TOP GUN ICON RETIRES

Flight Journal, Aug 2004 by Carlson, Ted

"We integrate into Navy units as if we were Navy crews. We communicate with MAWTS-1 [Marine Aviation Weapons Tactics School] and keep channels open to discuss updates and information among the Hornet communities and other aviation areas to facilitate standardization between the Marine Corps and Navy. It is great to watch new crews check in, attend lectures, complete both blue and red sorties and learn new tactics, complete the challenging syllabus and then see them graduate; it is extremely rewarding. My proudest moments are on graduation day when I know, without a doubt, that the students will return to the fleet and teach well."

Controllers come from the E-2 and E-3 communities, cruisers, destroyers, carriers, CVWs, battle group supervisors, the USMC and the Air Force. Air Intercept Control (AIC) instructor OSC Brian "Doc" Bassett is a Top Gun instructor who teaches student controllers. When asked about his job, he notes, "We teach a variety of subjects pertaining to AIC during ground schools, and we supervise practical skills in support of Top Gun classes. This is my fifth tour, and teaching AIC is the most rewarding assignment I have ever had."

NSAWC F-14s

A-model Tomcats and their crews started to attend Top Gun classes in 1973. Eventually, Top Gun was placed under NSAWC and moved to NAS Fallen, Nevada, in 1996. The F-14A has served the Navy since the early 1970s, and now the F-14s are too labor-intensive to maintain. NSAWC F-14s have worn a variety of schemes over the years. Various camouflage paint schemes were adopted to more accurately portray it as an adversary, but the jets were eventually sent to AMARC (Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center): this is the boneyard. High-time flight hours and replacements returned with the standard fleet gray markings. NSAWC maintained six F-14As before it left NAS Fallen in October 2003. Two were struck on sight; others went to the Ronald Reagan Museum in Point Mugu, California, the VFW Post in Egypt, Pennsylvania, the Southern Air Museum in Birmingham, Alabama, and the Combat Air Museum at Forbes AFB in Topeka, Kansas.

With the removal of the F-14 from its ranks, NSAWC now maintains and operates 14 F-16s (10 F-16As and four F-16Bs) to fly adversary missions in support of air wings, Top Gun classes and the fleet.