The F-14 Tomcat was a no-compromise carrier warplane operated by the US Navy. Bristling with the most capable weapons in the world it was utterly formidable, and rose to international fame as the star of the 1986 film Top Gun, which celebrated the Navy’s TopGun fighter school. Dave ‘Bio’ Baranek was a TopGun instructor and Radar Intercept Officer, here he describes flying and fighting in the awe-inspiring Tomcat.
Great write up from Bio. He covers all the points; thanks for posting this!
[…] Doug ‘Boog’ Denneny is a former TOPGUN Instructor and F-14 RIO/Super Hornet WSO. He commanded VF-2 and VFA-2 and has over 3500 hours in Navy fighters. After retirement from the US Navy he has continued to work in the defense industry and is currently the CEO of a US company, CoAspire, LLC. These are his personal views and not representative of any company or government. Special thanks to Dave ‘Bio’ Baranek. […]
[…] Doug ‘Boog’ Denneny is a former TOPGUN Instructor and F-14 RIO/Super Hornet WSO. He commanded VF-2 and VFA-2 and has over 3500 hours in Navy fighters. After retirement from the US Navy he has continued to work in the defense industry and is currently the CEO of a US company, CoAspire, LLC. These are his personal views and not representative of any company or government. Special thanks to Dave ‘Bio’ Baranek. […]
[…] Doug ‘Boog’ Denneny is a former TOPGUN Instructor and F-14 RIO/Super Hornet WSO. He commanded VF-2 and VFA-2 and has over 3500 hours in Navy fighters. After retirement from the US Navy he has continued to work in the defense industry and is currently the CEO of a US company, CoAspire, LLC. These are his personal views and not representative of any company or government. Special thanks to Dave ‘Bio’ Baranek. […]
[…] Doug ‘Boog’ Denneny is a former TOPGUN Instructor and F-14 RIO/Super Hornet WSO. He commanded VF-2 and VFA-2 and has over 3500 hours in Navy fighters. After retirement from the US Navy he has continued to work in the defense industry and is currently the CEO of a US company, CoAspire, LLC. These are his personal views and not representative of any company or government. Special thanks to Dave ‘Bio’ Baranek. […]
[…] Doug ‘Boog’ Denneny is a former TOPGUN Instructor and F-14 RIO/Super Hornet WSO. He commanded VF-2 and VFA-2 and has over 3500 hours in Navy fighters. After retirement from the US Navy he has continued to work in the defense industry and is currently the CEO of a US company, CoAspire, LLC. These are his personal views and not representative of any company or government. Special thanks to Dave ‘Bio’ Baranek. […]
[…] We ask a real TopGun instructor to rate the movie’s realism and talk F-14 Tomcats: Ao contrário do que se pensa, não demole o filme; aliás, trabalhou nas cenas aéreas e como consultor na montagem cinematográfica. Aquelas cenas fantásticas de voo tiveram intervenção de verdadeiros Top Gun. […]
[…] Doug ‘Boog’ Denneny is a former TOPGUN Instructor and F-14 RIO/Super Hornet WSO. He commanded VF-2 and VFA-2 and has over 3500 hours in Navy fighters. After retirement from the US Navy he has continued to work in the defense industry and is currently the CEO of a US company, CoAspire, LLC. These are his personal views and not representative of any company or government. Special thanks to Dave ‘Bio’ Baranek. […]
[…] quality of their equipment and training. The Iranian Air Force had more than 450 fighter aircraft (F-14, F-4 and F-5) at its disposal and almost all of its aircrew had received their training in the […]
I would love to read Tomcat RIO, but it’s an eye-watering $18 for the kindle, which is actually cheaper than the hardcopy, which I don’t understand at all, as there are no publication overhead costs. Maybe someone will give me a copy. . . .
[…] them, and went out and flew the best jet they could. They were Navy fighter pilots.” – Dave ‘Bio’ Baranek, TopGun instructor and Radar Intercept […]