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VOOZH | about |
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VOOZH | about |
Here's part of the audience that joined the Top Gun Day party at Mavericks Hangar in Satellite Beach, Florida, on May 13, 2025. More showed up later. Everyone had fun!
Your author, Bio, answering questions at the Top Gun Day party at Mavericks Hangar in Satellite Beach, Florida, on May 13, 2025. Video from the livestream is on the Mavericks Hangar Facebook page and Bio's Topgun Days... Facebok page.
These former Navy pilots and Naval Flight Officers joined the Top Gun Day party at Mavericks Hangar in Satellite Beach, Florida, on May 13, 2025. They represent many Naval Aviation communities past and present: fighters, strike fighters, attack, reconnaissance, airborne early warning, helicopters, and more.
Former Aviation Boatswains Mate Javier Medina couldn't attend Top Gun day, so a few days before, he presented this collage of incredible photos to the bar -- accepted by Ivy. Javier worked the flight deck aboard USS Enterprise during filming of the movie and took some great behind the scenes photos. He is currently an executive jet pilot.
In Dec 2021, CAPT Bill Switzer, USN (Ret.) and I celebrated the 40th anniversary of our ejection. He was at Yank's Air Museum in Chino, California, and I joined by video. The story is told in my book Topgun Days and on the Martin Baker website.
In October 2022 I was interviewed for a new Smithsonian Channel program on the F-14, part of a new series of "Air Warriors." I was one of several former pilots, RIOs, and others to be interviewed, to present a fresh look at the Tomcat. It'll be availbale in May 2023.
The "TopGun Fans" Facebook group (link) held a multi-day event in San Diego in May 2022, and one of the events was a panel discussion with people involved in making the movie. I'm third from the left.
After the panel discussion, panelists signed photos, and in my case books. We had great attendance and there was a lot of enthusiasm.
On the final day of the meet up we took a group photo on the USS Midway museum. Photo by David Partridge, used with permission.
The group left the USS Midway museum and went to the famous Kansas City BBQ restaurant, which was a location of several scenes in the movie, for good food and relaxation. Photo by Cindy Lee.
In July I attended the EAA's AirVenture at Oshkosh, Wisconsin. This photo hardly gives an idea of the enormous scale of the event with thousands of aircraft and displays, and hundreds of thousands of visitors.
I had a couple of sessions at the Author's Corner desk, signing copies of my books for aviation enthusiasts.
EAA arranged a Theater in the Woods session to discuss the TOPGUN squadron and the "Top Gun" movie (the original). From the left: me, "Duke" Cunningham, "Willy" Driscoll, "Viper" Pettigrew, "Bozo" Abel, and our host, "Roloff" Jackson. Photo by Nicole Voltz, used with permission.
When I was introduced and walked out on stage, I snapped this photo of the audience. People were amused when I held up my phone to take the picture.
On stage in front of thousands at the Theater in the Woods. It was a great audience and enjoyable evening. Photo by Nicole Voltz, used with permission.
At the Tailhook Convention in Reno, Nevada, in September 2022, I sat down with podcatser and former F-14 RIO Ward Carroll (callsign "Mooch") for an interview about TOPGUN and the Tomcat. Enjoyed talking to a friend about our experiences back in the day.
The Tailhook Association arranged a very informative panel about the recently-released "Top Gun: Maverick." I learned a lot, because I wasn't involved in this one. Afterwards, I talked with aerial coordinator Kevin LaRosa (center) and Navy technical advisor CAPT Brian "Ferg" Ferguson (right), who happens to be a fighter pilot and commanding officer.
