Worst aircraft movie howler for me? Top Gun. ...
Yeah, it was too bad they didn't (couldn't) use real Mig's. That would have been seriously cool. But, I was okay with the F-5's being used due to the real world limitations of the time. I know they used models (very good, large scale models) for quite a bit of the filming, but they also needed real inflight footage. So they could have made and used models of real Mig's, but they would have had a problem with the real inflight footage.
I know that at the time, US aggressor squadrons possessed and flew real Mig's, and the USSR also knew we had them. But it was probably something the military really didn't want to advertise too much at the time. And, what real Migs we did have were most likely in very small numbers (possibly even only single versions of some), making them extremely limited and valuable assets. They probably weren't willing to risk them just for a movie. Also, using them in a movie (where they could have been
"identified" by the Soviets) may have opened us up to questions we may not have wanted to answer (like from where they were aquired...and how
).
The F-5's used were actual aggressor squadron aircraft. They needed the Navy's aggressor A-4's for the actual Top Gun school scenes, so they used the F-5 aggressors as the Russians. Just be glad the movie was made when it was. If it had been made 10 years later, we might have had F-16's or F-18's as Mig's!
(Ironically, they even use F-14's as aggressors today.)
But it was too bad, I would have liked to see some real Mig's in there too. That would have been seriously cool!
And Yeah, that
"canopy to canopy" scene was Horrible! Charlie:
"At what range?". Maverick:
"About 2 meters". - Yeah, Okay! 2 meters is about 7 feet. The vertical stab on an F-14 is about 6 feet by itself. So basically the Mig's (F-5's) vertical stab would have actually been sitting between the F-14's vertical stabs. Not too mention that if they were at a significant speed their bow waves would have been buffeting the hell out of eachother*. If they were flying slow enough for that to not be a factor, then they probably wouldn't have been flying fast enough to fly inverted and still maintain lift. F-14's are not the most agile aircraft in the world, and although they generate lift, they fly mostly on the concept of
"if you put a big enough engine on it, it'll fly!". Although not exactly the same aircraft, F-15's have some similarity with F-14's (size, speed, similar agility). I remember a story about an Isreali F-15 that was able to fly home after having a wing torn off...simply by throttling up and using the engines much like a rocket plane. F-14's and F-15's aren't exactly flying bricks (like an F-4), but the concept is about the same: Big enough engines will make anything fly.
*Yeah, yeah - I know someone will say that aerobatic teams like the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds do stuff like that all the time. To that I'd point out that: 1) They practice those manuevers all the time. Regular fighter pilots, even Top Gun pilots, never do it (and are not
allowed to do it). 2) F-14's are
huge fighter aircraft, and generate a pretty significant bow wave (compared to a smaller aircraft). F-18's (Blue Angels) and F-16's (Thunderbirds) are much smaller and maneuverable aircraft. F-18's and F-16's compared to F-14's, is a bit like comparing a Lotus Elan to a Dodge Hemi 'Cuda.
Also, that whole
"I'll throw on the brakes and they'll fly right by me" crap! Gahhhh!
Spoilers, flaps, air brakes, (etc.) are only used during approaches (landings), and have significant airspeed limitations. In the scene where Maverick uses this tactic, he's flying full out (but not supersonic) with his wings swept. The wing sweep can be done automatically by a computer, or manually by the pilot, but requires the aircraft to be above a minimum airspeed in order to maintain lift and controllability. Though I don't know what that minimum airspeed is for an F-14, it's probably higher than the maximum airspeed for the spoiler, or at best right around the maximum speed of the spoiler. At the time though, it's kind of implied that Maverick is really moving (probably somewhere around 400-500 knots), and definitely faster than what the spoiler can handle. If that had really happened, the overstress on the aircraft frame would have most likely caused significant sructural problems, could have possibly torn the spoiler right off the aircraft, and may even have resulted in a catastrophic failure of the aircraft (specifically, Maverick's aircraft breaks up in to lots of pieces and scatters over the desert!).
Most likely those scenes were shot at fairly slow speeds...possibly even near the stall speed of the F-14. But, it's all probably moot in that the spoiler most likely has some kind of speed limiting switching, which wouldn't allow it to be activated above it's maximum speed anyways (although I can't be sure, I've never worked on fighters, but the concepts are fairly universal). I can however be fairly certain there's a nice little warning placard next to the spoiler controls with the airspeed limits in
big,
bold,
red, letters. But in any event,
"hitting the brakes" at combat speed, would be a very bad thing!
But, despite all that, and despite Tom Cruise being in it, it's still one of my favorite movies. Maybe it's because of when it came out, and how old I was at the time...but I still dig it big time. I do have to ignore some of
"those" moments though.
