I remember seeing a documentary about landing on a carrier... The pilot describes the landing.. "Put a stamp in the middle of your living room floor... now, take a running leap, and try to lick the stamp...." lol Sound difficult.
So, I'm just taking a shot in the dark... Do you remember the show, I think it was, "Wings" on the discovery or learning channel?? I "think" it might have been something like that.... Maybe not the show "wings" but something along the same lines... Most likely on TLC or the Discovery channel, when those two channels actually had some really good content....
What got me was that fight was so unrealistic with the Migs that those weren't even Migs. The F-14 can target 8 aircraft at once and shoot up to 6 Aim-54 missiles which have a 100 nm range. Meanwhile the MIgs of the time didn't have sensors telling the pilots there was a radar lock to prevent the pilot from panicking and ejecting. An E2 would have told the pilots how many Migs were there before the two scouts were even there. That aircraft carrier most likely had at least one ship protecting it armed with SM-2 block III missiles. There would have been a lot of Migs being shot out of the air before the scouts could see their rescuers.
orlock20 The battlegroup's SAM operators must have been asleep, too. Even if the MiGs did have radar warning recievers with the proper programming, the MiGs still would not have known they were under attack until the phoenixes turned on their own radars. By then it would have been too late.
I checked the Internet Movie Database (imdb.com) and it lists the character's name as Pete Mitchell. I don't think the father's name is ever mentioned in the movie.
I was on board the ENTERPRISE in 1985 when we filmed most of the scenes for the flight deck and interior ship shots. They extended our 11 day sea time by an additional 10 days without telling us why. Suddenly, a CH-46 came onboard with the film crew. I did see the "Maverick" Tomcat in he hangar bay the night before. One of the handlers explained why it was painted differently from the rest of the Black Lions. We were on deployment when the movie debuted. I went to see it in Australia. Among the few in the audience with me were: the CO, XO, CAG, a few pilots including the guy who flew the opening sequence launch/barrel-roll. There were a few things that bugged me about the film as well but I did enjoy it.
I was watching a show about the Canadian air force with one call sign was Bobbitt, because the pilot broke the tip of the refuel flying boom when he are refueling the plane.
My CO did that with my CH-53E back in the day, it was before the whole bobbit thing though, never would have occurred to me to call him that though, LOL.
She didn’t get ugly because she got older, the trauma of being violently gang raped and beat within an inch of her life in a hotel room caught up with her so like many women who are raped they stop wanting to be attractive. Read up on it, what happened to her was fucked up and she even tried to commit suicide a few times.
Same as Kathleen Turner....she was HOT but damn, she hit the wall at 1000 mph, fell off the top of the tree and hit every branch on the way down, looks like she picked up meth as a hobby in her 30's....damn.......I mean she even SHRUNK in height but increased in width.....
Yes, PETE Mitchell, sorry, misspoke. :) And yes I know the "MiGs" are F5s. FYI I'm leaving this up for now, but I had to recut it and I'll be re uploading it in the morning. The copyright bullshit bots caught me cause my clip at the end was too long (hence im in dispute so can't make $$). Hopefully the new cut will work. But FYI this version will be deleted soon. UPDATE: Nope, didnt work. Stuck with this one for now, but HEY, if this video brought you to my channel, why not check out one of my other ones? Thanks! ;) UPDATE AGAIN: Paramount did review and keeps their copyright claim. I'm not fighting it. I'll keep it up sans money's cause if it gets eyeballs on my channel, that's cool, and everyone seemed to enjoy it, and that's the most important part. Update: dispute went my way! Woo!
Those content ID bots and the guilty unless proven innocent approach is such bullshit. UA-cam has to come up with a better system then this if they want to not lose their best content creators to the next big video sharing platform that comes along and gets big enough to put up some real competition. Other then that I once again enjoyed your review and hope to see more of these. If you keep getting content ID issues moving forward, you may want to consider joining one of the reviewer's organizations out there. EG: Normal Boots who support tons of video game reviewers (such as Pro Jered, JonTron and others).
The volleyball scene was very accurate. If you go to any active duty Navy base on a warm Saturday afternoon you will see male Naval aviators playing volleyball topless while enlisted guys sit on the bleachers cheering them on. According to Navy tradition, women are not permitted to attend recreational volleyball games. #GoAirForce!
i built a hanger on an air national guard base in 2001, I was there on 9/11 when they scrambled the F-16's. That shit was crazy, but they had a sand volleyball court on base :D
I'd add a couple of things. First of all, the guys in CIC drenched in sweat is wrong. As a former OS I can tell you they keep the temperature in there like a meat locker to help keep all the electronics cool, at least around the time this movie as made. Many times I'd have to wear a jacket in there during the summer it was so chilly. Another thing is during Jester's introductory talk at TG he laments on how pilots had been "too dependent on missiles," therefore implying that TG's teaching of Air Combat Maneuvering was to help pilots with the use of guns. However, in the final battle scene, even when they were obviously directly behind an enemy, Iceman and Maverick still used exclusively missiles, even voicing alarm when they were running low. They never even tried a gun shot. Lastly, at the beginning and ending encounters the enemy was assumed to be "bugging out" as soon as they turned away from the engagement. That's a dangerous assumption that no pilot would make so quickly as it is common to try to get out of a bad position and put some distance between yourself and the adversary before making another attack maneuver, especially if you have a faster aircraft. Oh, and I think Maverick's real name is Pete Mitchell, not Keith Mitchell. The aircraft explosions were extremely fake looking, too, as planes don't get hit and then just drop straight down out of the sky. A hit plane, along with various sized pieces of debris, continue along a trajectory more or less in line with the aircraft's original path until they are pulled down in an arc by gravity. Check out a video of a real exploding airplane or the explosion graphics in the DCS 2.5 games to see what I mean
Deck scenes were filmed on the USS Ranger, she appeared in a number of different movies as a stand in for the nuclear carriers. You missed some of the biggest mistakes: 1) Exocet on a Mig, French missile on a Russian jet?! 2) Exocet having a 100 mile range, not on the air launched variant at that time. At the time the AM39 Exocet had an optimal range of barely 30 miles. Which is mute in this case considering the above point. 3) All four catapults went down?! 4) It is constantly stated in the last quarter of the film that if the Migs get within 100 miles of the carrier then it is under serious threat. This ignores not only point one but also the minor fact that a US carrier sales in the centre of a massive group of frigates and destroyers. If the defensive fighter jets had really been shot down the attacking Migs would have still had to penetrate the huge defensive screen of surface to air missiles carried by those ships and push come to shove the carrier itself has Sea Sparrow and CIWS.
I was on Enterprise as a Reactor Operator. I can't conceive of any casualty short of massive battle damage or damage to the flight deck itself, that would take down all 4 cats at once. It just can't happen...AMA
That missile thing could happen. India is just one country that buys from several other countries. The U.S. F-14s had Phoenix missiles which could go 100 nmi and the F-14s could target 8 aircraft at once. The protecting ships would have been armed with SM2 block III missiles which could go 90nmi. The Russian Migs didn't have radar detectors to prevent Mig pilots from panicking and ejecting.
I think part of why they didn't just use the Phoenix missiles from full range is the fact that they were in a "Do not fire until fired upon" operating mode like they were at the beginning of the movie. Granted, Maverick could still have used his missiles from farther out if it weren't for the possibility of hitting IceMan by mistake.
No kidding. I mean the biggest mistake to me was just in timing. One, I don't think the Navy sends guys to school while they are on cruise. 2...they would never send them all out to the boat like that. With 2 squadrons already on the ship, if they wanted some Top Gun grads I'm pretty sure they would have had quite a few to pick from that were already there. Especially since the school had been around for about 15 years at that point. But hey, it wouldn't have the urgency to have a year or two gap between the school and their next deployment.
Loved the video. As far as getting Maverick "back in the air" He would be grounded until the Mishap Review Board cleared him.& that takes months to investigate the cause of the crash. not days so he could graduate with his class. .Not to mention he would have been sent to a FNAEB for buzzing the tower..
I'm assuming that he would also be sent through counseling and mental evaluation to make sure that he was fit to go back on duty and fly after the mishap?
In the documentary "Carrier" for PBS a pilot was sent to a FNAEB because he couldn't hook up with the KC-135 and had to divert to Baghdad. So yes, they would have had his testicles in a pair of Vise grips doing some stupid shit like buzzing the tower. Personally, I think this movie is just stupid nonsense.
please do more of these! My dad was a sailor and watching any movie with him that had navy stuff in it was scrutinized heavily. this reminded me of that
there used to be a garment factory in olive hill ky that used to make air force and navy flight uniforms under a government contract and when top gun was released the uniforms were surplus sent there and my grandparents both worked there at the time so my grandma might have made something wore by Tom Cruise
I went into the Navy a few months after Top Gun came out so I was pumped about going in. After my A school my first duty was NAS Sigonella. Met an AB3 who was part of the deck crew during filming.
I was an ejection seat mechanic on the USMC F-4 Phantom (seats are the Martin-Baker H7). I have never gotten past the ejection into the canopy. It is physically impossible because of the design of the aircraft. I get up and walk away.
My dad told me that it is technically possible if everything goes wrong at once, but it wouldn't kill you because simple physics means that as soon as the canopy hits the air it is going to be blown back and you're going to be in front of it. And he ejected three times.
A good friend of mine was a seat mech on the F-14 too, he hates that scene and most of the rest of the movie. I was a crewcheif on f-16 during my ANG days, couldn't happen there either.
The reason the canopy wasn't blown back was because they were in a flat spin; basically falling straight down. In this situation, the canopy can end up "hovering" above the aircraft. They actually did some research to come up with a plausible accident that wouldn't be the pilot's fault. It is an unlikely accident. Goose's seat should have protected him from the impact, but in this instance, they didn't have to reach very far to bend reality to the plot.
What I find funny, is that Maverick and Iceman fly together in the last dogfight, so they were in the same squadron, even in the ready room scene, yet at the beginning of the movie they were in different squadrons. Top gun usually requires pilots be sent from different squadrons and when completed they go back to their same squadrons. Riddle me that one Batman lol
I served in Naval Aviation units from the mid 70s to the early 80s and except for a few exceptions most of the aviators and NFOs weren't known by a nickname or "handle". The few exceptions of Naval Aviators that come to mind are: The late Cdr David "Barrel" McRae, USN Retired (the story goes that he was called "Barrel" after barrel rolling an RA-5C Vigilante through a dogfight over North Vietnam), Cdr Robert "Boom" Powell, USN Retired (it's my understanding he picked up "Boom" because of his penchant for making unauthorized supersonic passes over ships and bases), and last, but not least, Vice Admiral Ted "Twig" Branch, USN Retired (his last name just kind of demanded that nickname).
After I posted this I did recall two other aviators known by their nicknames: The late Captain J. H. "Pirate" Pirotte USN Retired and Cdr Sali "Mustang Sali" Gear USN Retired
Just some fun FYI: "Iceman" was named after (or inspired from) the call sign of Navel flight surgeon Deniz Tek. Deniz Tek, serving with the US Marines, flew back seat in F4 Phantoms. While the preproduction crew of Top Gun was seeing the way mission briefs, et cetera, were run at Top Gun, they came across him and his call sign. Liking both, they used his call sign in the film. Anyway, what makes it interesting is Deniz Tek was one of the founding members of, and lead singer in, the 70's punk band, Radio Birdman; best song, in my opinion, (it - along with their entire greatest hits album - is on UA-cam) is, Aloha Steve and Danno.
Let's not forget the fact that he pushes the throttles FORWARD when he says he's "hitting the brakes" (not to mention the fact that a maneuver like that is probably not possible in the F-14 because of its weight and limitations of its control surfaces).
Maneuver is absolutely possible with the Tomcat, just ill-advised to use it outside an airshow as it would bleed off too much energy and it could cause loss of control
Right. You throttle forward to keep increase N1/N2 high because (as you pull back and climb sharply) your airspeed drops quickly if you dont. F14s were prone to compressor stalls when AOA changes sharply at low N1N2. Plus, once the opponent passes beneath you and you push over, you still have high N1N2 so youll accelerate quickly in pursuit. PS, the "maneuver" of "pitching up" was well within the F14s capability. It had good wing loading
@@EdgemanLL2 Well said, although only the F-14As with Pratt&Whitney TF-30 engines were prone to compressor stalls, with early versions of the engine occasionally exploding due to turbine blade failure. The F-14B/Ds with GE F-110 engines were immune to these problems.
+Salty Seaman I see this is your first day on the internet! Hello and welcome. Some introductory advice - never assume everyone is going to understand something. Remember, your audience is composed of the dumbest people possible (I say this in loving terms of course). Also it is best to refrain from too much sarcasm because invariably someone will miss the sarcasm and take it literally. I guarantee you right now someone is reading this thinking 'you are an idiot he's been on the internet for at least two years you are a dum munky farm L1001'.
Yea, i think its fairly well known that these older movies had to use American planes as stand-ins for 'migs'. Iron Eagle movies did the same thing. Now a days they can just CGI in the correct plane.
well it was kind of hard to get MIGs in the 80s what with the cold war and stuff though to be honest they would have probably been better off using F/A-18 or F15 mocked up to look like russian MIGs of the time, but I guess they wanted something easy to tell apart from the distinctive tomcat. after all for people who don't know their planes all twin tailed aircraft look the same
crwydryny It would probably have cost a hell of a lot more to rent a Hornet too. Thinking on it, the F-101 or F-102/106 have a more MiG like appearance. But F-5s were probably a lot easier to acquire. The Super Sabre kind of has a third-gen MiG look to it, also...
One of the squadrons I was in had a pilot with a call sign of "Chainsaw". His last name was McCulloch. And one with a call sign "4X4" because he ran his aircraft off the end of the runway into the mud...more than once.
Best description I ever heard of trapping on a carrier came from a Vietnam jock, iirc: "Put a postage stamp on your living room floor. Stand on the back of your couch. Dive off the couch and lick the stamp before you hit the floor. For extra fun, turn the lights off.'
The funniest part of Top Gun is the F-14's in this movie shot down more planes than the actual F-14's ever did over their military service life. Thankfully the plane was retired.
@@silaskuemmerle2505 The F-111 was not even an air to air fighter. It was a ground attack aircraft or "Fighter Bomber." The F-14 was built for air to air so of course it was better use for air to air.
I know, it's one I've heard from time to time. and was surprised there was not a comment on it. But yeah, I know... paying all that money for famous faces you don't want them hidden for half the movie.
It is the same reason that, in fantasy movies, the heroes go into battle without helmets. Of course they usually wear plot armor, so they don't actually get hurt much. (Insert rant on how ineffective armor is against swords in fantasy movies here.)
When I was in the Navy we would get incident messages all the time from Naval Safety Center. A few I remember were "F-14 crew was in transit flight with another F-14, crew was observed doing aerobatic maneuvers, aircraft disappeared from view, aircraft approached from rear at 14,000' pilot and NFO had fore and aft caps on, saluted and broke hard right. Aircraft attempted to contact, no response. Aircraft was last seen descending. Aircraft did not complete flight, wreckage discovered in desert, results indicate oxygen masks were not attached at time of impact." Hypoxia, it will wreck your day. The other was LT(jg) Bitten by cat, JAG investigation begun
On the hangar scene “classified briefing.” I’m amazed you didn’t call that out. My squadron literally put noise generators on the doors of the ready room to keep any prying ears from listening in. And that was on a carrier when the only people on the ship had permission to be there. To have some top secret briefing out in the hangar is BS.
You forgot one. The "Migs" were over 100 miles from the carrier when one of the F-14 was shot down. The rescue helo responded and saved everyone. OK, that's good. However, Mavrick and Ice finish the dog fight and haul ass back to the carrier just in time for the rescue helo to land after making a 200 mile round trip? What were they flying, Airwolf?
THIS and Final Countdown (1980) are on par for me...so are Behind Enemy Lines, Stealth, R2B: Return to Base (2012 Korean Top Gun), Executive Decision, Jet Pilot (starring John Wayne), The Hunters (1958 starring Robert Mitchum), and The Sky Hunters (2017 Chinese Top Gun)
The CAG is the Carrier Air Group commander. He is the guy that the commanding officers of all subordinate squadrons report to. Whether they are underway or at the beach. It's kind of a parallel rank with the ships captain. A carrier Air Group is made up of 4 FA18 squadrons withe the older C hornets like that one in my picture being phased out but say one C squadron 2 E squadrons and 1 F. An EA 18 squadron an E2 squadron a help squadron SH 60 and the C2 Greyhound Carrier onboard delivery guys/gals. Each one is a separate command. All under CAG.
Jake Riethmeier What I'm asking is who is he, literally, who is he. Do I assume that he's the squadron commander, or the CAG. He seems to be in charge of everything while at the same time not in charge of anything.
A great airdale movie to review is "Final Countdown" where the USS Nimitz goes back in time to 12-6-41. Kirk Douglas (always show is "good side" to the camera, Martin Sheen, et al. Script and some acting a bit 2nd rate but an excellent flick, esp being shot on an active bird farm where the Capt made Hollywood work around the Navy and not the other way around. Terrific flight deck ops (easily as good as Top Gun). Tomcat flight scenes by the real Jolly Roger squadron that made top Admirals for whom it was it was first screened sit up and take notice. Casting used a LOT of ship's company as extras that gave a terrific authentic feel to the flick. If you do get a copy to review, get the Extras DVD with it for the interview of the pilots. BTW: in a scene where some combat ready Marines are running down a passageway toward the camera -- I could SMELL that ship! Deja vu in spades. Head strike on canopy: Can't speak to all of the ejection seats, but those I have seen up close have an outside rail on the seat with an angled upper edge that is supposed to penetrate the canopy for instances depicted in the movie. Pilots head & helmet is lower that the "penetrator." All that notwithstanding, per a late Navy jet jockey close friend of mine, ejecting is the last thing pilots want to do because they rarely get out without being hurt.
Maybe I'm just biased cause I served on a Trident sub but for me the movie with the most Hollywood bullshit has to be Crimson Tide. I could pick that movie apart all day.
Most modern military movies are just wrong. Top Gun was basically a WW2 movie with jets. The F-14 can target 8 aircraft at once and fire up to 6 Phoenix missiles. with a range of 100 Nmi. The ships protecting the aircraft carrier carry S2 Block III SA missiles with a range of 90NMI. The Migs carried Exocet missiles with a range of 30 miles. What do the aircraft end up doing? They went straight to gun range and the protecting ships just fled the scene. Even in the older war movies, guys with rifles accurate up to 300 yards would be 200 yards away and instead of firing, they would change and either die or get right up on somebody before shooting.
elbryan9 go fuck with Das Boot I heard it's as real as it gets an it is a good movie especially the long version but that's probably way different then the sub you served on. I always wondered why people join the navy no offense I enlisted army mainly want the combat but I would of done any MOS got stuck with 13B artillery hoping to switch to infantry ASAP but do you really like the navy always been my 3rd after army or Marines an fuck the air Force I guess just playing with my GI Joe's an toy soliders made me fall in love with the gun in hand marching type if I played with ships I'd probably be on a boat right now
I went to school with the son of the man who provided the inspiration for the name "Iceman". Landed his F-14 on a carrier with an engine flamed out after sucking in ice. Ice in engine+handled it as cool as ice=new callsign: "Iceman".
My father was one of the founders of the TOPGUN program in Miramar and it was hilarious seeing him just shaking his head while we watched this in theaters in 86', haha.
Navy fighter pilots= Spending most of their time learning how to land. Air Force fighter pilots= Spending most of their time learning how to dogfight. I think we all know who would win. Lol i'm jk:p
SpydreX Official Navy landing vs Air Force landing. When your air base has a 40 knot head wind and you have to time the landing to not catch it at the wrong time. A Navy landing would crush an Air Force planes landing gear. They call it something like landing with attitude
Dumb comment! First off...Air Force FIGHTER pilots know how to dogfight, and that's been proven in their short history!! As far as landing on carriers...Navy pilots TRAIN to land on carriers! However, not all Navy pilots land on carriers!! Air Force pilots don't land on carriers, because they don't have carriers dumbass!! However, the Air Force has almost three (3) times as many aircraft as the Navy!! Any more dumb statements?
The USS Enterprise (CVN 65) and USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) were used for the exterior and flight deck shots. Most of the interior scenes were shot on the USS Ranger (CV 61).
I was in The Squadron they used to film the movie with (VF-1 The Wolfpack). I was assigned to them in 1990 a few years after the movie was made but there were still a lot of pilots and mechs around that were there for the movie. The barracks you can see behind the actors when they are playing volleyball are the very barracks I lived in during my 4 years at "Fightertown". I have been to every spot they used to film the movie at. Not because I was a fan boy just because during my time stationed there back than you just ran across those places. I can give you a couple of funny stories about the movie. 1) Whenever you see Tom Cruise on a motorcycle it was really mounted on top of a trailer and pulled by a pick up truck. He used a stunt double for the scenes that couldn't hide the trailer. They said he couldn't get the hang of the "clutch" on the bike. 2)They painted the F-5's (MIGS) with a temporary water based black paint and during filming a freak rain storm hit the flight line causing all of the black paint to wash off making a mess. 3)The scene where Maverick follows Charlie into the bathroom was filmed at the Navy Recruit Training Center San Diego. It was the girls bathroom in the base Admin office. 4) You see VF-1 logos on their helmets but VAW 110's logo on the tails of the aircraft. VAW 110 is a E2C Hawkeye the opposite of an F-14. 5) That volley ball course never existed it was built for the movie and left after filming. By the time I got there 5 years later it was mostly over grown grass and weeds. 6) Tom Cruise went around base during filming in his costume and demanded the enlisted guys salute him like he was a real Naval Aviator. There are a ton more facts I know, I just thought I would throw a few out there for you guys.
The launch deck a of a carrier is a legit Danger Zone, wire snaps you are gone, shit has so much force, like I saw a video of an accident were a cable snapped and one of the guys managed to jump it twice, but another dude just got hit and by god from one frame to the other it almost looked like the cable had ripped him off from the hip down.
Why do the NFOs always die in these movies? Having been an NFO it sucks. Only decent movie where NFO is hero is "Behind Enemy Lines". Love the channel shipmate!
Naval Flight Officer. (the guy in the back seat). That position can also be known as the RIO (Radar Intercept Officer). The term RIO was mentioned in the movie. "Maverick. You'll get your RIO when you get to the ship. And if you don't, give me a call, I'll fly with you"
it a movie, seldom does a movie get things right. I seen movies where they have their rank upside down, wrong type of patches. One movie the man had a captain rank and they keep calling him major.
A lot of movies have to do that. You will see it all over the place. Guys wearing army uniforms with no patches and the collar popped up, marines won't have EGAs, ribbons out of order, etc. There might be some kind of permission a movie has to get to have a %100 accurate uniform.
exactly. It's not hard to find somebody, ANYBODY, for cheap to help u out in the script or wardrobe department that has a rudimentary knowledge of Armed Forces. The "something HAS to be off" on uniforms is a complete myth. Taking Chance, a Kevin Bacon movie, is an example of how Hollywood can do it right. Same with the Band of Brothers series, because they hired top notch people. I was so disappointed in seeing Stephan Lang, a top notch actor, in Jar-Head 2, a movie nobody in its production had any respect for in portraying the military. I honestly thought I was watching an Asylum picture.
Reminds me of "Colonel Danning" from Stargate SG-1, who's parody-character was always saying, "It DOES say Colonel on my uniform", when in fact there wasn't insignia anywhere on his uniform.
Why is the third cable the "best" to catch? I have read about the first being non-ideal because pilots might end up ultimately smashing into the stern, which then makes me wonder why the first cable is where it is then?
I was not an aviator, but I played beach volleyball a lot when attending, and instructing at (later) Basic Electronics School in San Diego - usually with my shirt off. Last I checked, officers could do the same.
In the Army there at least in the late '50's they played volleyball. My father was disabled while plying volleyball. He got a check every month for the rest of his life.
My dad was an USMC OV10 pilot based off the Lexington (named me Maverick after this movie), and he's voiced the exact same issues with this as you have, but still one of his favorite movies. And in a shocking turn of events, he has admitted that he thinks that the Coast Guard helicopter pilots are the best in the world.
Don't know if it was already mentioned, but fun fact, The film was shot on the USS Carl Vinson. My mother served for four years in Operation Enduring Freedom on the front lines and in Operation Iraqi Freedom as reserve. By that I mean her ship of course. She had some stories to tell about beeing below deck when the catapolts launched. Anyway, if you look close in the movie, you can see the number 70 on the radio tower. CVN-70. The movie also gives the crew credit in the rolling credits.
I joined the Navy because of that movie. I saw it when I was still in High School and went down to the recruiter the next day (or thereabouts). I signed up for DEP and started boot camp almost a year later. Those Skyhawks (A-4) are badass. It was the platform of choice for the Blue Angels for a reason before they switched to '18s (Hornets).
+The Salty Seaman Oh, I love the 18 too. I remember building a model of it when I was a kid and dreaming of being a jet pilot. That obviously wasn't in the cards, despite about a million other things I don't have 20/20 vision. Anyway, yes, I love the Hornet and I was fortunate enough to be in the fleet when both were operational. I was on an aircraft carrier and I could walk through the hanger bay (usually on my way to mess) and see both of them. The old venerable Tomcats looking like the old, scarred alley cats they were, among the sleek and elegant Hornets. :D
solanisrs awesome. I too got my pilot dreams crushed at 13 with my first pair of glasses. I was happy to become a journalist and find my niche in the navy tho.
Top Gun is a great film - the cinematography is incredible - the biggest draw back is all the homoerotic stuff - shirts off volleyball and shower scenes. The flight deck scenes, the flying scenes and the dogfight scenes are brilliant, and say what you like about Tom Cruise and his crazy lifestyle, he has made some fantastic movies.
“Hanging out in the O Club in whites” is a relic of the past. From what I understand, it was called “Animal Night” when they let off-base townie girls into the O Club to hang out with the officers, and the officers had to wear their uniforms. They don’t really do it anymore (because 9/11 made townies getting on base much harder) but it is somewhat period accurate to when the movie takes place. When they show the outside of the O Club, you’ll see a sign that says “Animal Night” :)
My 8the grade geography teacher was in the navy on the ship at the time the movie was filmed and can be seen in the group at the end he let us watch this movie In class just to point him self out at the end
Throughout the movie they talk about the "hard deck" being at 10,000 feet on certain hops. Then they proceed to fly in between mountains while dogfighting...yet Maverick gets yelled at for breaking the hard deck. The entire dogfight was below the hard deck!
The canopy to canopy comments made my chuckle. They actually DID get the planes that close together as shown in the movie but never could get the camera plane to line up exactly to show it, so they gave up trying to get the shot and went with a split screen. I talked to the F-14 pilot who flew that portion to try to get it. His last name was Broska, if memory serves.But yeah, total insanity for real life. No jet jockey would let another fighter get that close.
Tom Cruise liked to wander around NAS Miramar in the uniform that the wardrobe department gave him & yell at enlisted personnel for not saluting "an officer". The rest of the cast stayed out of sight between scenes if they were in uniform.
About callsigns : In the RCAF, there's a Québécois pilot who's last name is Jobin. His callsign is "Blow".... Another's last name is Coffin and his callsign is "Nail'N".
Why is the 3rd one the best one to catch? Am I to assume it's the "correct" one with the others being a back up for if the pilot touches down too soon or too late?
I'm sure someone else can explain this better. But, catching the 3rd wire means you are the right speed and altitude for the safest landing. Navy pilots are graded on how well they land. Each landing is recorded and used for training. Anything else could be dangerous. Too low and slow, you can hit the deck too hard, screw up your landing gear and foul the deck. Too high and fast, and you can rip the tail hook off the plane, or miss all the wires which means having to go around again. And wait in line b/c there may be 10 more planes behind you waiting to land. This all takes time. And a CVN going in one direction for too long is not a desirable thing. I heard that naval aviators have to land as if they are coming down on a carrier. Even if they are coming into a land base. Practice, practice, practice
You watch this movie for the music and for the F-14 Tomcat.
and the tongue
To quote my father, in the theater, with my mom, standing up from his chair:
"THATS NOT A MIG!"
Yep! F-5E used as migs.
I remember seeing a documentary about landing on a carrier... The pilot describes the landing.. "Put a stamp in the middle of your living room floor... now, take a running leap, and try to lick the stamp...." lol Sound difficult.
could you put the link?
A-san Crowley I wish I could, but I saw that documentary some 15-20 years ago. Sorry.
So, I'm just taking a shot in the dark... Do you remember the show, I think it was, "Wings" on the discovery or learning channel?? I "think" it might have been something like that.... Maybe not the show "wings" but something along the same lines... Most likely on TLC or the Discovery channel, when those two channels actually had some really good content....
well thanks anyways :)
My dad was a Naval Aviator for 26 years, he used to say that there aviators land in 60 feet and pilots land in 1,000 feet.
We just got attacked by five MiGs. Let's celebrate instead of preparing for the possibility we might be at war and need to get a CAP up.
I friggin' lost my shit at this comment because I misread it as FAKE MiGs at first. :D
What got me was that fight was so unrealistic with the Migs that those weren't even Migs. The F-14 can target 8 aircraft at once and shoot up to 6 Aim-54 missiles which have a 100 nm range. Meanwhile the MIgs of the time didn't have sensors telling the pilots there was a radar lock to prevent the pilot from panicking and ejecting. An E2 would have told the pilots how many Migs were there before the two scouts were even there. That aircraft carrier most likely had at least one ship protecting it armed with SM-2 block III missiles. There would have been a lot of Migs being shot out of the air before the scouts could see their rescuers.
Not mistaken on either count, lol. Granted, total count was 6 (Fake) MiGs, but that's splitting hairs at this point.
orlock20 The battlegroup's SAM operators must have been asleep, too. Even if the MiGs did have radar warning recievers with the proper programming, the MiGs still would not have known they were under attack until the phoenixes turned on their own radars. By then it would have been too late.
SM-2 block III missiles weren't in service until 1988, genius.
I seem to remember Cruise's character's name was Lt. Pete Mitchell, not Keith.
That was his dad
I checked the Internet Movie Database (imdb.com) and it lists the character's name as Pete Mitchell. I don't think the father's name is ever mentioned in the movie.
Maybe not... but he was one heroic sonofabitch!
8:50
"Duke" Mitchell was his dad (maybe an ode to Navy ace Randall "Duke" Cunningham) - that's as close as we got.
I was on board the ENTERPRISE in 1985 when we filmed most of the scenes for the flight deck and interior ship shots. They extended our 11 day sea time by an additional 10 days without telling us why. Suddenly, a CH-46 came onboard with the film crew. I did see the "Maverick" Tomcat in he hangar bay the night before. One of the handlers explained why it was painted differently from the rest of the Black Lions.
We were on deployment when the movie debuted. I went to see it in Australia. Among the few in the audience with me were: the CO, XO, CAG, a few pilots including the guy who flew the opening sequence launch/barrel-roll. There were a few things that bugged me about the film as well but I did enjoy it.
Maverick's callsign would have been Frodo
Or Bullshit
Maybe "Little Duke".
Petite
*Run, you fool*
Goose wasn't a navigator, he was a RIO (Radar Intercept Officer).
I was watching a show about the Canadian air force with one call sign was Bobbitt, because the pilot broke the tip of the refuel flying boom when he are refueling the plane.
My CO did that with my CH-53E back in the day, it was before the whole bobbit thing though, never would have occurred to me to call him that though, LOL.
Kelly McGillis was so hot until she got older...kinda glad she turned down my marriage proposal in the 80's.
All I got was a restraining order.
She didn’t get ugly because she got older, the trauma of being violently gang raped and beat within an inch of her life in a hotel room caught up with her so like many women who are raped they stop wanting to be attractive. Read up on it, what happened to her was fucked up and she even tried to commit suicide a few times.
She's a lesbian btw.
Same as Kathleen Turner....she was HOT but damn, she hit the wall at 1000 mph, fell off the top of the tree and hit every branch on the way down, looks like she picked up meth as a hobby in her 30's....damn.......I mean she even SHRUNK in height but increased in width.....
She hit the wall like an Airliner on 911..
Yes, PETE Mitchell, sorry, misspoke. :) And yes I know the "MiGs" are F5s.
FYI I'm leaving this up for now, but I had to recut it and I'll be re uploading it in the morning. The copyright bullshit bots caught me cause my clip at the end was too long (hence im in dispute so can't make $$). Hopefully the new cut will work. But FYI this version will be deleted soon. UPDATE: Nope, didnt work. Stuck with this one for now, but HEY, if this video brought you to my channel, why not check out one of my other ones? Thanks! ;)
UPDATE AGAIN: Paramount did review and keeps their copyright claim. I'm not fighting it. I'll keep it up sans money's cause if it gets eyeballs on my channel, that's cool, and everyone seemed to enjoy it, and that's the most important part.
Update: dispute went my way! Woo!
Well done, really like this series! Maybe you could cover R. Lee Emery's first movie "The Boys in Company C" someday! And I downloaded this.
The Salty Seaman IP is bullshit
Patrick Dukemajian IP isn't bullshit, but bots aren't the best judge of fair use I'd say.
Thanks, you salty seaman!
Those content ID bots and the guilty unless proven innocent approach is such bullshit. UA-cam has to come up with a better system then this if they want to not lose their best content creators to the next big video sharing platform that comes along and gets big enough to put up some real competition.
Other then that I once again enjoyed your review and hope to see more of these. If you keep getting content ID issues moving forward, you may want to consider joining one of the reviewer's organizations out there. EG: Normal Boots who support tons of video game reviewers (such as Pro Jered, JonTron and others).
The volleyball scene was very accurate. If you go to any active duty Navy base on a warm Saturday afternoon you will see male Naval aviators playing volleyball topless while enlisted guys sit on the bleachers cheering them on. According to Navy tradition, women are not permitted to attend recreational volleyball games. #GoAirForce!
Air Force FTW!
+Veritech Girl - NAVY FTW
i built a hanger on an air national guard base in 2001, I was there on 9/11 when they scrambled the F-16's. That shit was crazy, but they had a sand volleyball court on base :D
Air force sucks lol. Naval pilots are better for reasons of taking off of a moving ship.
I'd add a couple of things. First of all, the guys in CIC drenched in sweat is wrong. As a former OS I can tell you they keep the temperature in there like a meat locker to help keep all the electronics cool, at least around the time this movie as made. Many times I'd have to wear a jacket in there during the summer it was so chilly. Another thing is during Jester's introductory talk at TG he laments on how pilots had been "too dependent on missiles," therefore implying that TG's teaching of Air Combat Maneuvering was to help pilots with the use of guns. However, in the final battle scene, even when they were obviously directly behind an enemy, Iceman and Maverick still used exclusively missiles, even voicing alarm when they were running low. They never even tried a gun shot. Lastly, at the beginning and ending encounters the enemy was assumed to be "bugging out" as soon as they turned away from the engagement. That's a dangerous assumption that no pilot would make so quickly as it is common to try to get out of a bad position and put some distance between yourself and the adversary before making another attack maneuver, especially if you have a faster aircraft. Oh, and I think Maverick's real name is Pete Mitchell, not Keith Mitchell. The aircraft explosions were extremely fake looking, too, as planes don't get hit and then just drop straight down out of the sky. A hit plane, along with various sized pieces of debris, continue along a trajectory more or less in line with the aircraft's original path until they are pulled down in an arc by gravity. Check out a video of a real exploding airplane or the explosion graphics in the DCS 2.5 games to see what I mean
Yes, Pete Mitchell is Maverick's real name it is mentioned many times both in movie and its squeal Top Gun: Maverick (2022).
Deck scenes were filmed on the USS Ranger, she appeared in a number of different movies as a stand in for the nuclear carriers.
You missed some of the biggest mistakes:
1) Exocet on a Mig, French missile on a Russian jet?!
2) Exocet having a 100 mile range, not on the air launched variant at that time. At the time the AM39 Exocet had an optimal range of barely 30 miles. Which is mute in this case considering the above point.
3) All four catapults went down?!
4) It is constantly stated in the last quarter of the film that if the Migs get within 100 miles of the carrier then it is under serious threat. This ignores not only point one but also the minor fact that a US carrier sales in the centre of a massive group of frigates and destroyers. If the defensive fighter jets had really been shot down the attacking Migs would have still had to penetrate the huge defensive screen of surface to air missiles carried by those ships and push come to shove the carrier itself has Sea Sparrow and CIWS.
I was on Enterprise as a Reactor Operator. I can't conceive of any casualty short of massive battle damage or damage to the flight deck itself, that would take down all 4 cats at once. It just can't happen...AMA
That missile thing could happen. India is just one country that buys from several other countries. The U.S. F-14s had Phoenix missiles which could go 100 nmi and the F-14s could target 8 aircraft at once. The protecting ships would have been armed with SM2 block III missiles which could go 90nmi. The Russian Migs didn't have radar detectors to prevent Mig pilots from panicking and ejecting.
Well, seeings how the rest of the airwing wasn't there either..... What the heck.....
I think part of why they didn't just use the Phoenix missiles from full range is the fact that they were in a "Do not fire until fired upon" operating mode like they were at the beginning of the movie. Granted, Maverick could still have used his missiles from farther out if it weren't for the possibility of hitting IceMan by mistake.
No kidding. I mean the biggest mistake to me was just in timing. One, I don't think the Navy sends guys to school while they are on cruise. 2...they would never send them all out to the boat like that. With 2 squadrons already on the ship, if they wanted some Top Gun grads I'm pretty sure they would have had quite a few to pick from that were already there. Especially since the school had been around for about 15 years at that point. But hey, it wouldn't have the urgency to have a year or two gap between the school and their next deployment.
Loved the video. As far as getting Maverick "back in the air" He would be grounded until the Mishap Review Board cleared him.& that takes months to investigate the cause of the crash. not days so he could graduate with his class. .Not to mention he would have been sent to a FNAEB for buzzing the tower..
I'm assuming that he would also be sent through counseling and mental evaluation to make sure that he was fit to go back on duty and fly after the mishap?
It seems like at best he would be rolled to the next class. Just for the time to investigate, much less the emotional trauma.
In the documentary "Carrier" for PBS a pilot was sent to a FNAEB because he couldn't hook up with the KC-135 and had to divert to Baghdad. So yes, they would have had his testicles in a pair of Vise grips doing some stupid shit like buzzing the tower. Personally, I think this movie is just stupid nonsense.
Doug Bayer What does "FNAEB" mean?
Greetings from Germany
Field Naval Aviator Evaluation Board or Fleet Naval Aviation Evaluation Board
please do more of these! My dad was a sailor and watching any movie with him that had navy stuff in it was scrutinized heavily. this reminded me of that
there used to be a garment factory in olive hill ky that used to make air force and navy flight uniforms under a government contract and when top gun was released the uniforms were surplus sent there and my grandparents both worked there at the time so my grandma might have made something wore by Tom Cruise
I liked this. It was like a military CinemaSins video.
I went into the Navy a few months after Top Gun came out so I was pumped about going in. After my A school my first duty was NAS Sigonella. Met an AB3 who was part of the deck crew during filming.
Laughed when you exclaimed "DANGER ZONE" you just gained a new subscriber
I was an ejection seat mechanic on the USMC F-4 Phantom (seats are the Martin-Baker H7). I have never gotten past the ejection into the canopy. It is physically impossible because of the design of the aircraft. I get up and walk away.
Louis Scott my grandfather flew in f4s and told me the same thing
Louis Scott the only count of it happening I have seen was a report of the Gloster Meteor which was the first plane equipped with an ejection seat.
My dad told me that it is technically possible if everything goes wrong at once, but it wouldn't kill you because simple physics means that as soon as the canopy hits the air it is going to be blown back and you're going to be in front of it. And he ejected three times.
A good friend of mine was a seat mech on the F-14 too, he hates that scene and most of the rest of the movie. I was a crewcheif on f-16 during my ANG days, couldn't happen there either.
The reason the canopy wasn't blown back was because they were in a flat spin; basically falling straight down. In this situation, the canopy can end up "hovering" above the aircraft. They actually did some research to come up with a plausible accident that wouldn't be the pilot's fault.
It is an unlikely accident. Goose's seat should have protected him from the impact, but in this instance, they didn't have to reach very far to bend reality to the plot.
When I was in Canadian army, we played floor hockey. I was on skins side. My nickname was Animal. Because I am hairy.
3:00 I love how the tail hook is down on approach, up on touchdown, then down again after he pulls up after the bolter.
Nice catch.
What I find funny, is that Maverick and Iceman fly together in the last dogfight, so they were in the same squadron, even in the ready room scene, yet at the beginning of the movie they were in different squadrons. Top gun usually requires pilots be sent from different squadrons and when completed they go back to their same squadrons. Riddle me that one Batman lol
"Into naval aviation porn.." xD
We have a guy in my Squadron back home with the call sign "Cougar." I am pretty sure it is from an embarrassing moment.
I served in Naval Aviation units from the mid 70s to the early 80s and except for a few exceptions most of the aviators and NFOs weren't known by a nickname or "handle". The few exceptions of Naval Aviators that come to mind are: The late Cdr David "Barrel" McRae, USN Retired (the story goes that he was called "Barrel" after barrel rolling an RA-5C Vigilante through a dogfight over North Vietnam), Cdr Robert "Boom" Powell, USN Retired (it's my understanding he picked up "Boom" because of his penchant for making unauthorized supersonic passes over ships and bases), and last, but not least, Vice Admiral Ted "Twig" Branch, USN Retired (his last name just kind of demanded that nickname).
After I posted this I did recall two other aviators known by their nicknames: The late Captain J. H. "Pirate" Pirotte USN Retired and Cdr Sali "Mustang Sali" Gear USN Retired
Just some fun FYI: "Iceman" was named after (or inspired from) the call sign of Navel flight surgeon Deniz Tek. Deniz Tek, serving with the US Marines, flew back seat in F4 Phantoms. While the preproduction crew of Top Gun was seeing the way mission briefs, et cetera, were run at Top Gun, they came across him and his call sign. Liking both, they used his call sign in the film. Anyway, what makes it interesting is Deniz Tek was one of the founding members of, and lead singer in, the 70's punk band, Radio Birdman; best song, in my opinion, (it - along with their entire greatest hits album - is on UA-cam) is, Aloha Steve and Danno.
Let's not forget the fact that he pushes the throttles FORWARD when he says he's "hitting the brakes" (not to mention the fact that a maneuver like that is probably not possible in the F-14 because of its weight and limitations of its control surfaces).
NeedsMoreBoosters Speed Brakes?
Maneuver is absolutely possible with the Tomcat, just ill-advised to use it outside an airshow as it would bleed off too much energy and it could cause loss of control
Right. You throttle forward to keep increase N1/N2 high because (as you pull back and climb sharply) your airspeed drops quickly if you dont. F14s were prone to compressor stalls when AOA changes sharply at low N1N2. Plus, once the opponent passes beneath you and you push over, you still have high N1N2 so youll accelerate quickly in pursuit.
PS, the "maneuver" of "pitching up" was well within the F14s capability. It had good wing loading
@@EdgemanLL2 Well said, although only the F-14As with Pratt&Whitney TF-30 engines were prone to compressor stalls, with early versions of the engine occasionally exploding due to turbine blade failure. The F-14B/Ds with GE F-110 engines were immune to these problems.
Also, those aren't Russian MiG's, those are F-5's lmao
Ryland Bowles got a feeling a lot are going to say this and I know, but i just kinda let it go cause i assume everyone kinda knew. Ah well.
+Salty Seaman I see this is your first day on the internet! Hello and welcome. Some introductory advice - never assume everyone is going to understand something. Remember, your audience is composed of the dumbest people possible (I say this in loving terms of course). Also it is best to refrain from too much sarcasm because invariably someone will miss the sarcasm and take it literally. I guarantee you right now someone is reading this thinking 'you are an idiot he's been on the internet for at least two years you are a dum munky farm L1001'.
Yea, i think its fairly well known that these older movies had to use American planes as stand-ins for 'migs'. Iron Eagle movies did the same thing. Now a days they can just CGI in the correct plane.
well it was kind of hard to get MIGs in the 80s what with the cold war and stuff
though to be honest they would have probably been better off using F/A-18 or F15 mocked up to look like russian MIGs of the time, but I guess they wanted something easy to tell apart from the distinctive tomcat. after all for people who don't know their planes all twin tailed aircraft look the same
crwydryny It would probably have cost a hell of a lot more to rent a Hornet too. Thinking on it, the F-101 or F-102/106 have a more MiG like appearance. But F-5s were probably a lot easier to acquire. The Super Sabre kind of has a third-gen MiG look to it, also...
One of the squadrons I was in had a pilot with a call sign of "Chainsaw". His last name was McCulloch. And one with a call sign "4X4" because he ran his aircraft off the end of the runway into the mud...more than once.
Best description I ever heard of trapping on a carrier came from a Vietnam jock, iirc: "Put a postage stamp on your living room floor. Stand on the back of your couch. Dive off the couch and lick the stamp before you hit the floor. For extra fun, turn the lights off.'
The funniest part of Top Gun is the F-14's in this movie shot down more planes than the actual F-14's ever did over their military service life. Thankfully the plane was retired.
bo0tsy1 at least the Tomcat was better than the Aardvark as a fighter, the Aardvark was an expensive turkey. Don't get me started on the F-35.
Might be wrong, but some of that might just be due to how often it actually did combat with other planes.
scottthewaterwarrior it had to go into combat three times, all three times it got kills.most of the losses were pilot error in carrier landings
Well there was this guy: www.badassoftheweek.com/index.cgi?id=122867315593
@@silaskuemmerle2505 The F-111 was not even an air to air fighter. It was a ground attack aircraft or "Fighter Bomber." The F-14 was built for air to air so of course it was better use for air to air.
Overall, the movie couldn't be too bad seeing as the Navy used it as a recruiting tool.
Just like "Power Rangers" having episodes as 30-minute toy commercials
I was on a sub tender and the divers played volleyball during lunch. It was part of their physical fitness routine
Another thing I love was how they fired more than 1 blue tube from the same wing station!
I find that it's really wrong that they put off their oxygen masks so often.
Joe Bradshaw gotta show them pretty faces!
I know, it's one I've heard from time to time. and was surprised there was not a comment on it. But yeah, I know... paying all that money for famous faces you don't want them hidden for half the movie.
Travis Smith I did mean to mention it but it's really minor in the nitpicking.
It is the same reason that, in fantasy movies, the heroes go into battle without helmets. Of course they usually wear plot armor, so they don't actually get hurt much.
(Insert rant on how ineffective armor is against swords in fantasy movies here.)
When I was in the Navy we would get incident messages all the time from Naval Safety Center. A few I remember were "F-14 crew was in transit flight with another F-14, crew was observed doing aerobatic maneuvers, aircraft disappeared from view, aircraft approached from rear at 14,000' pilot and NFO had fore and aft caps on, saluted and broke hard right. Aircraft attempted to contact, no response. Aircraft was last seen descending. Aircraft did not complete flight, wreckage discovered in desert, results indicate oxygen masks were not attached at time of impact." Hypoxia, it will wreck your day.
The other was LT(jg) Bitten by cat, JAG investigation begun
YOU MEAN MOVIES ARE NOT REAL????
WHAT? (GASP!!!!) NOOOOOO!!!!!!
Of course not. Anime is.
On the hangar scene “classified briefing.” I’m amazed you didn’t call that out. My squadron literally put noise generators on the doors of the ready room to keep any prying ears from listening in. And that was on a carrier when the only people on the ship had permission to be there. To have some top secret briefing out in the hangar is BS.
2:20 LOL I nearly snorted my drink out at that. Props to the guy that gave him that callsign.
11:24 You should name ships. xD
9:05 How many people have told you so far that Maverick's name is PETE Mitchell, not Keith?
643.
You forgot one. The "Migs" were over 100 miles from the carrier when one of the F-14 was shot down. The rescue helo responded and saved everyone. OK, that's good. However, Mavrick and Ice finish the dog fight and haul ass back to the carrier just in time for the rescue helo to land after making a 200 mile round trip? What were they flying, Airwolf?
6:49 > Topless volleyball "its in the regs" . That had me cracking up.
Absolutely loved it! Thanks dude
I prefer Hot Shots!
little sizzling belly
hotshots is the shit mate
Funny ass movie
THIS and Final Countdown (1980) are on par for me...so are Behind Enemy Lines, Stealth, R2B: Return to Base (2012 Korean Top Gun), Executive Decision, Jet Pilot (starring John Wayne), The Hunters (1958 starring Robert Mitchum), and The Sky Hunters (2017 Chinese Top Gun)
One of my favorite movies when I was 10. Now that I'm older it is complete bullshit.
Oh Snap!!! I know it's bullshit and very 80s but I still love it.
The Salty Seaman Is the bald captain the CAG, the ship's captain, what is his job?
The CAG is the Carrier Air Group commander. He is the guy that the commanding officers of all subordinate squadrons report to. Whether they are underway or at the beach. It's kind of a parallel rank with the ships captain. A carrier Air Group is made up of 4 FA18 squadrons withe the older C hornets like that one in my picture being phased out but say one C squadron 2 E squadrons and 1 F. An EA 18 squadron an E2 squadron a help squadron SH 60 and the C2 Greyhound Carrier onboard delivery guys/gals. Each one is a separate command. All under CAG.
Jake Riethmeier What I'm asking is who is he, literally, who is he. Do I assume that he's the squadron commander, or the CAG. He seems to be in charge of everything while at the same time not in charge of anything.
+Oh Snap!!! oh, in the movie? my bad.
A great airdale movie to review is "Final Countdown" where the USS Nimitz goes back in time to 12-6-41. Kirk Douglas (always show is "good side" to the camera, Martin Sheen, et al. Script and some acting a bit 2nd rate but an excellent flick, esp being shot on an active bird farm where the Capt made Hollywood work around the Navy and not the other way around. Terrific flight deck ops (easily as good as Top Gun). Tomcat flight scenes by the real Jolly Roger squadron that made top Admirals for whom it was it was first screened sit up and take notice. Casting used a LOT of ship's company as extras that gave a terrific authentic feel to the flick. If you do get a copy to review, get the Extras DVD with it for the interview of the pilots.
BTW: in a scene where some combat ready Marines are running down a passageway toward the camera -- I could SMELL that ship! Deja vu in spades.
Head strike on canopy: Can't speak to all of the ejection seats, but those I have seen up close have an outside rail on the seat with an angled upper edge that is supposed to penetrate the canopy for instances depicted in the movie. Pilots head & helmet is lower that the "penetrator." All that notwithstanding, per a late Navy jet jockey close friend of mine, ejecting is the last thing pilots want to do because they rarely get out without being hurt.
i was a kid when this came out, and we used to request "danger zone" at the roller rink
Maybe I'm just biased cause I served on a Trident sub but for me the movie with the most Hollywood bullshit has to be Crimson Tide. I could pick that movie apart all day.
Most modern military movies are just wrong. Top Gun was basically a WW2 movie with jets. The F-14 can target 8 aircraft at once and fire up to 6 Phoenix missiles. with a range of 100 Nmi. The ships protecting the aircraft carrier carry S2 Block III SA missiles with a range of 90NMI. The Migs carried Exocet missiles with a range of 30 miles. What do the aircraft end up doing? They went straight to gun range and the protecting ships just fled the scene. Even in the older war movies, guys with rifles accurate up to 300 yards would be 200 yards away and instead of firing, they would change and either die or get right up on somebody before shooting.
elbryan9
I heard that movie described with the summary "sweaty homoerotic mutiny ensues" and am now incapable of taking it seriously.
lol
elbryan9 My brother was on SSBN-730 and says the same thing.
elbryan9 go fuck with Das Boot I heard it's as real as it gets an it is a good movie especially the long version but that's probably way different then the sub you served on. I always wondered why people join the navy no offense I enlisted army mainly want the combat but I would of done any MOS got stuck with 13B artillery hoping to switch to infantry ASAP but do you really like the navy always been my 3rd after army or Marines an fuck the air Force I guess just playing with my GI Joe's an toy soliders made me fall in love with the gun in hand marching type if I played with ships I'd probably be on a boat right now
How did you learn stuff about aviation? No disrespect intended I'm genuinely curious
Aaron Cornette Based on the video, he served on a carrier
He's a sailor, Navy man, not sure if still active but yea, first hand experience.
Razgriz Knight I indeed served on a carrier, earned my EAWS.
And you mean flew? I got the impression when you said "done it".
TheGroundedAviator i was a navy journalist, enlisted man. Not a pilot. I did "cat" off the carrier once, and returned on the wire. It was intense.
Controlled Chaos on that flight deck!
No time nor room for an Air Marshal dance like in the Air Force =P
I went to school with the son of the man who provided the inspiration for the name "Iceman". Landed his F-14 on a carrier with an engine flamed out after sucking in ice. Ice in engine+handled it as cool as ice=new callsign: "Iceman".
No movie EVER gets anything CORRECT.
_(cough)_ ua-cam.com/video/zjCOMJDULaE/v-deo.html
Do Generation Kill, is it as realistic as they say?
its closer than it should be...trust me
@@mikegreck2625 no joke. I wasn't Recon but I was a Marine and was in the invasion in 2003. Too fucking accurate!
My father was one of the founders of the TOPGUN program in Miramar and it was hilarious seeing him just shaking his head while we watched this in theaters in 86', haha.
I really like how you did not just complain, but also pointed out the movie makers' strengths.
Navy fighter pilots= Spending most of their time learning how to land.
Air Force fighter pilots= Spending most of their time learning how to dogfight.
I think we all know who would win.
Lol i'm jk:p
SpydreX Official Navy landing vs Air Force landing. When your air base has a 40 knot head wind and you have to time the landing to not catch it at the wrong time. A Navy landing would crush an Air Force planes landing gear. They call it something like landing with attitude
iamedbytes
Dumb comment! First off...Air Force FIGHTER pilots know how to dogfight, and that's been proven in their short history!! As far as landing on carriers...Navy pilots TRAIN to land on carriers! However, not all Navy pilots land on carriers!! Air Force pilots don't land on carriers, because they don't have carriers dumbass!! However, the Air Force has almost three (3) times as many aircraft as the Navy!! Any more dumb statements?
Two words, Red October
Thinking about it.
The Salty Seaman Crimson Tide?
The USS Enterprise (CVN 65) and USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) were used for the exterior and flight deck shots. Most of the interior scenes were shot on the USS Ranger (CV 61).
Love this series...keep them coming!!
Can you do flight of the intruder?
Enjoy your video. Pac-Man... eat the bots!
definitely would like to see flight of the intruder review and would love to see him review firebirds w Nick cage/tommy lee jones
james lester Firebirds. Lol. Would probably tear that movie up. GI Jane also.
Lol oh definitely lots going wrong in both of those.surprisingly I think g.I.jane actually has the worst record with accuracy.
james lester GI Jane is a fantasy with sweaty guys and a cute/tough broad. Don't let facts get in the way of the story.
iamedbytes loved the while Jake grafton series. wish there were more movies of those books
You should do Heartbreak Ridge. Great Clint Eastwood movie in my opinion but probably very inaccurate.
Opps I was describing the wrong movie. I was thinking of the movie Hacksaw Ridge.
nvm wrong war
Heartbreak Ridge showing any group of Recon Marines as shiftless, lazy losers is a good place to start.
I was in The Squadron they used to film the movie with (VF-1 The Wolfpack). I was assigned to them in 1990 a few years after the movie was made but there were still a lot of pilots and mechs around that were there for the movie. The barracks you can see behind the actors when they are playing volleyball are the very barracks I lived in during my 4 years at "Fightertown". I have been to every spot they used to film the movie at. Not because I was a fan boy just because during my time stationed there back than you just ran across those places. I can give you a couple of funny stories about the movie.
1) Whenever you see Tom Cruise on a motorcycle it was really mounted on top of a trailer and pulled by a pick up truck. He used a stunt double for the scenes that couldn't hide the trailer. They said he couldn't get the hang of the "clutch" on the bike.
2)They painted the F-5's (MIGS) with a temporary water based black paint and during filming a freak rain storm hit the flight line causing all of the black paint to wash off making a mess.
3)The scene where Maverick follows Charlie into the bathroom was filmed at the Navy Recruit Training Center San Diego. It was the girls bathroom in the base Admin office.
4) You see VF-1 logos on their helmets but VAW 110's logo on the tails of the aircraft. VAW 110 is a E2C Hawkeye the opposite of an F-14.
5) That volley ball course never existed it was built for the movie and left after filming. By the time I got there 5 years later it was mostly over grown grass and weeds.
6) Tom Cruise went around base during filming in his costume and demanded the enlisted guys salute him like he was a real Naval Aviator.
There are a ton more facts I know, I just thought I would throw a few out there for you guys.
The launch deck a of a carrier is a legit Danger Zone, wire snaps you are gone, shit has so much force, like I saw a video of an accident were a cable snapped and one of the guys managed to jump it twice, but another dude just got hit and by god from one frame to the other it almost looked like the cable had ripped him off from the hip down.
Why do the NFOs always die in these movies? Having been an NFO it sucks. Only decent movie where NFO is hero is "Behind Enemy Lines". Love the channel shipmate!
English is not my first language but what is a NFO?, I just dont understand why amercicans like to use acronyms every damn sentence.
Naval Flight Officer. (the guy in the back seat). That position can also be known as the RIO (Radar Intercept Officer). The term RIO was mentioned in the movie. "Maverick. You'll get your RIO when you get to the ship. And if you don't, give me a call, I'll fly with you"
A flag officer flying a rescue mission?
@@matiot3097 In Layman's terms, it's Flight Navigator
it a movie, seldom does a movie get things right. I seen movies where they have their rank upside down, wrong type of patches. One movie the man had a captain rank and they keep calling him major.
A lot of movies have to do that. You will see it all over the place. Guys wearing army uniforms with no patches and the collar popped up, marines won't have EGAs, ribbons out of order, etc. There might be some kind of permission a movie has to get to have a %100 accurate uniform.
it not that hard, just hire a person who understand the military
exactly. It's not hard to find somebody, ANYBODY, for cheap to help u out in the script or wardrobe department that has a rudimentary knowledge of Armed Forces. The "something HAS to be off" on uniforms is a complete myth. Taking Chance, a Kevin Bacon movie, is an example of how Hollywood can do it right. Same with the Band of Brothers series, because they hired top notch people. I was so disappointed in seeing Stephan Lang, a top notch actor, in Jar-Head 2, a movie nobody in its production had any respect for in portraying the military. I honestly thought I was watching an Asylum picture.
Reminds me of "Colonel Danning" from Stargate SG-1, who's parody-character was always saying, "It DOES say Colonel on my uniform", when in fact there wasn't insignia anywhere on his uniform.
maybe on his underwear?
dude my dad always wears his flight suit rn he is working at a desk and he still wears his flight suit
thanks for acknowledging my comment. and, yeah. I know that in almost Every aviation movie they use F5e freedom fighter as the MIG sim.
Inaccuracies? Top Gun was a BBC documentary. What are you on about?
one of the f-14 pilots in the movie was wearing a unofficial patch for my dads squadron even though its a E-2 patch (vaw-124)
Why is the third cable the "best" to catch?
I have read about the first being non-ideal because pilots might end up ultimately smashing into the stern, which then makes me wonder why the first cable is where it is then?
I was always wondering that thanks for clearing that up
As a 6-year still active duty Navy Vet, I love your commentary. Just subscribed and look forward to seeing more.
I was not an aviator, but I played beach volleyball a lot when attending, and instructing at (later) Basic Electronics School in San Diego - usually with my shirt off. Last I checked, officers could do the same.
In the Army there at least in the late '50's they played volleyball. My father was disabled while plying volleyball. He got a check every month for the rest of his life.
My dad was an USMC OV10 pilot based off the Lexington (named me Maverick after this movie), and he's voiced the exact same issues with this as you have, but still one of his favorite movies. And in a shocking turn of events, he has admitted that he thinks that the Coast Guard helicopter pilots are the best in the world.
Don't know if it was already mentioned, but fun fact, The film was shot on the USS Carl Vinson. My mother served for four years in Operation Enduring Freedom on the front lines and in Operation Iraqi Freedom as reserve. By that I mean her ship of course. She had some stories to tell about beeing below deck when the catapolts launched. Anyway, if you look close in the movie, you can see the number 70 on the radio tower. CVN-70. The movie also gives the crew credit in the rolling credits.
I joined the Navy because of that movie. I saw it when I was still in High School and went down to the recruiter the next day (or thereabouts). I signed up for DEP and started boot camp almost a year later.
Those Skyhawks (A-4) are badass. It was the platform of choice for the Blue Angels for a reason before they switched to '18s (Hornets).
solanisrs as a kid I was a hornet guy, but respect the Tomcats a lot. It's a classic.
+The Salty Seaman Oh, I love the 18 too. I remember building a model of it when I was a kid and dreaming of being a jet pilot. That obviously wasn't in the cards, despite about a million other things I don't have 20/20 vision. Anyway, yes, I love the Hornet and I was fortunate enough to be in the fleet when both were operational. I was on an aircraft carrier and I could walk through the hanger bay (usually on my way to mess) and see both of them. The old venerable Tomcats looking like the old, scarred alley cats they were, among the sleek and elegant Hornets. :D
solanisrs awesome. I too got my pilot dreams crushed at 13 with my first pair of glasses.
I was happy to become a journalist and find my niche in the navy tho.
My dad was a naval aviator. VF 154 F8U Crusaders on the Hancock. Lol. This movie got so many guys to join. Lol.
Once I landed onboard I was like where’s the tomcats ? Joined 2007 so no luck for me lol
Top Gun is a great film - the cinematography is incredible - the biggest draw back is all the homoerotic stuff - shirts off volleyball and shower scenes. The flight deck scenes, the flying scenes and the dogfight scenes are brilliant, and say what you like about Tom Cruise and his crazy lifestyle, he has made some fantastic movies.
What did you do in the Navy? What was your rate? How long was your enlistment?
Yeoman/Journalist/Mass Comm specialists. Retired e6 after 20.
please do platoon it's one of my favorites
Took me months to finally get the hand of carrier landings in IL-2, I have no doubt that the real thing is even harder!
How would you contrast this to Flight of the Intruder?
I've got no military connection but (or maybe therefore) I love what you're doing with these videos! :D Great job!
Really appreciated your review! Well- done!
Nice job bro!
“Hanging out in the O Club in whites” is a relic of the past. From what I understand, it was called “Animal Night” when they let off-base townie girls into the O Club to hang out with the officers, and the officers had to wear their uniforms. They don’t really do it anymore (because 9/11 made townies getting on base much harder) but it is somewhat period accurate to when the movie takes place.
When they show the outside of the O Club, you’ll see a sign that says “Animal Night” :)
I watched a doc where the Pilot's callsign was CYNDI , can anyone guess what the acronym stands for ?
My 8the grade geography teacher was in the navy on the ship at the time the movie was filmed and can be seen in the group at the end he let us watch this movie In class just to point him self out at the end
The coffee scene is subliminal product placement
Throughout the movie they talk about the "hard deck" being at 10,000 feet on certain hops. Then they proceed to fly in between mountains while dogfighting...yet Maverick gets yelled at for breaking the hard deck. The entire dogfight was below the hard deck!
The canopy to canopy comments made my chuckle. They actually DID get the planes that close together as shown in the movie but never could get the camera plane to line up exactly to show it, so they gave up trying to get the shot and went with a split screen. I talked to the F-14 pilot who flew that portion to try to get it. His last name was Broska, if memory serves.But yeah, total insanity for real life. No jet jockey would let another fighter get that close.
NCIS was formed from NIS in 1992, so depending on the filming of the movie, it very well may have changed names during, or shorty after the filming.
Tom Cruise liked to wander around NAS Miramar in the uniform that the wardrobe department gave him & yell at enlisted personnel for not saluting "an officer".
The rest of the cast stayed out of sight between scenes if they were in uniform.
how realistic are the long lenses and sunset shots?
fun factoid. this movie was the only time ever that i think it was 6 aircraft were captured doing a vertical rolling scissor
About callsigns :
In the RCAF, there's a Québécois pilot who's last name is Jobin. His callsign is "Blow"....
Another's last name is Coffin and his callsign is "Nail'N".
Why is the 3rd one the best one to catch? Am I to assume it's the "correct" one with the others being a back up for if the pilot touches down too soon or too late?
I'm sure someone else can explain this better. But, catching the 3rd wire means you are the right speed and altitude for the safest landing. Navy pilots are graded on how well they land. Each landing is recorded and used for training. Anything else could be dangerous. Too low and slow, you can hit the deck too hard, screw up your landing gear and foul the deck. Too high and fast, and you can rip the tail hook off the plane, or miss all the wires which means having to go around again. And wait in line b/c there may be 10 more planes behind you waiting to land. This all takes time. And a CVN going in one direction for too long is not a desirable thing. I heard that naval aviators have to land as if they are coming down on a carrier. Even if they are coming into a land base. Practice, practice, practice