Navy Fighter Weapons School

The Navy Fighter Weapons School was created in 1969 in order to help Navy fighter pilots improve their tactics. I attended the Navy Fighter Weapons School, otherwise known as Topgun, in 1988. The primary purpose of the Navy Fighter Weapons School was to create a better fighter pilot who could then go back to his squadron and teach all that he learned to his fellow pilots. All fighter pilots in the Navy, which included both F-14 and F-18 pilots at the time, already knew how to fight. Most people know this as “dog fighting” but its technical name in the Navy is Air Combat Maneuvering (ACM). The Navy Fighter Weapons School helped us to refine our tactics and become better instructors through both class time as well using DACT, Dissimilar Air Combat Training. I flew the F-14 against the A-4, F-5, F-18, F-16, and the Kfir which is an Israeli Mirage-3, in my training. The training in Navy Fighter Weapons School was both vigorous and fun.

It was experiences such as these which eventually led me to write West of the Rock where I describe just what it is like to live the life of a Navy fighter pilot and attend Navy Fighter Weapons School. It is a vivid account of what training is like to become a pilot in the Navy, what it is like to live and fly off an aircraft carrier, and the dangers that are faced.

Attending the Navy Fighter Weapons School is only part of it. Not many pilots are able to attend the Navy Fighter Weapons School or even become Naval Aviators flying fighter aircraft off an aircraft carrier. If you have ever wondered what it is like, what they don’t tell you about, then reading this book is as close as you can get to actually going to the Navy Fighter Weapons School.

Want to learn more about the Navy Fighter Weapons School? Get your copy of West of the Rock today!

 

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