One of My “Top Gun” Moments

gregorymaness
1 day ago
2 min read

“WATCH THE MOUNTAINS!” — Anthony Edwards as LTJG Nick "Goose" Bradshaw in Top Gun

I first watched Top Gun back in 1986 and to this day it is one of my favorite movies of the 1980s and of all time. Two of my biggest disappointments in life have been my inability to serve in the military and my inability to fly or to serve in an aviation-related position in the military due to my being asthmatic.

The closest that I have been able to get to flying a fighter or an interceptor has been to play board wargames and video games that put me into the pilot seat. One board wargame that I played a handful of times when I was younger was Top Gun: The Game of Modern Fighter Combat by FASA Corporation. The game starts at a very basic level with some introductory rules and moves up to a more advanced game with more advanced rules and with an included campaign where the missions build upon each other.

One memorable game in which I played saw my opponent dive one of his fighters away from my pursuing fighter right into a mountain. He clearly forgot that the battlespace included terrain features that extend upwards into possible routes of pursuit and escape. My understanding is that forcing an aerial opponent to crash into a terrain feature counts as an aerial victory in the real world. “Splash one!” I may need to review the rules for Top Gun: The Game of Modern Fighter Combat and talk someone into a game in the not-too-distant future.

Below is a link to a video taking footage from Top Gun and interspersing it with computer graphics to recreate the first dogfight at the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN) between Maverick (Tom Cruise as LT Pete Mitchell)/Goose and TOPGUN instructor Jester (Michael Ironside as LCDR Rick Heatherly). I have also included links to a couple of videos relating to the iconic F-14 Tomcat and a couple screenshots of the box forTop Gun: The Game of Modern Fighter Combat.