Some TOP GUN ‘communicating’
TOP GUN fans will remember Lt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell communicating with the MiG pilot… “You know, giving him the bird?”
Well, while researching the Boston Beaneaters baseball club for yesterday’s chronicle commentary piece I came across a team picture of the 1886 Beaneaters, which included future Hall of Fame pitcher Old Hoss Radbourn. If you look closely, you’ll spot the first known photograph of a human giving another the middle finger. Seriously.
Old Hoss (tied with Oil Can as my favorite baseball nickname) was a machine, winning 310 games in just 11 seasons. To be fair to pitchers in the last 135 years, Radbourn only had to throw 50 feet; the distance between home plate and the mound wasn’t moved to it’s current 60 feet, 6 inches until 1893. Moving the mound also likely played a substantial role in Hugh Duffy batting .440 in 1894, as pitchers struggled to adjust to throwing 10-1/2 feet further.
“Because… we were inverted”
Since we mentioned TOP GUN, it’s worth pointing out that the real-life Naval aviators from the inverted “communicating” scene are Scott D. Altman (F-14) and Robert F. Willard (the “MiG-28,” which was actually an F-5). Altman, then assigned to Fighter Squadron 51 (VF-51), the “Screaming Eagles.” Altman was one of the Tomcat pilots chosen to fly for the movie and was also the pilot who got to buzz the tower.
Nine times.
Capt. “Scooter” Altman would become a NASA astronaut, flying on four missions: STS-90, STS-106, STS-109, and STS-125.
Willard was TOPGUN’s operations officer and executive officer, and was the aerial coordinator for filming. After several commands (including VF-51), “Rat” ultimately became Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet in 2007 and U.S. Pacific Command in 2009.
Willard was part of a sad chapter in American history when appearing before a congressional committee in 2010. He was asked by Democrat congressman Hank Johnson if deploying thousands of Marines to Guam — since it was an island — could tip it over. Certainly the stupidest thing I’ve personally heard or read in recorded history.
“My fear,” Johnson said, “is that the whole island will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize.”
Adm. Willard didn’t seem phased and responded “We don’t anticipate that.”
The film ‘Top Gun’ never quite struck a chord with me because I saw it — literally — at a theater in Las Vegas on a day off from flying at the USAF’s Red Flag exercise at Nellis AFB. And Red Flag then was using F-5s — with Russian markings no less — as their aggressor a/c. So I had just the day before seen F-5s with Soviet stars on them, but with USAF pilots at the controls.
Then there’s the MiG-28 thing. There never was a MiG-28 because MiGs are all odd-numbered; 15, 17, 21, 23, … etc. No even numbered MiGs. So when Mav and Goose were “communicating” with a “MiG” that never existed, I couldn’t help but wonder what the hell a Red Flag aircraft was doing over the Med.
I didn’t realize until the movie was half over that they were pretending they had “actual” Russians in it. Which sort of took the edge off.
Then there’s the fact that it’s the exact same storyline as ‘An Officer and a Gentleman,’ except AOAAG takes place before USN flight school and TG is after.