TOPGUN Legacy Aircraft

The Navy Fighter Weapons School, famously known as TOPGUN, began operations in 1969 to improve the air-to-air warfighting skills of fighter aircrew.  The museum displays a T-38A Talon that flew with TOPGUN during the 1970s. Lieutenant Commanders Mugs McKeown and Jack Ensch, who in Vietnam teamed up to shoot down two enemy MiG-17 fighters and whose names are painted beneath the cockpits of the T-38, served as TOPGUN commanding officer and executive officer respectively.  The school has used variants of the U.S. Air Force’s F-16 as adversary aircraft.  The F-16N Viper on display wears the camouflage markings of the F-16A/B Fighting Falcons currently operated by TOPGUN.