Top Gun Jackets | My Bomber Jacket | Top Gun

The Top Gun, no it’s not about the old west, but it is about the best fighter pilot placed into pretty much the same situation as a legendary gunfighter. The Top Gun Navy Fighter Weapons School has been around for while, since the Vietnam War Era in fact. It was not all that well known with the Public until Hollywood’s Paramount Pictures made the School famous with a smash hit Movie titled: Top Gun.

The school is located in near San Diego, California, at Naval Air Station Miramar, or what Aviators have called for years, Fightertown-USA.

So why does this School even exist? In the Old West Era, there was no special place to learn how to be a successful gunfighter, a Sheriff, or U.S. Marshal. You learned on the job. You were either successful or you were in serious trouble, namely dead. When men first took to the skies, they have been shooting and gunning for each other since World War One. Back then,wearing leather bomber jackets they learned the art of aerial combat, plane against plane, just like the old gunfighters from the Old West, working on the job. Oh, if one was lucky, they could pick up some extra skills and advice from someone else, but it really was luck if they came back from their first dog-fighting experience to learn more. There were no highly trained ‘instructors’ or ‘schools’ that taught aircraft combat. Naval Aviators and Air Corps Pilots were pretty much on their own.

Some pilots did get a lot of Confirmed Kills during the First World War, but they were very few and often the combat was against slow reconnaissance aircraft that flew with little protection. During those days, as a fighter pilot or aviator, you were either very good, or not so good with lots to still learn. Your own talents and skill in a Fighter Aircraft was your own doing and learning beyond was also you own doing, your own responsibility. Those who learned quickly and possessed some talent and skill, survived while the others did not fare so well.

Aircraft in the 1920’s and 1930’s were faster and far better built with new materials. Aviation was becoming a monster in both the Military and public circles. When World War Two started, the Fighter Aircraft took on a new and more expanded role. Bigger and faster, the Fighter Aircraft and even larger Bomber Aircraft dominated the skies and changed warfare forever. Naval Aviators wore their G1 Flight Jackets, and Air Force Pilots wore their A2 Leather Bomber Jackets. However, altitudes unheard of in the First World War were being reached in this new age of aerial combat. Something warmer was needed. The B3 Bomber Jacket made of Shearling answered the call of bother the Pilot and the Bomber Crew.

Instruction in fighter aircraft usage was enhanced a bit, with learning taking place with the squadron after the student had passed some form of flight school. Aerial Combat tactics were discussed and new ones created. But real schooling still took place in the air, against the enemy, again on the job training. A young pilot or naval aviator was in a tough spot.

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor to put the United Stated into the Second World War, the Americans soon learned that the Japanese A6 M2 Zero Fighter Aircraft was faster and much more maneuverable than anything the U.S. had at the start of hostilities to put in the air against it. The Zero was clearly faster and U.S. Pilots and Aviators learned the hard way that to try to out-turn or out-bank a Zero was a losing proposition.

Both Navy and Marine Aviators on the scene, learned hard and learned fast, changing their attitude and approaches to aerial combat. Tactics were honed to deal with the Zero and soon, newer and faster aircraft came into the combat arena. Successful Pilots and Aviators were sent home to teach new personal how to be successful against the Japanese in the air. It made a huge difference in the Pacific War and its outcome.

New and faster designed aircraft, built solely for combat soon flew over Europe. Again, the U.S. sent successful Pilots home to school the replacement pilots. The enemy did not have that luxury.

During the Korea Conflict, Aerial Combat took center stage as the world entered the new age of the Jet Plane in Combat. Both sides went at each other in jet aircraft with the American’s equipped with the new nylon bomber jacket. The Communists flew the Mig-15, a very fast, versatile and robustly built aircraft. The Mig was a tough opponent. The Americans flew a variety of aircraft, but soon settled into the F86 Sabre and the Navalversion, the FJ-3D Fury. The air conflict was a perfect example of better disciplined and more aggressive pilots and aviators winning out over a slightly better Mig-15 Aircraft. It was Kill Ratio that confirmed the results of training: a 7.5 to 1 win ratio. So everyone was satisfied, to an extent.

Yet, the F-86 was no slouch of an aircraft. Sleek and fast, she was beauty to look at and World War Two Ace Chuck Yeager remarked that he thought the F-86 one of America’s finest aircraft. Yeager was of the school that believed the man in the cockpit mattered significantly. During the Korean Conflict, this pretty much held true.

It was the early part of the Vietnam War that the kill ratios enjoyed by American Fighter Aircraft and their pilots, changed. The Vietnam War was witness to a new kind of combat, or so the highly ranked Desk Warriors inside the Pentagon thought.

American Pilots and Aviators went into the sky with a newly designed aircraft, the F4 Phantom. It was new and came with no guns for aerial combat. The new aerial combat was seen by the high up thinkers to be only between radar and air-to-air missiles, such as the newly minted Sparrow and Sidewinders. Their enemy was in the cockpits of the Russian Mig-17s and Mig-21s. The aircraft had their differences. The Phantom F4 left streams of smoke and was huge compared to other fighter aircraft, as a result, it could easily be seen in the air. The Mig17s and Mig-21s were far smaller and very hard to spot, ---and they carried guns for aerial dog-fighting.

In the first part of 1967, that Kill Ratio from the Korean Conflict was long gone. Eighteen Phantoms lost to only 5 of the North Vietnamese Migs. The Americans quickly went back to the drawing boards and classrooms. The U.S. Navy also wentthrough some aerial combat attitude adjustment.

March of 1969 saw the creation of the Top Gun School at NAS Miramar. It must be noted that there was a huge political lag in the war at this time. Ground pounding seemed the big show, while politics brought a slow down to the aerial warfare. Both the Air force and U.S. navy took advantage of the lag. Naval aviators went to school. They went to work, rethinking tactics, beefed up equipment, and ---some real down home dog-fighting. The missiles werere-examined and precise adjustments made them much more useful.

When the aerial war resumed with a vengeance over Vietnam, the Americans were more than ready with new tactics for the F4 Phantom and the Navy’s F-8 Crusader. A new successful Kill Ratio jumped out of the basket: 12-1 in the favor of Naval Aviators.

The new Top Gun Fighter Weapons School had a success that could not be topped. Since then, the Top Gun program has produced the finest aerial combat Aviators in the world.

The Top Gun Jacket was made popular from the Hollywood Film, but most early models of the jacket were made for quick public consumption and were foreign made. Now a Made in USA Styled Top Gun Navy Flight Jacket with all the correct patches is available for purchase.