‘Top Gun’ and ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ are based on a super-elite US Navy training program, and fighter pilots say the films are pretty spot on

• “Top Gun” is an iconic 1980s film about Navy fighter pilots, and its sequel – “Top Gun: Maverick” – is set to come out 34 years after the original in June 2020.
• Top Gun is the nickname for the elite Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor school that opened in 1969. The film is a fictionalized depiction of the life of fighter pilots at the Top Gun training program, and it brought fame and recognition to the elite training.
• Like the program depicted in the film, Top Gun is highly competitive. It’s only for the best of the best naval aviators in the country.
• Retired Top Gun instructors say that both “Top Gun” and the trailer for “Top Gun: Maverick” are incredibly realistic.
• This is because film producers worked with the US military to utilize real military grounds and equipment. The 1986 movie proved itself to be a recruiting dream for a generation of naval aviators.
• Star Tom Cruise also shadowed Top Gun’s elite fighter pilots to prepare for his role in the 1986 film, and actor Kelly McGillis shadowed Christine Fox, the civilian employee that her character was based on.
• Take a look at the similarities and differences between the movie “Top Gun” and the real-life training.
• Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.

“Top Gun” was the no. 1 movie at domestic and international box offices when it came out in 1986.

Source: Box Office Mojo, The Numbers

The iconic 80s movie about pilots in the US Navy’s elite Fighter Weapons School known as Top Gun follows Maverick’s journey through the rigorous program, which is complete with love, loss, and loads of discipline.

Source: Amazon

Three decades later, the sequel titled “Top Gun: Maverick” comes out in June 2020.

Source: Business Insider

At the end of “Top Gun,” Maverick could have had any job he wanted, and he chose to be an instructor at Top Gun.

Source: Amazon

While the film is fiction, the prestigious fighter pilot program 
the film is based on is not.

Source: US Navy

The Top Gun program in the film is based on an actual program that's currently at the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center at Naval Air Station Fallon in Nevada.

Source: US Navy

The program is called the Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program, but it has gone by the nickname "Top Gun" since long before the film.

Source: US Navy

Like the program in the film, Top Gun is only for the elite. Only the top 1% of naval aviators get the chance to work through this 12-week program.

Source: US Navy

The program is unique because it's not only about learning the information, strategies, and techniques, it's also about being able to share the knowledge with other pilots.

Source: US Navy

"One of the points here at Top Gun isn't just to make the guys good in the jet," a Top Gun instructor told the US Navy. "It's to make them effective teachers. It's not an evaluation course; it's a course of teaching."

Source: US Navy

The program was created to change the way pilots flew and fought after a 1968 study determined that US pilots needed better training during the Vietnam War.

Source: US Navy

"The Top Gun course, while challenging, is rewarding," another Top Gun instructor told the US Navy. "You learn how to become a better instructor and you learn how to fly the aircraft in ways you've never done before."

Source: US Navy

Dan Pedersen is known as the "godfather" of Top Gun. He was one of nine pilots who started the program in 1969.

Source: TIME

While he made it clear that the program feels much more serious than it does in the movie, Pedersen told TIME just how true-to-life the film really is.

Source: TIME

"The flying was superb, probably some of the best camera photography of tactical airplanes that's ever been done," Pedersen told TIME.

Source: TIME

But "Top Gun's" realistic depiction of Top Gun didn't come without help from the US military.

Source: TIME

According to TIME, producers paid the US military a total of $1.8 million for the use of the real US Naval Air station …

Source: TIME

... real aircraft carriers ...

Source: TIME

… real planes, and the flying services of real pilots — which cost producers a total of $7,600 an hour.

Source: TIME

And it didn't stop there — Tom Cruise shadowed pilots at Top Gun in preparation for his role.

Source: TIME

And Kelly McGillis — who played Maverick's civilian instructor and love interest — shadowed Christine Fox, the woman who inspired the role.

Source: TIME

When the first film was being made, Fox was a civilian employee at the Center for Naval Analyses, but in 2013 she became the highest-ranking woman ever to serve in the Department of Defense.

Source: TIME

While much of her position at the Center for Naval Analyses was classified, she describes it as knowing "a lot about the guy in the backseat" of the plane.

Source: People

Ultimately, "Top Gun" showed us what being an elite navy pilot looks like, and it inspired a new generation of people to enlist.

Source: Business Insider

Former Top Gun instructor Cmdr. Guy Snodgrass told Insider that he saw "Top Gun" when he was 10, and it inspired him to become a Navy pilot.

Source: Business Insider

And he wasn't the only one. David Berke is another retired Top Gun pilot that said he was inspired by the film.

Source: Business Insider, Business Insider

Berke says that what he learned at Top Gun is taught at all elite organizations — there is no such thing as perfection.

Source: Business Insider, Business Insider

Snodgrass told Insider that the trailer for "Top Gun: Maverick" reminds him of his time teaching at Top Gun.

Source: Business Insider

Snodgrass told Insider that during his time at Top Gun, he "performed all the maneuvers the new trailer shows and then some."

Source: Business Insider

Snodgrass told Insider that the first film was as realistic as it could be, and "It's reassuring to know that they're taking the exact same approach with this movie."

Source: Business Insider

But the original movie didn't get everything right. Pedersen told TIME that there was no beach volleyball. In reality, Pedersen said Top Gun pilots play racquetball to relieve stress.

Source: TIME

Digital Spy found some technical issues with the flight scenes in "Top Gun," too. According to the site, some of Maverick's daring moves would have ended in a plane crash in real life.

Source: Digital Spy

Ultimately, Snodgrass told Insider that the most realistic thing about the trailer for "Top Gun: Maverick" wasn't the aviation — it was the importance of teamwork.

Source: Business Insider