Aviation 12

some F-14s. It would
have been very difficult
to completely eliminate
these, and Scott
suggested that most of
the audience wouldn’t
notice them anyway. (If
you haven’t seen them,
look closely at scenes
with F-14s in the
Topgun class: the small
white pods on some
Tomcats are cameras).

REALITY OR
NOT?
‘Maverick’ guiding
‘Cougar’ in for a
landing. Similar
incidents actually
happened during the
Korean and Vietnam
wars, and possibly
more recently. The
F-14 community knew
of times when a pilot
was rattled by the life-or-death stress of
landing on a carrier and was ‘talked down’
by a combination of a calm RIO, wingman
and the ship-based landing signal officer
(LSO). This scene was jazzed up to establish
‘Maverick’s’ nature, but had a basis in fact.
Cockpit mock-up and displays.
Paramount arranged for most of the actors
to take a  ight in an F-14 rear cockpit and
mounted a camera to record them in the air.
Unfortunately, almost all of them got airsick,
which is understandable, and the footage
was unusable.
As a result, a high-quality, movable
cockpit mock-up was built that facilitated
better control of lighting and camera
position. However, the F-14 doesn’t rumble
like an old truck on a country road when it
 ies, as depicted in these shots. It  ies far
more smoothly in almost all circumstances,
but the motion was used to suggest  ying to

the audience. As for

the cockpit displays,

our mid-1980s

Cold War mentality

reasoned that we did

not want Paramount

to show the exact

cockpit and heads-up

display symbology.

The  lm crew,

however, did a nice

job of approximating

these. As for oxygen

masks, they are

essential for survival

at higher altitudes,

and I personally

found it a relief to

take them off for a

few moments when

conditions permitted

• but the actors did
  so a lot more often
  to show their high-
  priced faces.
  “I’ll hit the brakes,
  he’ll  y right by us.” My recollection was
  that ‘Rat’ came up with this idea as a dramatic
  manoeuvre to show ‘Maverick’s’ pilot skills.
  The F-14 had a good pitch rate, and if the
  pilot yanked back on the stick it would likely
  force an overshoot by a pursuing aircraft.
  But there’s a trade-off because the F-
  would suddenly  nd itself at a much slower
  airspeed, vulnerable to attack by other
  bandits in the vicinity...commonly referred to
  as “out of airspeed and ideas”. Still, as proven
  by several F-4s in combat over Vietnam,
  such a tactic can negate a threat and give the
   ghter another chance.
  Flying through jetwash; hitting the
  canopy when ejecting. The TF30 engines
  of the F-14A were probably the aircraft’s
  biggest limiting factor. They had bene ts,
  such as excellent fuel specs in cruise, but
  were susceptible to rapid throttle movement
  and turbulent air under high-angle-of-

http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 19

The difference in size between the F-14 and F-

is emphasised here. The Tomcat was superior

overall, but the F-5 challenged aircrews where

they needed it: the engaged arena.

Below: Two ‘MiG-28s’ make a sprightly departure from NAS Miramar in August 1985 to join up with the author’s aircraft.

‘They leveraged

real episodes

and terminology,

but applied vivid

imagination and

poetic licence

to make an

exciting story’