“TOP GUN”

During the Korean Conflict US warplanes dogfought MiG-15s, with the superior American jets and well-trained US pilots scoring kill ratios as high as 12:1.  But by the Vietnam War two decades later, Communist aircraft technology had improved.  The North Vietnamese employed more advanced MiG-17s and MiG-21s.  Over the same period, American air-to-air defenses grew dependent on the missile.  US planners envisioned the future of air combat to be one of long-range missile strikes against an unsuspecting target.  Pilots were not trained in close maneuver gunfighting, in fact some US fighter aircraft did not even mount machine guns.  The effectiveness of American pilots began to decline.

The issue of kill ratio came to a head for the Navy in 1968.  The heavy bombing offensive in Vietnam in 1967-68 brought frequent MiG encounters, and Air Force pilots enjoyed better success than their Navy counterparts.  During the first half of 1967 Air Force pilots accounted for 46 MiG downings.  This was particularly notable in view of the fact that Air Force F-4s and F-105 “Thunderchiefs” were only free to pursue MiGs after they had “pushed through” their bombing runs.  Air Force pilots were so successful at sweeping enemy fighters that LGEN William Momyer, in command of the 7th Air Force, was prompted to declare to a Senate committee that, “we have driven the MiGs out of the sky for all practical purposes.”  During the same period, Navy F-8 “Crusaders” (and an A-4) accounted for only 12 MiGs.  By the end of 1968 the Navy’s kill ratio had dropped to 2:1.

The reason for the disparity was multi-factorial, but the Naval command was sufficiently alarmed to demand action.  In 1968, CAPT Frank W. Ault, a former “air boss” aboard CORAL SEA (CVA-43), was directed to investigate the matter.  Honest without regard for his career, his study became famously known as the “Ault Report.”  It criticized reliance on stand-off missiles, stressing the need to train pilots in “old fashioned” visual-maneuver dogfighting.

Officially titled U.S. Navy Postgraduate Course in Fighter Weapons Tactics and Doctrine, “Top Gun” enrolled its first class on this day in 1969.  Initially formulated as part of the Pacific Fleet’s F-4 training squadron, VF-121, successful Vietnam air veterans were recruited to instruct.  They flew highly maneuverable A-4s and F-5s in simulated aggressor roles.  By 1972 “Top Gun” graduates had reached the Fleet in significant numbers.  And with President Nixon’s escalation of the air war that year, the Navy’s kill ratio climbed to 12:1.  Originally formulated at NAS Miramar in San Diego, “Top Gun” was relocated to NAS Fallon, Nevada, in 1997 as part of the Naval Aviation Warfighting Development Center.

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CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Cunningham, Randy and Jeff Ethell.  Fox Two:  The Story of America’s First Ace in Vietnam.  Mesa, AZ:  Champlin Fighter Museum, 1984, pp. 133-36.

Mersky, Peter B. and Norman Polmar.  The Naval Air War in Vietnam.  Annapolis, MD: Nautical & Aviation Pub., 1981, pp. 105-06.

Site visit.  NAS Miramar, San Diego, CA, 12 January 1997.

Wilcox, Robert K.  Scream of Eagles: The Creation of Top Gun–and the U.S. Air Victory in Vietnam.  New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1990.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  The nickname “Top Gun” dates to 1959 when it was used in signage for the last annual USN/USMC Air Weapons competition at MCAAS Yuma.  What had been a yearly event was dropped in 1960 as a cost-cutting move.  “Top Gun” was fashioned after the Air Force DACT program.  “DACT” was an acronym for Dissimilar Air Combat Training, a reference to the use of aggressor aircraft that were dissimilar to the training aircraft.

The first “aces” of the Vietnam War were graduates of “Top Gun.”  LT Randall Cunningham and his RIO LTJG William Driscoll reached Vietnam after having flown over 200 simulated dogfights during their “Top Gun” training.  They scored their fifth kill in May 1972.

Throughout the Vietnam conflict Navy and Marine Corps aircraft flew 10% more missions than did the Air Force–55,000 in total. 

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