“We do not want to be numerically outnumbered… if you get mosquitos in a phone booth, one fly swatter won’t do.” “We have these nice, big aircrafts and not enough planes,” he said. The military continues to deploy incredible planes, but two things concern Pedersen:ġ) Some of the uber-expensive ones have too many bells and whistles inside the aircraft (He prefers simple and reliable.)Ģ) The United States needs to produce more to keep up with China, Russia and N. Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures/Archive Photo/Getty Images. Tom Cruise and co-star Kelly McGillis in original Top Gun movie. “You could shoot the eyes out of a cat with it,” he said. Pedersen loved the Grumman F9F-2 aircraft that he flew dozens of missions in during Vietnam. Of the current one percent of naval aviators at Fallon, Pedersen said: “You look at these young pilots, and boy are they good.” Great pilots need great planes. “The pilot, the human, will always be the key factor in a win in aero combat,” he explained. The Top Gun program has since moved to Fallon, Nev., and the technology has advanced but one thing hasn’t changed from air warfare in the 20th century to today, according to Pedersen. Not to mention, the world’s greatest pilots. “These are principles that evolved from experience and winning,” Pedersen said. The techniques and tactics that Pedersen and others taught in the Top Gun program are still used today, even with vastly more sophisticated technology. And pay it forward by, in turn, passing on that knowledge to the next generation. That was a bottom-line principle of Top Gun: teach advanced tactics to young, talented pilots. He credits his own success as a pilot to skilled mentorship, some of it from seasoned Word War II veterans. Pedersen, who has been married for nearly 30 years after reuniting with his teenage sweetheart, likes to keep things simple. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell riding a Kawasaki GPZ 900 R.
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So, what does it take to be in that one percent? “The guys have got to really love what they’re doing every day…you’ve got to do a lot of air time, and that’s when you get really good and unbeatable.” The movie Top Gun, directed by Tony Scott. He was there when 11 American pilots were killed in 17 days.įast forward a couple years into the graduate school crash course for the one percent of elite fighters of that era, and the kill ratio was 24 to one. And the “Godfather of Top Gun” ought to know.
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“The guys that were with me were far more professional and serious,” he said.īefore Top Gun, which formed in 1969 with Pedersen and eight other elite Airmen honing their skills in Miramar, pilots in that war were achieving a 2 to 1 “kill ratio,” meaning they killed two enemies for every one American lost. “The only thing they have to rely on is their professional experience and senior guidance,” he said. When he spearheaded Top Gun, he focused on pilots, in the air, in dogfights. Pedersen was in the dogfighting business. “They motivated us and increased recruiting.” But Hollywood is in the storytelling business. Photo: Navy Historical Foundation Pederson Dan Pedersen, author of Top Gun: An American Story, used his experiences as a fighter pilot in Vietnam to train talented, young pilots in a program that would later inspire Top Gun starring Tom Cruise. Pedersen credits the 1986 blockbuster film with helping the military. In the Dogfighting Business Maverick and company, though based on true fighter pilots, were glitzed up a bit, and that’s just fine. What better film to celebrate open theaters this summer? One thing seems to be agreed on, however: the film, featuring what Cruise calls unprecedented flying scenes, is best seen on the big screen. The Joseph Kosinski-directed sequel also stars Kilmer, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly and Jon Hamm. In “Maverick,” Cruise reprises his role as U.S. There’s been a buzz about the movie ever since Cruise announced that it was in the works, and Val Kilmer, the original Ice Man, started promoting it. Goose and Maverick fans have been ravenous.
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After three years of delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the long-awaited sequel’s Memorial Day release will mark 36 years since the original movie debuted.
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In the original Top Gun movie, those guys became the now-iconic and beloved Maverick, Ice Man, Goose and others. But did you know there’s a real Top Gun program for fighter pilots? It’s safe to say most naval aviators do most civilians don’t.ĭan Pedersen, 86, a veteran of numerous missions in the Vietnam War, is considered the real life “Godfather of Top Gun,” which he likens to a graduate school for aviators. Mention Top Gun and most everyone thinks of Tom Cruise.