combat aircraft

Bottom left right

to left: Lou Page,

who scored the

fi rst MIG kill of the

Vietnam war),

briefi ng VADM

William Bringle

(COMNAVAIRPAC)

in the TOPGUN

trailer. In the

background are

J. C. Smith and

Dan Pedersen.

Darrell Gary via

Brad Elward

The initial TOPGUN

instructors were

part of VF-121’s

tactics phase

section. Shown

in this image are

several of the

original cadre,

J. C. Smith being

absent.

Darrell Gary via

Brad Elward

Above left to right:

A US Air Force

instructor uses

‘fi ghting sticks’ to

teach a class of

F-14 students in

TOPGUN’s heyday.

US DoD

A gaggle of

Miramar-based

Navy Fighter

Weapons School

adversary

aircraft, two

F-16Ns and two

A-4E Skyhawks,

prepare to play

havoc with a

TOPGUN student

formation. US DoD

BEST OF

THE BEST

TOPGUN’s philosophy was to ‘train

the trainers’, providing exceptional

knowledge and experience to US

Navy and US Marine Corps  ghter

aircrew in  ve intense weeks of

ground school and training  ights.

The course was very much ‘hands-on’,

with the NFWS generating training

sorties that were as close to actual

combat as was possible. To achieve

this, highly experienced instructor

pilots  ew representative adversary

aircraft using known enemy tactics

in realistic training scenarios. Having

completed the TOPGUN syllabus,

graduates were expected to return to

their  eet squadrons and pass along

their training. Each squadron received

one or two slots in a TOPGUN class

roughly every 18 months, ensuring a

steady  ow of graduates into the  eet.

Tony Holmes

than three times better than performance

to date, and as soon as possible’.’ Completed

later that year, the 480-page Air-to-Air

Missile System Capability Review, dubbed

the Ault Report, identi ed 242 problem

areas ranging from inadequate training to

poor missile reliability and performance.

As part of the solution, Ault

recommended establishing a

postgraduate training program devoted

to teaching advanced air-to-air combat

tactics. He also said the navy should

develop an instrumented air combat

range where crews could practise ACM

and have an objective means of assessing

their performance.

At roughly the same time, a group of

instructors in VF-121’s tactics department

were asking the same questions, and

looking for solutions that would keep

themselves and their colleagues alive.

In late 1968 these plans were

amalgamated as LCDR Dan Pedersen was

asked to form a department within VF-121

dedicated to teaching advanced air-to-air

combat tactics. Pederson chose four pilots:

Mel Holmes, Jim Ruli son, John Nash, and

Jerry Sawatzky, plus four radar intercept

o cers (RIOs); Darrell Gary, Steve Smith,

J. C. Smith, and Jim Laing, as the  rst cadre

of instructors. All nine were veterans of

combat in Vietnam. In fact, J. C. Smith had

been part of the team that claimed the

navy’s  rst MiG of the war in 1965, and

Laing had downed a MiG in 1967. Together,

the nine were determined to re-invent air

combat tactics — the dog ght — and to

disseminate to the  eet the skills necessary

to employ those tactics.

TOPGUN begins

TOPGUN ran its  rst class from March 3,

1969, as a four-week program designed

to train aircrews in advanced air-to-air

tactics. At the time, the course, which

was taught in a small two-room trailer at

NAS Miramar, California, included a week

of air-to-ground instruction, which was

later dropped in favor of additional air-

to-air work.

TOPGUN instructors,  ying borrowed

McDonnell Douglas TA-4 Skyhawks from

VA-126 ‘Bandits’,  ew against the students

who piloted their own squadron F-4s.

Each  eet squadron sent a crew (one pilot

and one RIO) to Miramar for the course,

along with a jet and a small maintenance

detachment. Upon graduation, the aircrew

returned to their squadron to become

training o cers and distribute the latest

air combat tactics.

As TOPGUN graduates began returning

to  eet squadrons, the bene ts became

obvious, and the demand for TOPGUN’s

services grew.

Air combat results from the ‘Linebacker’

raids in 1972 totally validated TOPGUN’s

teachings. Until that time, despite a

MiG kill in March 1970 by a crew from

TOPGUN’s  rst class — LTs Jerry Beaulier

and Steve Barkley — there had been little

opportunity for the graduates to test

their skills in combat. But once hostilities

resumed over the skies of Vietnam, US

Navy crews scored 25 kills for only two

losses, equating to a 12.5:1 kill ratio.

TOPGUN became an o cial detachment

in January 1972 and a separate command

by that July, formally becoming

the NFWS. Over the next decade it

continued to grow.

The 1980s saw even more growth as

the school became more involved with

industry (advising on aircraft and weapons

requirements), aircraft evaluation, tactics

development,  eet adversary training,

air wing work at ‘Strike University’, and

evolving the syllabus to accommodate the

Hornet strike  ghter. In 1987 it received

its new F-16N adversary aircraft, which

allowed instructors to simulate newer

threats such as the MiG-29 ‘Fulcrum’ and

Su-27 ‘Flanker’. By the early 1990s, the

course had reached a six-week duration,

although it still exclusively involved air-to-

air combat training.

As the early 1990s progressed, TOPGUN

moved into a brand-new facility at

Miramar and began to incorporate air-to-

ground work into the syllabus. In 1995,

it adopted the Strike Fighter Weapons

and Tactics (SFWT) program. This was

followed in July 1996 by the relocation to

NAS Fallon, Nevada, and a merger with

the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center

(NSAWC), which has now been renamed

as NAWDC.

http://www.combataircraft.net // September 2018 49

48-49 Supp_History_v2 C.indd 49 18/07/2018 15:41