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FOX 2!
View of an AIM-9 Sidewinder launch during a missile shoot exercise. The 200-pound missile came off like a lightning bolt, with a loud "Whoosh!"
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Toga!
My wife Laura and me, dressed in Topgun-blue togas, step out of my Corvette convertible for the second annual toga party at the Miramar Officers Club, August 1986.
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Miramar O-club or Delta House?
The toga party was arranged by Bunga and VF-126, and was a major production.
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Renegade 200, 1982
VF-24's black-tailed F-14A, Renegade 200, on a sunset flight in July 1982.
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"Hey Bio, look at this."
That's what CJ said on the radio as he lit his burners one evening during a training flight. I grabbed my camera and got this shot and one other. The burner plumes in this image measure around 30 feet long.
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F-5s on patrol
Three Topgun F-5Es head south off the coast of San Diego, ready to challenge Tomcats and Hornets. This gives a good sense of the variety of camouflage schemes Topgun jets displayed.
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Skyhawk
Topgun A-4E Skyhawk on departure from Miramar, headed east to work on the Yuma TACTS Range. I don't have as many photos of the A-4s because formations often consisted of similar-type aircraft and I always flew the F-5F. But we would put different types in a formation without hesitation.
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Returning from Yuma
Many afternoons I flew back from Yuma and saw this view as we descended toward landing at Miramar. I thought it would make a nice picture, with the valleys below in shadow and the F-5 in afternoon sunlight.
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Snapshot
"Trigger down...snapshot!" Photo taken from the rear cockpit of an F-5F, this was an F/A-18A Hornet as it crossed our nose during a controlled snapshot drill that we often performed before starting the dynamic air combat maneuvering (ACM) training portion of a flight.
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F-15s and an F-5
Navy Fighter Weapons School F-5E leads a pair of jets from the Air Force F-15 Weapons School above the Pacific Ocean in January 1987, during a week-long visit to NAS Miramar. (Near F-15 is a single-seat C-model, other F-15 is a two-seat D-model.) Some difference in philosophy is evident as the Air Force flew aircraft like the fighters they were teaching, while Navy did not. In 1995, however, the Navy's Topgun added "Blue Air" when they started flying F-14s and F/A-18s with the class, as well as still flying "Red Air" - the adversary mission.
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Topgun's 3 aircraft types, 1986
Two-seat F-5F leads single-seat F-5E and A-4E on the return to Miramar following a training flight off the coast.
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Gun soot
F-5s on the flightline at NAS Key West with soot on their noses from firing the guns.
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Reviewing gun camera film
Topgun instructors reviewing gun camera film at officers quarters, NAS Key West, FL. In the 1980s, instructors went to Key West for a week or more every few years to take advantage of the flying conditions and concentrate on instructor under training (IUT) flights. Topgun instructor pilots also shot the F-5's guns at a banner towed by another aircraft. To ensure the training value of these flights, we carefully reviewed the film from the gun cameras every day. Actually shooting the guns and scoring the flights maintained instructor skills -- and credibility.
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Bear
The enemy...at the time. I shot this photo of a Soviet Tu-95 "Bear" bomber/reconnaissance aircraft flying near the USS Constellation in the Western Pacific in 1982.
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May
More often, we saw these Il-38 "May" patrol planes. They were not as large nor menacing as Bears, and I quickly grew tired of escorting them. Unfortunately they flew near our carriers every week to ten days as we operated in the Indian Ocean in the 1980s, and we always disrupted our training missions to escort them.
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Low-viz (1)
This was a new, low-visibility paint scheme that started to appear on Navy aircraft in the early 1980s. I thought the new paint was a cool change compared to the previous light gray paint, and took this photo in April 1983, shortly after the newly-painted aircraft arrived at VF-24. The glare in this photo gives a sense of the finish of the paint.
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WELCOME TO FIGHTERTOWN
A Topgun F-5F lifts off the Miramar's runway 24L, while two F-5Es lift off 24R. The lettering on the low building beside the runway greets arriving/returning aviators with, "Welcome to Fightertown." This was one of the sought-after shots among flying photographers at Miramar, as it was a challenge to get the formation and building in the shot. In this photo I was close, but...no cigar. I kept trying. By the way, that low building is the "gun butts," used to align the aircraft guns by firing them into a dirt mound at the end.
