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Topgun: The Legacy

Author: Brad Elward

Publisher: Schiffer Military History

Published: 2021-09-28

Total Pages: 704

ISBN-13: 9780764362545

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. TOPGUN, the Navy's Fighter Weapons School, 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. TOPGUN: The Legacy provides a unique, detailed, and never-before-told history of the Navy Fighter Weapons School. Based on over 450 interviews with graduates, instructors, and commanding officers, and thousands of pages of archival documents, this definitive study covers the early history of air combat tactical development, the school's founding in 1968, and its progression throughout the decades to the present day. TOPGUN's programs, significant events that shaped the school, and its unique culture have made it a center of excellence and the leading fighter weapons school worldwide.

Topgun

Author: Dan Pedersen

Publisher: Hachette Books

Published: 2019-03-05

Total Pages: 303

ISBN-13: 0316416274

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NATIONAL BESTSELLER "If you loved the movie, you will love the real story in the book." -- Fox & Friends On the 50th anniversary of the creation of the "Topgun" Navy Fighter School, its founder shares the remarkable inside story of how he and eight other risk-takers revolutionized the art of aerial combat. When American fighter jets were being downed at an unprecedented rate during the Vietnam War, the U.S. Navy turned to a young lieutenant commander, Dan Pedersen, to figure out a way to reverse their dark fortune. On a shoestring budget and with little support, Pedersen picked eight of the finest pilots to help train a new generation to bend jets like the F-4 Phantom to their will and learn how to dogfight all over again. 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. Pedersen takes readers on a colorful and thrilling ride -- from Miramar to Area 51 to the decks of aircraft carriers in war and peace-through a historic moment in air warfare. He helped establish a legacy that was built by him and his "Original Eight" -- the best of the best -- and carried on for six decades by some of America's greatest leaders. Topgun is a heartfelt and personal testimony to patriotism, sacrifice, and American innovation and daring.

Topgun Days

Author: Dave Baranek

Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

Published: 2012-10-01

Total Pages: 339

ISBN-13: 1620871033

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The fascinating history of one man's rise from naval flight officer toHollywood hero.

Top Gun

Author: Mike Cogan

Publisher: New York : Pocket Books ; Markham, Ont. : Distributed in Canada by PaperJacks

Published: 1986

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 9780671618247

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Topgun

Author: Brad Elward

Publisher: Schiffer Military History

Published: 2020-07-28

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 9780764360145

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This book provides a unique, illustrated history of the US Navy Fighter Weapons School's 50-year history. Currently located at Naval Air Station Fallon, Nevada, TOPGUN was formed in late 1968 at Naval Air Station Miramar, California, to create a graduate-level course in fighter tactics for Navy pilots deploying to Vietnam. 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. TOPGUN's tactics and pilot training are explained, as well as changes and developments throughout the years to the present day. All aircraft flown at TOPGUN since its founding are also shown, including A-4 Skyhawk, T-38A/B Talon, F-5E/F Tiger II, F-16N Viper, F-14A Tomcat, F/A-18 Hornet, F-16A/B Falcon, and F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.

Tomcat Rio

Author: Dave Baranek

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2020-09-29

Total Pages: 376

ISBN-13: 1510748237

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From Topgun to Squadron Command You’re in the cockpit of the legendary F-14 Tomcat fighter, blazing along at twice the speed of sound seven miles above the ocean and the carrier that hurled you off its deck. You’re practicing dogfighting with “aggressors,” guys on your side flying F-16s. You’re patrolling the tense skies above Iraq, and with the push of a button you can launch the 100-mile Phoenix missile that can blow a foe to scrap before you even see him. You are an expert in fighter tactics and aircraft carrier operations, and it all leads to your command of an F-14 fighter squadron of more than three hundred people. Sounds like a week’s worth of daydreams, but it’s all real-life in the career of Dave “Bio” Baranek, and he shares it with you in the exciting, superbly crafted new book, Tomcat Rio. Dave – callsign “Bio” – pulled his readers into the exciting world of the F-14 and the Navy’s TOPGUN program with his popular books Topgun Days and Before Topgun Days. Now he’s back with the rest of the story, as he reaches the top level of expertise and proves it, not just in graded competitions but also where it counts, where you shoot at them and they shoot at you. Dave also shares the challenges he faced. A deadly foe called complacency. Learning a whole new mission late in his career. The unexpected trials that come with leading a squadron in the dynamic environment of Naval Aviation. This third volume is full of adventures, lessons, and inspiration. If you are a casual reader, you’ll turn the last page as a dedicated Tomcat fan. To make it all even more real, Tomcat Rio includes dozens of Bio’s best and most acclaimed photos. Photographer George Hall hailed one shot as “one of the best Tomcat photos ever taken.” In words and pictures, Bio immerses you in rich detail. He pipes you aboard as a member of an F-14 squadron. You share the camaraderie of Type A personalities. You plan risky missions, going toe-to-toe against America’s most volatile foes. You can almost smell the pungent jet exhaust, almost feel the gut-wrenching G’s of a dogfight, as Tomcat Rio pitches you into the thick of it as only Bio can tell it. Strap in! You’re going for one fantastic ride.

Before Topgun Days

Author: Dave Baranek

Publisher: Skyhorse

Published: 2016-03-15

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 1634506561

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Becoming the best doesn’t happen overnight; you’ve got to work for it. Before becoming an instructor in the Navy’s Topgun program, Dave “Bio” Baranek was just another kid with a dream. Upon graduating from college, he joined the Navy with the goal of becoming a fighter pilot. But, his eyesight waning, he knew that he would never be able to reach that goal. Undaunted, he plowed ahead and found his niche as a radar intercept operator in the backseat of the sleek, new Grumman F-14 Tomcat. Join Baranek in Before Topgun Days as he takes you along for this greatest, most exciting time of his young life: training to become a naval flight officer. Taking place before the events recounted in his previous memoir, Topgun Days, Baranek brings to life the anxieties and excitement of entering the fast-paced world of fighter jocks. From a green recruit to an experienced flyer, discover what it took to become a Topgun instructor. Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Arcade, Good Books, Sports Publishing, and Yucca imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs. Our list includes biographies on well-known historical figures like Benjamin Franklin, Nelson Mandela, and Alexander Graham Bell, as well as villains from history, such as Heinrich Himmler, John Wayne Gacy, and O. J. Simpson. We have also published survivor stories of World War II, memoirs about overcoming adversity, first-hand tales of adventure, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Top Gun Memos

Author: Meredith Jordan

Publisher:

Published: 2021-10-15

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9781733787437

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Top Gun Memos is the life story of the movie Top Gun (1986). It's based on more than 1,100 studio and production and other documents, more than 50 interviews, and hundreds of news accounts. It tells the story of the movie from conception through its rigorous prep, and the harnessing of the US Navy, and the people who made it happen. It's people like director Tony Scott and Executive Producer Bill Badalato and dozens of department heads and other movie crew that physically made the movie, along with a dozen Navy pilots. Memos winds through principal photography and the use of billions of dollars of military assets by telling stories of individual scenes and the funny - and sometimes dangerous - things that happened along the way. The books continues through post production and reshoots and launch. Then it follows the life of the movie over the decades. What makes a movie iconic? An intense following that never quits with help from a studio willing to spend money to keep it alive, even before there was a sequel.

Top Gun

Author: Dwight Jon Zimmerman

Publisher: Motorbooks

Published: 2019-05-07

Total Pages: 163

ISBN-13: 0760363544

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Fly with the best in Top Gun: 50 Years of Naval Air Superiority—the definitive, highly illustrated, in-depth look at the Navy's famous fighter unit, including its history, technology, and culture. Top Gun: 50 Years of Naval Air Superiority begins with a fascinating behind-the-scenes account of the blockbuster film that helped America shake off the trauma of the Vietnam War and once again take pride in its military. The book then launches into the even more incredible story of why and how such men consistently capture the imagination of children, adults, pilots, and audiences around the world. Chapters spotlight pivotal military movies and television shows that presaged the movie Top Gun, including edge-of-the-seat vignettes and anecdotes of pilots and their lifestyles, the origin of the Navy’s fighter pilot program and its rigorous training, and how it inspired the Air Force’s counterpart, Red Flag. Other chapters highlight what it takes to be a pilot in other branches of the armed forces, and takes a look back in time at the most notorious (and feared) pilots of World War I and World War II from all around the globe. Fast forward to the jet age, when the first aces flew hair-raising missions over Korea and Vietnam, and learn how past and contemporary aerial dogfighting really works. The book also reveals the many technological advances that transformed aerial combat from the dangerous, unsynchronized machine guns that bounced bullets off propellers in World War I to today, where air-to-air missiles are launched by pilots who have no visual contact with an adversary, and finally illustrates how drones are adding a new dimension to the meaning of Top Gun. Finish with an in-depth look at Naval Station Fallon, one of the most modern and renowned American naval stations, located outside Fallon, Nevada. Top Gun: 50 Years of Naval Air Superiority concludes with a look at Top Gun 2, the highly anticipated sequel to one of the biggest action movies of all time and the one that made Tom Cruise a worldwide superstar. Featuring over 200 photos, new interviews and stories from aces, engineers, commanders, and more, and written by best-selling author and president of the Military Writers Society of America, Dwight Zimmerman, Top Gun: 50 Years of Naval Air Superiority is the must-have guide to the fastest, deadliest, most storied aerial combat squadron the world has ever known.

The Right Stuff

Author: Tom Wolfe

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Published: 2008-03-04

Total Pages: 448

ISBN-13: 1429961325

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From "America's nerviest journalist" (Newsweek)--a breath-taking epic, a magnificent adventure story, and an investigation into the true heroism and courage of the first Americans to conquer space. "Tom Wolfe at his very best" (The New York Times Book Review) Millions of words have poured forth about man's trip to the moon, but until now few people have had a sense of the most engrossing side of the adventure; namely, what went on in the minds of the astronauts themselves - in space, on the moon, and even during certain odysseys on earth. It is this, the inner life of the astronauts, that Tom Wolfe describes with his almost uncanny empathetic powers, that made The Right Stuff a classic.