadership of Commander
Rolland “Dawg” Thompson, the change prompting Lt. Cmdr. Michael Tremel to
was accomplished on schedule and the shoot a Sidewinder (“I have no idea where it
class finished as slated. went”) and an AMRAAM that connected.
Fallon left much to be desired for Navy The Syrian ejected safely.
families. One instructor confided that The fight was a Topgun triumph. Tremel,
when he topped the crest overlooking the his wingman and the leader of the second
base in the distance, his wife had tears in two-plane section all wore NFWS patches.
her eyes. She took in the lunar landscape, The Topgun brand remained center-front.
blurting, “Where are you taking me?” With half a century of hindsight, Peder-
Housing and schools were an imme- sen and the original Topgun “bros” are
diate concern, but so was the corporate quick to acknowledge the essential support
atmosphere at “Strike U.” Topgunners they received in the early days. Pedersen
found a tangible resentment from the attack later commanded a squadron, an air wing,
side of the house, which they attributed to a fleet oiler and the carrier Ranger, spreading the
“fighter envy” over the Top Gun movie in particu- CRUISE CONTROL leadership philosophy he developed at Topgun.
lar and aviation lore in general. Some recalled the The blockbuster 1986 “We could have crashed anytime, especially if
anachronistic line from the 1991 movie Flight of film starring Tom we’d had a fatality,” he said. “But we had wonder-
the Intruder: “Fighter pilots make movies. Attack Cruise (above) made ful support from higher up. Vice Admirals Bush
pilots make history.” Topgun a household Bringle and Bob Baldwin at ComAirPac had our
As Dawg Thompson summarized, “It was a name. Cruise will back when it would have been easy to starve us by
circle-the-wagons Alamo environment.” How- star in a sequel to withholding assets. Commanders Hank Halleland
ever, Thompson’s position as Naval Strike War- be released in 2020 and Dick Schulte of VF-121 were marvelous even
fare Center director of training provided some featuring Topgun though we called heavily on them for aircraft and
valuable leverage. In off-base sessions with his staff F/A-18 Hornets (top). personnel. Commander Ken Wiley of VF-126 let
he asserted that rather than let the attack school us use his A-4s and TA-4s as adversary aircraft
absorb Topgun, they would absorb Strike U. “We before we got our own. And Commodore Chick
would go offensive,” he said, “and pick the best Smith breathed new life into Topgun as an inde-
Strike U had to offer and put them through the pendent command.”
Strike Fighter Training Instructor or the Adver- As Topgun looks ahead to the next 50 years,
OPPOSITE (BOTH) & TOP RIGHT: U.S. NAVY; INSET: HISTORYNET ARCHIVE
sary course.” brothers of the patch wonder about the future of
Today, Topgun is officially the Strike Fighter the school, of fighters and of manned aircraft in
Tactics Instructor Program. “Dawg Thompson general. Pedersen’s upcoming memoir will help
saved Topgun,” said Dan Pedersen. “I don’t think keep the original philosophy fresh for new genera-
it would have survived without him.” tions: enormously dedicated, hard-working junior
By 2017 aerial combat had verged on extinc- officers who spare no effort to excel on the ground
tion for decades. The last victory by a U.S. fighter and in the air.
had been over Yugoslavia in 1999; the Navy’s most
recent kills were during Desert Storm in 1991. Frequent contributor Barrett Tillman has known
But operations against ISIS put Hornets from the Topgun staffers since the 1980s, and remains intimately
carrier George H.W. Bush in the same airspace with familiar with “the bros.” He recommends for further
Syrian fighters. On June 18, four F/A-18s clashed reading Robert Wilcox’s Scream of Eagles, Dave
with a Sukhoi Su-22. Despite warnings, the Fitter Baranek’s Topgun Days and Dan Pedersen’s
pilot persisted in heading toward friendly forces, forthcoming Top Gun: An American Story.
MARCH 2019 AH 41You can also read
