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 different countries, and the world...
Photorecon Main Content
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 the earliest instructors and...
2013 COPPERSTATE Fly-In & Aviation Expo a Big (Non-Towered) Hit!
More than 6,000 attendees, volunteers, vendors and pilots enjoyed a wide variety of aircraft at the 2013 COPPERSTATE Fly-In & Aviation Expo — the 41st annual event’s first year as a non-towered operation. CASA GRANDE, ARIZ. (Nov. 20,...
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 serious business of air combat?...
Elkhart Warbird Gathering Weekend 2013
Elkhart, Indiana again played host to the The Warbird Gathering Weekend. Generally this town plays host to much slower, not to mention larger, aircraft as it is the preferred staging area for airships traveling East and West especially for...
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 and Hollywood Glory As One...
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 come and visit the location...
Peter Boschert onboard USS Enterprise Final Cruise
On the 11th of March 2012, the USS Enterprise starts its last cruise, the next seven months she will be serving with the 5th and 6th US-fleet. After that she will be taken out of service and promptly scrapped....
St. George Jet Blast 2013
The phone rang Friday morning with details of the Classic Jet Aircraft Association’s Jet Blast fly-in that was happening in St. George, Uath that is just up the road from where I live. They have a yearly gathering in...
National Championship Air Races 2013
The period beginning in the early 1930’s and culminating in the late 1940’s saw the most dramatic advancement of the aircraft in history. At the hands of designers and engineers such as Dutch Kindelberger, Lee Atwood, Don Berlin, Howard...
TF-51D Galveston Gal Lost
About noon on October 23, 2013, TF-51D N4151D Serial 44-73458 of the Lone Star Flight Museum crashed into a bay near Houston Texas. It had been on a pleasure flight taking a British tourist for a ride. Both the...
