Topgun Days

Dave Baranek, known by his callsign "Bio," was one of 451 young men who received his Wings of Gold in 1980 as a naval flight officer. Four years later, seasoned by intense training and deployments during the tense confrontations of the Cold War, he became the only one of that initial group to rise and become an instructor at the navy's elite Fighter Weapons School. As a Topgun instructor, Bio was responsible for teaching the best fighter pilots of the Navy and Marine Corps how to be even better. He instructed them in the classroom and then engaged with them directly in the skies.

In August 1985, Bio took on the unique challenge of combining his flight duties with participation in a Pentagon-approved project to film action footage for a major Hollywood movie focusing on the lives, loves, heartbreaks, and triumphs of young fighter pilots: Top Gun.

Suddenly, Bio found himself riding in limousines to attend gala premieres and being noticed by giggling teenagers and awed schoolboys who recognised the word "Topgun" on his T-shirts. The book concludes with his reflections on his illustrious career as a skilled naval aviator and his enduring love of flight.

The paperback and Kindle editions feature more than fifty rare full-colour photographs of fighter jets in action.