Summary

• Top Gun movies prioritize realism and authenticity, using real planes and aircraft to create impressive aerial sequences.
• The original Top Gun movie used real F-14 Tomcats and Northrop F-5 aircraft, while Top Gun: Maverick included a fictional hypersonic jet called Darkstar.
• Tom Cruise owned and piloted his own P-51 Mustang, named "Kiss Me Kate," in Top Gun: Maverick, showcasing the dedication to using real planes in the films.

With incredible practical aerial sequels, the Top Gun planes are a vital aspect to the original movie and its sequel achieving an authentic feel. The original 1986 movie saw Lieutenant Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Tom Cruise) attend the U.S. Navy's elite Fighter Weapons School, known to the skilled naval aviators who train there as "Top Gun." Over three decades later, Top Gun: Maverick saw Maverick promoted to Captain and reassigned to the school as punishment for his rebellious ways. As both movies emphasize realism, the Top Gun planes are equally crucial to the franchise as the pilots who fly them.

Neither Top Gun movies disappoint when it comes to their choices of fighter jets that can impress mainstream audiences as well as aircraft aficionados. Top Gun: Maverick treats the jet fighters as characters in and of themselves. The F-14 Tomcat even receives a comeback similar to Maverick's own triumphant return. Tom Cruise even gets the opportunity in Top Gun: Maverick to show off his own P51-Mustang. It's not just classic aircraft that receives the spotlight either, Top Gun: Maverick highlights the speed and fluidity of modern fighters and even an impressive if fictional, prototype hypersonic jet.

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Grumman F-14 Tomcat

The Original Top Gun Planes Returned For The Sequel

The original Top Gun hired real F-14 Tomcats from the U.S. Navy for production. To achieve the impressive aerial shots that Tony Scott wanted for the flying sequences, the manufacturing company, Grumman, was commissioned to construct pods on the Top Gun planes that could accommodate film cameras while being flown. The use of actual F-14s came at a high cost to Paramount Pictures, who had to pay for fuel and the aircraft's operating costs. It costs approximately $8000 an hour (modern equivalent to over $21,000) to use the F-14s in Top Gun.

While filming Top Gun, Scott requested to film F-14s taking off from and landing on the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, backlit by the setting sun. Scott requested that the captain of Enterprise adjust his course to accommodate the shot but was told that it would cost him $25,000 (just under $70,000 in 2022) to do so. Scott immediately wrote the captain a check and the aircraft carrier turned for the shot he wanted. The only problem arose when the captain tried to cash the check later, and it bounced (via The Hollywood Reporter).

Despite the U.S. Navy decommissioning them in 2006, the ending of Top Gun: Maverick made use of an F-14 as Maverick and Lieutenant Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw (Miles Teller) escape the enemy in one of their own aircraft. F-14s are still in use by Iran's Navy, but the production team could not acquire any active aircraft for filming.

So instead, Top Gun: Maverick used an engineless F-14A from the San Diego Air & Space Museum for the enemy hangar scene. All the aerial sequences featuring the F-14 were created using visual effects. The depiction of the F-14 in Top Gun: Maverick fits perfectly with the film's theme of nostalgia.

Northrop F-5F/F-5E Tiger II

Used To Portray Top Gun's Enemy Planes

Top Gun utilized real-life Northrop F-5 aircraft to depict the fictional enemy MiG-28s. One small detail that reveals that the MiG-28s are fictional is that all aircraft designated as MiGs are given odd numbers in the real world. This is because the real TOPGUN uses the F-5s to simulate aggressor aircraft, a tradition that Top Gun kept by painting the F-5s black to portray the fictional enemy jet fighters.

Douglas A-4 Skyhawk

Used As Training Planes To Simulate Enemy Aircrafts

The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk was used in Top Gun to simulate enemy MiG aircraft in the training sequences. The A-4s are flown by TOPGUN instructors Lieutenant Commander Rick "Jester" Heatherly (Michael Ironside) and Commander Mike "Viper" Metcalf (Tom Skerritt) in the movie. One depiction of the A-4 in Top Gun comes when Maverick flies under the 10,000ft hard deck to defeat Viper.

The most important scene that these Top Gun planes are involved in is the death of Nick "Goose" Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards). Maverick is chasing an A-4 when he flies into Lieutenant Tom "Iceman" Kazansky's (Val Kilmer) jet wash and crashes.

Ling-Temco-Vought A-7 Corsair II

Seen As A Fleet Aboard An Aircraft

The Ling-Temco-Vought A-7 Corsair II was brought in by the U.S. Navy in the 1960s to replace the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk. Ironically, the use of the A-4 by the U.S. Navy outlasted the A-7 for over a decade. The A-7 was retired by the U.S. Navy only five years after Top Gun, in 1991. The A-4 was retired later in 2003. In Top Gun, a fleet of A-7s can be seen lined up on an aircraft carrier at the end of the movie.

Grumman KA-6D/A-6 Intruder

Seen On An Aircraft In Top Gun's Opening Sequence

Two variants of the Grumman A-6 Intruder are seen in the original 1986 Top Gun movie. The A-6 was developed as an all-weather attack aircraft for the U.S. Navy with nuclear capabilities. The U.S. Navy used it between 1963-97. The A-6 Intruder and its aerial refueling variant, the KA-6D, can be spotted in the aircraft carrier credits sequence in Top Gun​​​​​.

Darkstar

A Fictional Hypersonic Jet In Top Gun: Maverick's Opening Scene

Although the prototype hypersonic jet, Darkstar, that Maverick pilots to Mach-10 on a doomed test flight at the beginning of Top Gun: Maverick is fictional, it is based on a real aircraft concept. The Chinese government thought the Mach 10-capable Darkstar was so realistic that they mistook it for a real military project.

In a sense, they are correct, as these Top Gun planes are based on the conceptual Lockheed Martin SR-72. Compared to the mind-bending speeds that the Darkstar attains in Top Gun: Maverick, the SR-72 is proposed to be the first aircraft capable of flying at Mach 6 (six times the speed of sound).

Boeing F/A 18E/F Super Hornet

Used In Top Gun: Maverick's Final Mission

Besides Tom Cruise, the Boeing Super Hornets are the stars of Top Gun: Maverick. The Super Hornets are used by Maverick and his students for their mission to destroy the enemy's underground uranium enrichment plant. Despite being newer hardware than the F-14s in Top Gun, the Super Hornets are slower, with a top speed of only 1915km/h.

These Top Gun planes are not only seen in the final mission but also in the incredible training dogfights. Despite being a certified pilot, Cruise wasn't allowed to fly an F-18 aircraft by the U.S. Navy. This makes sense, given the Super Hornet's price tag of $70 million.

Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II

Seen Flying From An Aircraft Carrier

The F-35s are mentioned throughout Top Gun: Maverick as Maverick's desired planes for the mission. However, he is denied the use of them by his higher-ups. In real life, though, the F-35s planes were not used in Top Gun because they only seat a single pilot. Top Gun: Maverick's aerial sequences were filmed mainly practically and thus required two people to occupy the plane: the actor playing the pilot and the actual, trained pilot. However, the F-35s can be seen aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln before Maverick and the team depart for their mission.

Sukhoi Su-57 Felon

Used As Top Gun: Maverick's Enemy Planes

The Sukhoi Su-57 Felon plays the villainous part of the unidentified enemy's highly advanced "fifth generation fighters" in Top Gun: Maverick. Although the enemy's identity is never revealed in Top Gun: Maverick, the Su-57 is a Russian aircraft. Much is made of the Su-57's impressive capabilities, especially compared to the Super Hornets.

Maverick even warns his students not to dogfight with these planes, as the Su-57s are more than capable of outflying the Super Hornets with a top speed of 2,130km/h. The actual danger of the Su-57s is displayed in Top Gun: Maverick's climax, when it avoided Maverick's missile lock and outflanked the F-14.

P-51 Mustang

Maverick's Own Classic Plane

The P-51 Mustang that Maverick flies in Top Gun: Maverick is not only actually piloted by Tom Cruise, but he also owns it. The Mustang, called "Kiss Me Kate," was named after Cruise's then-wife Katie Holmes when he bought it in 2004. The Mustang was manufactured in 1946 before being restored by a previous owner in 1997. Not only did Cruise pilot the Mustang in the movie, but he also made a habit of flying to the set in it. The use of real planes in both movies shows their dedication to realism and the aircraft depicted in them.

Other Facts About The Top Gun Planes

Top Gun: Maverick Paid Steep Prices For The Use Of Real Planes

The biggest lure of both the original Top Gun and the sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, was the death-defying flying sequences. The production of both movies made sure to use both real planes and those based on real planes to authenticate the experience. It also helped that Tom Cruise insists on doing as much as he can without doubles, and that included Cruise flying the P-51 Mustang in the movies, which is especially nice for the actor since he wasn't allowed to fly certain planes in the first movie for security reasons.

It also wasn't cheap to use real aircraft for the Top Gun planes. The U.S. Navy charged the Top Gun: Maverick production $11,000 an hour to use its F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets (via Bloomberg). That likely is part of the reason the budget hit $171 million. Luckily, the Navy worked hand-in-hand with the production to help get more realistic shots, as many of the take-offs and landings were from actual Naval training missions that the production team was invited to shoot on-site.

In the end, it was a massive success, with the Top Gun sequel making $1.4 billion (via The Numbers) and several Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.

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  Top Gun: Maverick

  Summary:

  Top Gun: Maverick is the long anticipated sequel to the original Top Gun, setting Tom Cruise back into the pilot suit of Pete "Maverick" Mitchell. Having served for thirty years as one of the top aviators in the Navy, Maverick continues his calling as a test pilot and dodges the attempted efforts of the higher-ups to promote him to a less active role. Soon he finds himself training a group of TOP GUN graduates for a unique mission - one of those recruits is a young man named Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw (Miles Teller), who happens to be the son of his late friend Nick Bradshaw, aka Goose. Now Maverick and his new trainees will face off with ghosts from his own past as they embark on the most dangerous mission they've ever flown. 

  Release Date:

  2022-05-27

  Cast:

  Jennifer Connelly, Jake Picking, Raymond Lee, Tom Cruise, Lewis Pullman, Monica Barbaro, Miles Teller, Danny Ramirez, Val Kilmer, Manny Jacinto, Ed Harris, Glen Powell, Jon Hamm

  Cinematographer:

  Claudio Miranda

  Director:

  Joseph Kosinski

  Distributor :

  Paramount Pictures

  Genres:

  Action

  Producer:

  Jerry Bruckheimer, David Ellison, Don Granger, Dana Goldberg, Tom Cruise

  Production Company:

  Skydance Media, Tencent Pictures, TC Productions, Jerry Bruckheimer Films

  Writers:

  Ashley Miller, Justin Marks, Peter Craig, Zack Stentz

  Main Genre:

  Action

  Rating:

  PG-13

  Runtime:

  130 minutes

  Website:

  https://www.topgunmovie.com/home/

  Franchise:

  Top Gun

  Main Characters :

  Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, Tom "Iceman" Kazansky, Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, Penelope "Penny" Benjamin, Beau "Cyclone" Simpson, Jake "Hangman" Seresin, Robert "Bob" Floyd, Chester "Hammer" Cain

  Sfx Supervisor:

  Scott R. Fisher

  Assistant Director :

  Scott Robertson

  prequel(s):

  Top Gun

  Franchise(s):

  Top Gun