
Topgun
An American Story
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Narrated by:
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Jim Meskimen
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By:
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Dan Pedersen
About this listen
On the 50th anniversary of the creation of the "Topgun" Navy Fighter School, its founder shares the remarkable inside story of how he and eight other risk-takers revolutionized the art of aerial combat.
When American fighter jets were being downed at an unprecedented rate during the Vietnam War, the US Navy turned to a young lieutenant commander, Dan Pedersen, to figure out a way to reverse their dark fortune. On a shoestring budget and with little support, Pedersen picked eight of the finest pilots to help train a new generation to bend jets like the F-4 Phantom to their will and learn how to dogfight all over again.
What resulted was nothing short of a revolution - one that took young American pilots from the crucible of combat training in the California desert to the blistering skies of Vietnam, in the process raising America's Navy combat kill ratio from two enemy planes downed for every American plane lost to more than 22 to 1. Topgun emerged not only as an icon of America's military dominance immortalized by Hollywood but as a vital institution that would shape the nation's military strategy for generations to come.
Pedersen takes listeners on a colorful and thrilling ride - from Miramar to Area 51 to the decks of aircraft carriers in war and peace - through a historic moment in air warfare. He helped establish a legacy that was built by him and his "Original Eight" - the best of the best - and carried on for six decades by some of America's greatest leaders. Topgun is a heartfelt and personal testimonial to patriotism, sacrifice, and American innovation and daring.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2019 Dan Pedersen (P)2019 Hachette AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"Capt. Dan Pederson became one of a handful of aviators who convinced Navy brass that a change in tactics was essential....The lives he saved though Topgun training earn him the title of American Hero."—Washington Times
"It's hard to read Dan Pedersen's Topgun and not think of Tom Cruise rock-'n'-rollin' through the California mountains in the similarly named motion picture more than 30 years ago...a pleasure to read."—Wall Street Journal
"With the hot-seat velocity and cockpit realism of a military combat thriller, the author delivers exacting details and emotional acuity....A noble, thrillingly realized combat aviation memoir from one of America's finest."—Kirkus Reviews
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Story
Sure to rank as one of the greatest aviation memoirs ever written, Viper Pilot is an Air Force legend's thrilling eyewitness account of modern air warfare. From 1986 to 2006, Lt. Col. Dan Hampton was a leading member of the Wild Weasels, the elite Air Force fighter squadrons whose mission is recognized as the most dangerous job in modern air combat. Weasels are the first planes sent into a war zone, flying deep behind enemy lines purposely seeking to draw fire from surface-to-air missiles and artillery. They must skillfully evade being shot down - and then return to destroy the threats, thereby making the skies safe for everyone else to follow.
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FINALLY A Pilot Tells it Like it is!!
- By aaron on 10-26-12
By: Dan Hampton
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Stealth
- The Secret Contest to Invent Invisible Aircraft
- By: Peter Westwick
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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On a moonless night in January 1991, a dozen US aircraft appeared in the skies over Baghdad. To the Iraqi air defenses, the planes seemed to come from nowhere. Each aircraft was more than 60 feet in length and with a wingspan of 40 feet, yet its radar footprint was the size of a ball bearing. Here was the first extensive combat application of Stealth technology. And it was devastating.
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Good Overview of the original development
- By Amazon Customer on 08-01-22
By: Peter Westwick
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Punk's War
- The Punk Series, Book 1
- By: Ward Carroll
- Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Punk’s War reveals the inner workings of the US Navy as only an insider can. An authentic and riveting thriller, it is a highly acclaimed novel of a fighter pilot’s experience in the era just before 9/11. As the US military enters another postconflict period, the themes of leadership during crisis and accomplishing the mission make Punk’s War more relevant than ever.
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I think I served with these guys
- By Willard O Kirste on 05-13-22
By: Ward Carroll
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F-35
- The Inside Story of the Lightning II
- By: Tom Burbage, Betsy Clark, Adrian Pitman, and others
- Narrated by: Rob Reider
- Length: 17 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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F-35 is the only inside look at the most advanced aircraft in the world and the historic project that built it, as told by those who were intimately involved in its design, testing, and production. Based on the authors' personal experience and over 100+ interviews, F-35 pulls back the curtain on one of the most heavily criticized government programs in history from start to finish.
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Corporate Propaganda
- By Kindle Customer on 10-04-24
By: Tom Burbage, and others
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Skunk Works
- A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed
- By: Ben R. Rich, Leo Janos
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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From the development of the U-2 to the Stealth fighter, the never-before-told story behind America's high-stakes quest to dominate the skies. Skunk Works is the true story of America's most secret and successful aerospace operation. As recounted by Ben Rich, the operation's brilliant boss for nearly two decades, the chronicle of Lockheed's legendary Skunk Works is a drama of Cold War confrontations and Gulf War air combat, of extraordinary feats of engineering and human achievement against fantastic odds.
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Ben Rich's life story...but not in that order
- By Allstar on 11-05-16
By: Ben R. Rich, and others
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Kelly
- More Than My Share of It All
- By: Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson, Maggie Smith, Brig. Gen. Leo P. Geary USAF - ret. - foreword
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson led the design of such crucial aircraft as the P-38 and Constellation, but he will be more remembered for the U-2 and SR-71 spy planes. His extraordinary leadership of the Lockheed "Skunk Works" cemented his reputation as a legendary figure in American aerospace management.
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Memoir of a Legend
- By Jean on 08-26-19
By: Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson, and others
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Hogs in the Sand
- A Gulf War A-10 Pilot's Combat Journal
- By: Buck Wyndham
- Narrated by: Jim Seybert
- Length: 15 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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The mighty, iconic A-10 Warthog was first thrust into battle in Operation Desert Storm. The men who took it through walls of flak and surface-to-air missiles to help defeat the world's fourth-largest army were as untested as their airplanes, so they relied on personal determination and the amazing A-10 to accomplish their missions, despite the odds.
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Weak
- By KL on 12-29-22
By: Buck Wyndham
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Tomcat Fury
- A Combat History of the F-14
- By: Mike Guardia
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 4 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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For more than three decades, the Grumman F-14 Tomcat was the US Navy’s premier carrier-based, multirole fighter jet. From its harrowing combat missions over Libya to its appearance on the silver screen in movies like Top Gun and Executive Decision, the F-14 has become an icon of American air power. Now, for the first time in a single volume, Tomcat Fury explores the illustrious combat history of the F-14, from the Gulf of Sidra to the Iran-Iraq War to the skies over Afghanistan in the Global War on Terror.
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I read this when it came out, also good as an audio.
- By S. H. Moore on 08-18-20
By: Mike Guardia
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Topgun Days
- Dogfighting, Cheating Death, and Hollywood Glory as One of America's Best Fighter Jocks
- By: Dave "Bio" Baranek
- Narrated by: Jeremy Arthur
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Dave Baranek (callsign "Bio") was one of 451 young men to receive his Wings of Gold in 1980 as a naval flight officer. Four years later, seasoned by intense training and deployments in the tense confrontations of the Cold War, he became the only one of that initial group to rise to become an instructor at the navy's elite Fighter Weapons School. As a Topgun instructor, Bio was responsible for teaching the navy's and Marine Corps' best fighter pilots how to be even better. He schooled them in the classroom and then went head-to-head with them in the skies.
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Top Gun or Topgun
- By Randy on 02-19-13
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Flying the SR-71 Blackbird
- In the Cockpit on a Secret Operational Mission
- By: Richard H. Graham
- Narrated by: Shawn Compton
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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The Lockheed SR-71, unofficially known as the Blackbird, was an advanced, long-range, Mach 3 strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed by Lockheed Skunk Works. The aircraft flew so fast and high that not one was ever shot down, even by a missile. SR-71 pilot and instructor Colonel Richard Graham offers a rare cockpit perspective on how regular Air Force pilots and navigators transformed themselves into SR-71 Blackbird crews, turning their unique aviation talents to account in an unprecedented way.
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This book is basically void of content or story.
- By Amazon Customer on 06-02-22
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On Wave and Wing
- The 100 Year Quest to Perfect the Aircraft Carrier
- By: Barrett Tillman
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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What defended the US after the attack on Pearl Harbor, defeated the Soviet Union in the Cold War, and is an essential tool in the fight against terror? Aircraft carriers. For 70 years, these ships remained a little-understood cornerstone of American power. In his latest book, On Wave and Wing, Barrett Tillman sheds light on the history of these floating leviathans and offers a nuanced analysis of the largest man-made vessel in the history of the world.
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100th Anniversary of the Aircraft Carrier
- By Jean on 08-05-17
By: Barrett Tillman
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Skybreak
- The 58th Fighter Squadron in Desert Storm
- By: Mike Guardia
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 5 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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August 1990: Iraqi forces under the command of Saddam Hussein invaded the tiny emirate of Kuwait. In response, the US military led a coalition of thirty-four nations in what became known as Operation Desert Storm—a violent air and ground campaign to eject the Iraqis from Kuwait. At the tip of the spear were the men of the US Air Force’s 58th Fighter Squadron. Based on hours of interviews and archival research by author Mike Guardia, this book reveals an intimate, no-holds-barred account of modern aerial combat…as told by the men who lived it.
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Great telling of the 58th
- By Gary on 01-02-25
By: Mike Guardia
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Boyd
- The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War
- By: Robert Coram
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 19 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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John Boyd may be the most remarkable unsung hero in all of American military history. Some remember him as the greatest US fighter pilot ever - the man who, in simulated air-to-air combat, defeated every challenger in less than 40 seconds. Some recall him as the father of our country's most legendary fighter aircraft - the F-15 and F-16. Still, others think of Boyd as the most influential military theorist since Sun Tzu. They know only half the story.
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Stick With It if You Want a Rare Gem
- By Michael Richards on 08-30-16
By: Robert Coram
What listeners say about Topgun
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- JUSTIN
- 05-13-22
Wonderfully Written
I thoroughly enjoyed this from beginning to end. I was worried that it might not live up to the hype of the previous rave reviews, but it certainly did.
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-26-19
A Must Listen
As a student of history, I loved the context Dan provided. I saw much of the Navy and the Vietnam war in a perspective I was not fully aware of. As a civilian the author dispenses a knowledge of combat and struggles related to deployment and command that are transformative to the uninitiated.
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- Sulaem
- 06-12-20
Legends and pioneers abound
Not just a book about flying, it's about the heart of heroes and scrapping to create postive change in the middle of stifling beauraucracy.
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- Jeremy Rapp
- 06-16-22
Important Historical Story
Awesome historical story of the lessons we learned in Vietnam, recreated during the Gulf War, then forget again and need go relearn.
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- Brad
- 12-11-22
What a Great Book
As an aerospace fan loved this book. The story at how Top Gun School got started is amazing.
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- darren
- 01-02-23
Good History of Top Gun
It was fun to hear a first hand story of Top Gun, I would recommend.
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- spark0315
- 10-26-22
Inspiring and Cautionary Memoir
What a wonderful book on leadership, camaraderie, and resilience. I bought this book out of curiosity borne out of the love for the Top Gun movies, especially the sequel. It was well worth the listen - I highly recommend it.
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- Grama Vic
- 04-21-24
Like watching a great movie
I'm a reader of nonfiction books, most don’t hold interest. This book, was like watching a great movie, it kept my interest chapter after chapter and was difficult to break away.
So interesting to learn what goes on behind the scenes.
And of course Dan ❤️Beth, truth is greater than fiction.
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-11-19
Excellent for nuggets and old timers
Trucked through this book over a few days of heavy office work, and was incredibly refreshed by the insights on how to handle rigid organizational thinking, leadership, and crafting change from the bottom of an organization.
Dan Pederson delivers a story that stretches from the age of dark blue straight winged first generation jets, to the modern fifth generation, and drills home the idea that though technology changes and evolves, it is the decision-making, agression and experience of the person flying the jet who has the most ability to dictate what happens after the merge - though not intended, that message spoke right thru my mid thirties doldrums.
the delivery of the reader is pretty great, if not slightly marred by thier unfamiliarity with aviation and naval terms: hearing "Eh Eh Eh" instead of triple A throughout the Vietnam segments was the most glaring, but overall a fine job.
highly recommend.
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- Arnold
- 09-15-19
great book
loved it. couldn't stop listening to it. would love to chat with the writer about his life
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