Aviation Specials - July 2018

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  ew 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 that included LT Jerry

Beaulier from TOPGUN’s  rst class (with

LT 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, and it continued

to grow over the next decade.

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 six weeks,

Above: Colorful

Hornets are

hard to come

by these days

at TOPGUN,

with the ‘classic’

Hornets mainly

used by the

instructors.

An instructor

taxies out from

the TOPGUN line

for a morning

mission 1-v-1

against a

student.

US NAVY & MARINE CORPS AIR POWER YEARBOOK 2018

(^24) UNIT REPORT
20-27 TOPGUN C.indd 24 31/05/2018 16:07