{"id":102276,"date":"2020-10-31T23:05:55","date_gmt":"2020-10-31T20:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/real-navy-pilots-reveal-what-was-fake-about-top-gun\/"},"modified":"2020-10-31T23:05:55","modified_gmt":"2020-10-31T20:05:55","slug":"real-navy-pilots-reveal-what-was-fake-about-top-gun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/real-navy-pilots-reveal-what-was-fake-about-top-gun\/","title":{"rendered":"#Real Navy pilots reveal what was ‘fake’ about ‘Top Gun’"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Real Navy pilots reveal what was ‘fake’ about ‘Top Gun’<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n In 1985, Capt. Marco Cromartie was heading into the Replacement Air Group \u2014 the final portion of training for Navy aviators \u2014 when he received glitzy marching orders.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was as green as you could get,\u201d Cromartie, now 60 and retired, told The Post. \u201cI had yet to step foot into an F-14.\u201d He was also, he admitted, \u201ctall, dark and handsome\u201d \u2014 and so he became one of the few actual naval officers to be cast as extras in the film \u201cTop Gun,\u201d playing pilots alongside Tom Cruise, Anthony Edwards and Val Kilmer.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t matter that Cromartie hadn\u2019t yet logged any hours in the F-14 Tomcat, the sleek fighter jet made famous by the blockbuster. \u201cThe actors looked at us like we were heavy hitters. They really invited us into their world,\u201d Cromartie said. \u201cIn the evenings, we would go out and go to bars in San Diego to hang out. They were studying us.\u201d<\/p>\n

He recalled how Cruise \u201cwalked on that set as [the character] Maverick in the morning and didn\u2019t come out of character until we ended at night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the movie was shot out of sequence, Cromartie didn\u2019t know the full plot. \u201cWe thought it was going to be really stupid and a waste of six weeks. But when we went to the premiere, I realized that we were a part of something special,\u201d said the pilot, who went on to attend the real Top Gun school.<\/p>\n

The movie also made the F-14 Tomcat fighter jet a symbol of American military prowess. In the new documentary \u201cTomcat Tales,<\/a>\u201d available on Amazon, Cromartie and his elite band of brothers dish about their high-flying antics, the planes\u2019 role in the War on Terror and, of course, its Hollywood close-up.<\/p>\n

Directed by retired F-14 pilot Commander Mark Vizcarra, who attended Top Gun, the film is a love letter to the Tomcat. He first fell for the F-14 through the 1980 movie \u201cFinal Countdown,\u201d starring Martin Sheen. \u201cWhen I saw the Tomcat, I said, \u2018I want to fly that plane,\u2019\u2009\u201d he told The Post. \u201cIt ruled the skies for years. It can get up to really high \u00adaltitudes where you can see the curvature of the earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Navy
Navy aviators, in a new documentary, say \u201cTop Gun\u201d got plenty wrong about the F-14 Tomcat plane (pictured).<\/span>Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The plane, made by Grumman, was introduced in 1968 as part of the United States\u2019 Cold War strategy and implemented by the Navy in the \u201970s. Able to travel<\/a> twice the speed of sound, it was known for blistering speed and sophisticated weaponry \u2014 specifically, the AIM-54 Phoenix, a radar-guided, long-range air-to-air missile.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe missiles were a million dollars apiece. It was like having a million-dollar finger,\u201d said Vizcarra, 60, of being able to test a Phoenix.<\/p>\n

The superior machine was ripe for a Tinseltown script<\/a>. But as Vizcarra notes, beyond F-14 pilots having the need for speed, not a lot in \u201cTop Gun\u201d was true to life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first movie was fake. When they are flying upside down, canopy to canopy, and the fly-bys \u2014 the moment anyone would do that in the Navy, you would get your wings pulled,\u201d he said of Maverick\u2019s reckless antics in the movie.<\/p>\n

But the big-screen version did help the real pilots with women. Mark\u2019s younger brother Michael, a captain who attended and was an instructor at Top Gun, arrived at Naval Air Station Miramar (now a Marine airbase) in San Diego before the movie premiered. At the time, the Miramar Oak Club, which was supposed to be the place where Maverick serenaded Kelly McGillis\u2019 character, was a sleepy joint that attracted divorc\u00e9es.<\/p>\n

\"Navy
Navy captain Marco Cromartie, with his daughter in front of a Tomcat, landed a role as an extra in \u201cTop Gun.\u201d<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cAfter the movie, that place was a rocking hub of college girls waiting in line. It got three times as many ladies as before. It was like Studio 54,\u201d said Michael, 59.<\/p>\n

He was deployed to fly the Tomcat in the War on Terror just nine days after 9\/11. In one mission in Afghanistan, he used its precision weaponry to bail out Special Forces being chased by a large Taliban convoy on the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey said \u2018we got a hot situation and we need someone now.\u2019 We rolled in, dropped bombs, blocking the road .\u2009.\u2009. We shot all our bullets, took out most of the convoy and the Special Forces lived to see another day,\u201d said Michael, who retired in 2004. \u201cIt was both adrenaline and gratification.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, there was one big failure during that mission. Pilots had to relieve themselves in packets filled with dry powder that turns to a gelatin-like substance. His flying partner\u2019s waste bag got loose in the cockpit. \u201cHis bag came out flying and landed right on his neck,\u201d said Michael with a laugh.<\/p>\n

The Tomcat was retired in 2006 during a ceremony in Virginia Beach, Va., and replaced by the Super Hornet. \u201cThey did a ceremonial last flight. It was such a badass plane, but it needed to retire. I choked up a bit,\u201d said Michael.<\/p>\n

But the Tomcat isn\u2019t completely gone. In the upcoming \u201dTop Gun\u201d sequel, it has a cameo, albeit a CGI one, according to Vizcarra, who attended a top-secret preview at a Navy event. \u201cThe flying scenes are better than the original,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n