Almanac Book Review: ‘Top Gun: The Real Story’

 

 

 

 

I have been an aviation enthusiast for many years, inspired by the traveling I have done, while visiting different countries. Last year I was in Singapore, and I found myself browsing bookshelves, of the city-state’s largest bookstore. It was there where I came across a book called Top Gun: The Real Story. Intrigued, previously I had only been familiar with the Top Gun Films, starring Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer.  The book was written by the founder of the Top Gun Program, Dan Pedersen. I picked up the book and flipped it over, to read the blurb. The year was 1969, and America was engaged in the Vietnam War, a conflict started when America invaded Vietnam, in a bid to prevent the spread of communism from North to South Vietnam. At the time, America was facing heavy losses in air combat, so the decision was taken to appoint somebody, who could develop new tactics to try and prevent further American Deaths and aircraft destruction.  Dan Pedersen was perfectly situated, to lead this new program. After Pedersen was chosen, he chose the people who would help him develop, what later became known as the Top Gun fighter pilot training school, or simply Top Gun.

 

A dog fight is the term for air-to-air combat, between two opposing sides. This typically consists of four aircraft, two against two. There is a leader, and there is a wingman. Fought in close proximity, it involves attempting to outmaneuver the opposing side, to get in the best position to shoot down the enemy aircraft.  Before the Vietnam War, the rules of engagement stated that, the leader is the only one who can engage the enemy. Whereas the wingman is solely there to back-up their leader. This was how the arial battles of World War 2 were fought, as well as the Korean War, fought between 1950-1953. By the time of the Vietnam War, it was widely believed, that the era of the dog fight was over. This was because America had invented a radar guided missile, capable of hitting targets beyond visual range. This led to the widespread belief that aerial combat would, in the future, be fought beyond visual range.

 

This proved to be a hopelessly misguided assumption to say the least. Because of this, the F-4 Phantom fighter aircraft had not been fitted with a gun. The missiles misfired, didn’t explode and a lot of the time, missed their targets entirely. So, this left Phantom pilots vulnerable to enemy attack, by their nimbler, Soviet supplied MiG adversaries.  Dan Pedersen, newly appointed head of the Top Gun Program, was an F-4 pilot and he was acutely aware of this. Pedersen set out devising new tactics, in his attempt to prevent more American losses.

 

Prior to this, I’d not really read that much about the Vietnam War. Outside of my days at university, listening to anti-war lecturers. As well as reading about this highly un-popular conflict, with its astronomical death toll, on both sides of the war. And of the devastation it wrought on Vietnam and neighboring countries. Reading this book, I gained a new respect, for the people fighting these conflicts. The sacrifices they made on a personal level, with regard to family and home life, many of them never returning home. It puts a face and a humanity to war. I sound like every ANZAC day speech or Remembrance Day talk, but its true. This book was one of, if not the best, real-life account I’ve ever read!

 

 

You can read more from RagingBull (Callum Quirk) Here.

 

 

 

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