LA County Airshow 2014
On March 21st and 22nd, the City of Lancaster held the inaugural Los Angeles County Air Show at William J. Fox Airfield. The Air Show was headlined by the United States Navy Demonstration Team,...
Category: navy
Topgun in the Mid-1980s: Building on the Legacy – Part Five
PART 5: Supplemental Notes Further Reading: Donald E. Auten’s Roger Ball! The Odyssey of John Monroe “Hawk” Smith, Navy Fighter Pilot, tells the story of an influential figure in Topgun and the Navy fighter...
Topgun in the Mid-1980s: Building on the Legacy – Part Four
(Sporty F-5E joins on his flight lead seconds after takeoff from NAS Miramar.) PART 4: The Only Constant Is Change All organizations either evolve or expire, and NFWS is no exception. In the years...
Pearl Harbor 72 years after……………………..
he gentle Hawaiian breeze blows in from the Pacific, rolling over gentle waves and across beaches. Through palm trees, past coconuts and across grasses. Sweeping across a quiet lagoon the cool air crashes into...
Strange Bed Fellows
After the Cold War ended, The World took a left turn and was twisted into an atmosphere of pure weirdness. Old foes became friends, the Soviet Union broke up into at least a dozen...
Topgun in the Mid-1980s: Building on the Legacy – Part Three
PART 3: Critical Decisions and Events of the Mid-1980s. I was an F-14 RIO who joined my first Fleet fighter squadron in 1981. In 1982 I attended the Topgun class as a student (by then it was five weeks), and in 1984 I was selected to return as an instructor. The following events and decisions occurred during my time as an instructor and contributed to Topgun’s evolution and continued validity.
Topgun in the Mid-1980s: Building on the Legacy – Part Two
PART 2: Topgun’s Early Years: the Foundation (Navy Fighter Weapons School F-5E Tiger II gets close for a photo.) When considering why Topgun flourished, much credit must go to the enduring culture established by...
Topgun in the Mid-1980s: Building on the Legacy – Part One
(F-5F, F-5E, and A-4 provided a wide range of threats to challenge Navy fighter pilots and RIOs.) Have you ever wondered how the Navy’s Topgun program became a world-renowned center of excellence in the...
Dr.Sky Interviews TOPGUN Instructor- Dave “Bio” Baranek….
(photo by David Brown) I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Dave “Bio” Baranek, a former TOPGUN instructor and author in his own right! He is the author of “TOPGUN DAYS, Dogfighting, Cheating Death...
NAF El Centro Photocall- October 2013
What is a Photocall? A Photocall is generally when a location such as a military base or an airport, which is normally closed to the public is opened for a day for photographers to...
