FAQ

There is no actual war other than the Cold War where there were actual tensions and brief confrontations between Soviet and American forces around the world. The two sides regularly tested each other, to see how they would react and to assess the capabilities of their respective weapons and personnel.

Young and stupid American air force pilot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell and his best friend radar intercept officer Nick "Goose" Bradshaw are both scolded by their commanding officer Tom "Stinger" Jardian, commander of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise when Maverick disobeys a direct order to land his F-14A Tomcat following a encounter with two MiG-28s. Stinger who is tired of Maverick's stupidity and ignoring orders punishes Maverick and Goose by sending them to the TOPGUN air force school in Miramar. At TOPGUN, Maverick begins a rivalry with the handsome and slick Tom "Iceman" Kazansky as they both compete for the TOPGUN trophy, which Iceman takes an instant disliking to Maverick because of Maverick's stupidity which also irritates TOPGUN instructors: Vietnam Veteran Mike "Viper" Metcalfe and Rick "Jester" Heatherly and Maverick begins a romantic relationship with the beautiful TOPGUN civilian instructor Charlotte "Charlie" Blackwood. However, tragedy strikes when during a training exercise, Goose is killed when Maverick's F-14 flies through a jetwash causing Maverick to lose control and the F-14 to spin violently out of control. Depressed and blaming himself for Goose's death, Maverick quits TOPGUN. But, Maverick reconsiders when he consults Viper who reveals to Maverick the truth behind the death of Maverick's father Duke Mitchell.

Yes it does, if you listen very, very, very closely you can hear a few seconds of it play in the locker room after Maverick and Goose defeat Jester.

It's a Kawasaki Ninja 900 / GPz900R.

They weren't expecting any actual hostilities. They simply put up a flight to "show the flag" while the rescue op was underway and discourage any possible aggressors. It's clearly stated in the film that "both catapults are broken" and will take ten minutes to repair after Maverick launches. The CAG responds to this by stating that the battle will be over within two minutes, indicating that it will have to be fought with the forces on hand. The implication is therefore that an inconvenient equipment failure left the carrier temporarily short of cover at just the wrong moment. In reality US carriers have four catapults rather than two, and it would be highly unlikely for all four to break down simultaneously. It would also be highly unlikely that only two fighters would be aloft during a rescue mission, since carriers of the time typically carried 24 of the F-14 fighters and although these aircraft were notoriously unreliable, keeping six or so in the air around the clock for days on end would not be overly difficult. The depiction of such small forces in the film is therefore really a bit of artistic license to allow Maverick to be the hero.

The central performer is the F-14A Tomcat. This is the aircraft flown by the US pilots from the carriers and the Top Gun school through the majority of the film. The Tomcat was designed specifically to defend US carriers from attacks by enemy aircraft. The small aircraft flown by the instructors at the Top Gun school is the A-4E Skyhawk. This aircraft was designed primarily as a light attack aircraft to fly from US aircraft carriers. In real life the A-4E, and later the A-4F, was indeed used to represent Soviet aircraft in air combat training, as depicted in the film. The "MiG-28" is a fictional aircraft which never existed in reality. Indeed, as MiG designations are always odd numbers, there could never have been a MiG-28 even in theory. (The series ran through the MiG models 25, 27, 29 and 31.) In actual warfare, the MiG-29 "Fulcrum" would be the ideal choice for combat against the Tomcat, due to its rather respectable capabilities. The MiG-28s are played by US F-5 Tiger II fighters. For most of the scenes, an F-5E Tiger II was used. In certain scenes, a two-seat combat-capable trainer variant designated the F-5F is used. In reality, the comparable Soviet fighter to the F-5 was the MiG-21 "Fishbed."

LT Pete "Maverick" Mitchell

LTJG Nick "Goose" Bradshaw

LT Tom "Iceman" Kazanski

CDR Mike "Viper" Metcalf

LCDR Dick "Jester" Heatherly

LT Bill "Cougar" Cortell

LTJG Leonard "Wolfman" Wolfe

LTJG Ron "Slider" Kerner

LTJG Samuel "Merlin" Wells

LTJG Marcus "Sundown" Williams

LT Rick "Hollywood" Neven

CDR Tom "Stinger" Jardian

LT Charles "Chipper" Piper

Air Boss Emmett "Redneck" Johnson

(Note: LT for "Lieutenant", LTJG for "Lieutenant, Junior Grade", and CDR for "Commander".)