The author would like to thank RADM Jim Robb,
CAPT Randy Stearns and CDRs Doug Denneny,
Jim Howe, Bill Lind and Ted Ricciardella for their
insights into the F-14’s TOPGUN operations. Thanks
also to Mike Crutch for Tomcat airframe details.fun to y in a ‘Red Air’ hop, launching
out of Fallon about half-way through the
event and well after ‘ ght’s on’. We’d head
north to the B-20 restricted area, where
we’d climb to the upper 30s [35,000ft-
plus], and time it such that you were
going Mach 1 when you reached the
supersonic corridor — a speci c area in
the Fallon Range Training Complex — and
chase down the ghters as they egressed
the target area. I was always amazed at
how fast we closed on the ghters if it all
worked out. Often, the ‘Blue Air’ ghters
thought they could out-run us, but if they
didn’t turn back in a timely fashion, they
wouldn’t survive the ght.
‘I ew the Tomcat for a year on the sta
at NSAWC before transitioning to the
F/A-18F Super Hornet. I love the Super
Hornet, its APG-73 and APG-79 AESA
[active electronically scanned array] radar,
AMRAAM missile, MIDS [multi-functional
information distribution system] and
the host of other ‘Gucci’ toys the jet has
compared to the Tomcat, but there’s just
something about the ‘big ghter’ that
makes it special. I liked the work that both
the pilot and RIO had to put into not only
making all the bells and whistles work,
but also just getting the darn thing to y
sometimes. I once looked out the canopy
while starting up a Tomcat on the Fallon
ight line to see an airframer pounding on
one of the spoilers on the left wing with
a hammer to beat it back into shape. We
were ying that aircraft about 30 minutes
later. Try doing that to an F/A-18 or F-35!’ y on average four times a week when
working with students on the course.
Although the ight itself could take
only one-and-a-half hours to complete,
the event would last all day long. Some
TOPGUN debriefs lasted ve or six hours
by the time all the mission tapes had
been reviewed, we had listened to the
communications from the event and
then played the ight back on the TACTS
[tactical aircrew combat training system].
No learning point was left unevaluated,
and you had to develop a thick skin
because the debriefs could be brutal.
‘I remember one class hop I did as a
student that was prematurely curtailed
due to weather — we only got a chance
to do one run before we had to return to
base. On the way back, I said to my pilot,LT Rob ‘Shooter’ Simone, something to
the e ect of, ‘at least the debrief is going
to be quick’. It lasted ve hours! For one
run, and the ight went pretty well!
That’s why the training is so good and
that same mindset has permeated both
into the eet and the SFTI [strike ghter
tactics instructor] syllabus that all strike
ghter aircrew go through today. Naval
aviation is better for it.
‘Often, Fallon-based Tomcats would y
in ‘Red Air’ missions, playing the adversary
role where they would augment the
F-5s and F-16s [occasionally NSAWC
F/A-18s as well] that were normally used
as adversary aircraft. The Tomcat would
often be used as the high and fast- yer
simulation — think MiG-25 ‘Foxbat’ or
MiG-31 ‘Foxhound’. It was always so muchLeft page left to
right: NSAWC
instructors LTs
Ted Ricciardella
and Charlie Brown
— both wearing a
trademark pale
blue TOPGUN
T-shirt beneath
their fl ight suits —
head for debrief.
Ted Carlson/
Fotodynamics
Carrying a red
TACTS pod and
AIM-9 acquisition
round, a TOPGUN
F-14A roars down
the Fallon runway.
Ted Carlson/
Fotodynamics
Above: F-14A
BuNo 159615
wore this half-
completed ‘Asia
Minor’ scheme
for quite some
time after it
was assigned
to TOPGUN in
December 1991.
It is seen in the
landing pattern at
Fallon in April 1994
complete with a
BRU-42 improved
triple ejector
rack. Takashi
Hashimoto
Left: A fi ne study
of an NSAWC
F-14A with wings
swept fully
forward during
a mission over
the desolate
Fallon ranges.
Ted Carlson/
Fotodynamicshttp://www.combataircraft.net // September 2018 57
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