T
HE NAVY FIGHTER Weapons
School (NFWS) is now a
department within the
Naval Aviation Warfighting
Development Center (NAWDC,
pronounced ‘nor-dick’) at NAS
Fallon, Nevada. Better-known as TOPGUN,
the school was the brainchild of a group
of inspirational aviators who sought a way
to remedy the navy’s poor kill ratios in the
Vietnam War. Previous kill ratios — the
number of enemy aircraft shot down by USaircraft versus the number of US aircraft lost
to enemy aircraft — were up around 12:1
in favor of US fighters. In Vietnam, US F-4
Phantom IIs took a pasting at the hands of
the MiG-17s, MiG-19, and MiG-21s of the
North Vietnamese Air Force. From 1965
through late 1968, when Operation ‘Rolling
Thunder’ came to an end, the navy kill ratio
was down at just 3.7:1.
Operational doctrine was to blame —
experts had declared that dogfighting
was a thing of the past and that the F-4’smissiles were the key to aerial supremacy.
Indeed, traditional air combat maneuvering
(ACM) had been all but abandoned in favor
of missile use at range. Dogfighting had
been largely forbidden to navy fleet units.
However, in Vietnam the MiGs were simply
outflying their American opponents.
In early 1968, CAPT Frank Ault was tasked
to study why navy crews were having such
a tough time. Writing in the spring 1989
issue of The Hook, Ault said, ‘as for desired
results, I was told, ‘an increase of not lessTHE EARLY DAYS
In 2019, the famous Navy Fighter
Weapons School (NFWS) — better-known as TOPGUN
— celebrates its 50th anniversary. This supplement
details some of its history and how it remains a world-
renowned center of excellence for naval aviation.REPORT Brad Elward
Above: An F/A‑18C
postures for a
dogfight over the
ranges near NAS
Fallon. F/A‑18Cs
are important
for dissimilar air
combat training,
especially now
the type has
been retired from
navy fleet use.
Ted Carlson/
Fotodynamics48 September 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net
// HISTORY
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