How the Royal Navy Air Warfare Instr-

uctors (AWIs) influenced the format-

ion of the USN TOPGUN program and
the RAN Fleet Air Arm (FAA) Sea
Venom FAW Mk.53 and Skyhawk A4G
Operations. RAN AWIs initially were
trained at RNAS Lossiemouth at the
AWI school until 1974 when they were
trained at NAS Nowra by ex-RN AWIs
& subsequently RAN AWIs afterwards.
6FUHDPRI(DJOHVE\5REHUW.:LOFR[
In the darkest days oI the Vietnam War, when the U.S.
Navy kill ratio dropped to a deadly 2:1, battle-hardened
Iighter pilots Iormed the Fighter Weapons School known
as Top Gun. Requisitioning Soviet MiG-17s and MiG-
21s Ior brutally realistic dogIights, the Top Gun
instructors dueled each other and their students to
achieve an extraordinary new level oI Iighting expertise.
The training paid oII in the Vietnam skies. Locking on to
enemy aircraIt with radar guided weapons systems,
executing screaming vertical climbs and multiple G-
Iorce turns, the Top Gun pilots drove the Navy's kill
ratio up to an astounding 12:1 - and decisively won the
air war. Filled with the pilots' Iirst-person accounts,
Scream of Eagles takes us inside the cockpit in a
narrative more gripping than any Iiction. Here is the
dramatic true story that inspired the movie Top Gun -
and assured the most spectacular air victories in modern
warIare.
http://www.sci.fi/~fta/scream_of_eagles.htm
Top Gun Movie Patch
TOPGUN was formerly known officially as the United States Navy Fighter Weapons
School, and was established on March 3, 1969 at NAS Miramar, California after a United
States Navy report recommended that a graduate-level school be established to train Fleet
fighter pilots in air combat tactics to counter the relatively poor air combat performance
being experienced by Navy aircrews over Vietnam. The school initially operated the A-4
Skyhawk and F-5 Freedom Fighter to instruct F-4 Phantom II aircrews, including the first
US aces of the Vietnam War, Randy Cunningham and Willie Driscoll. The 1970s and 1980s
brought with them the introduction of the F-14 Tomcat and the F/A-18 Hornet as the
primary Fleet fighter aircraft flown by students, while TOPGUN instructors retained their
A-4s and F-5s, but also added the F-16 Fighting Falcon to better simulate the threat
presented by the Soviet Union's new 4th generation MiG-29 'Fulcrum' and Su-27 'Flanker'
fighters. During the 1990s, the TOPGUN syllabus was modified to include more emphasis
on the air-to-ground strike mission as a result of the expanding multi-mission taskings of
the F-14 and F/A-18. In addition, TOPGUN retired their F-4s, A-4s, and F-5s in favor of F-16s
and F/A-18s. In 1996, the transfer of NAS Miramar to the Marine Corps was coupled with
the incorporation of TOPGUN into the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center at NAS Fallon,
Nevada. TOPGUN instructors currently fly the F/A-18 Hornet and the F-16 Falcon.
TOPGUN was made famous in popular culture by the 1986 release of the motion picture Top Gun.
http://cgi.ebay.ph/PETE-MITCHELL-TOP-GUN-YOUR-NAME-TAG-FLIGHT-SUIT-/400094451739
Adolf Galland)
An Honor
n my entire
aviation career, there
was never a more
intense and
challenging, yet
thoroughly enjoyable
period than the five
weeks was fortunate to spend at the elite, Navy
Fighter Weapons School (NFWS) - more commonly known as TOPGUN.
But it was almost not to be. During my first cruise with VF-151 embarked
aboard the USS Midway, another extraordinary and talented pilot had been
tentatively identified to represent our fighter squadron at Top Gun. Then one
day, after a brief close air support mission in South Vietnam and thus having
extra fuel to spare, my flight lead and engaged in some ACM (air combat
maneuvering) training before our scheduled recovery to the ship.
t was one of my best performances. My lead was a very talented and
widely respected
ACM pilot. He held great sway as to who would attend Top
Gun. After our flight, he told the CO that was the best and most aggressive
young fighter pilot he had ever flown against. As a result, got orders to Top
Gun.*
1DY\)LJKWHU:HDSRQV6FKRRO
723*81
"Only the spirit of attack, born in a brave heart, will bring
success to any fighter aircraft, no matter how highly developed it
may be."
(
The timing was perfect. Although still new, the school was rapidly making
a real and vitally needed impact upon our Navy fighter community with regard
to our tactics, training, and combat results; had just finished my first combat
cruise, and was about to embark on my second; and the air war over North
Vietnam had just reignited in earnest, once again after a long halt.
TOPGUN Background
Although the first ever Top Gun class convened
in 1969, it would not be until the summer of 1972 for
Top Gun to finally and formally be commissioned as
an entirely separate command. Nevertheless within
those intervening short three years, initially as a
department of, and then later as a detachment of VF-
121, it almost immediately became the most major development within Naval
Aviation in decades!
[Note: The
Ault Report. t began with a bunch of the Navy's best, brightest,
and most hard-charging Fighter Pilots & ROs - albeit mostly very junior officers
- convening and trying to work in a cramped and sweaty trailer behind VF-121's
large and spacious hangar.
nitially they had more fresh ideas than equipment, support, and no
adversary aircraft. But it did not take long for them to expand due to their
immediate impact. Eventually they moved to much needed full offices, training
spaces, and necessary equipment in a large, separate hangar. This was a
movie "Top Gun" was released in 1986 - 17 years
after the establishment of the real Top Gun.
Ironically, years after having become a Top Gun graduate, I was
attached to VF-1485 at NAS Miramar while the Top Gun movie was
being filmed there. In fact I once flew one of the studio's
cinematographers in my F-14 back seat for him to capture some air-
to-air footage for the movie's promotional trailer.
But compared to the real thing, it was all fairly boring.]
NFWS Top Gun grew rapidly from an embryonic idea following the historic
and seminal,
http://flitetime.net/tg.html
by John
Chesire CAT
result of the great changes they were obviously making in not only F-4, but also
all US Air-To-Air Tactics against Soviet built aircraft.
Over a short time, the "plank-owners" of the VF-121 Top Gun unit
doggedly gained a small fleet of begged and borrowed, dissimilar adversary
aircraft, a generous budget finally, and put to work a syllabus they had
developed that would and did turn the air war in North Vietnam on its ear!
Two years prior in 1970 as a VF-121 RAG student,
had the great privilege of flying a few hops with some
of the initial cadre of Top Gun instructors; men who to
me (and most others) were larger than life, and some of
the best Fighter Pilots/ROs have ever known.... Names
like Pedersen, Rullifson, Laing, Gary, Smith, Mckeown,
Pettigrew and several others (all described in Wilcox's excellent book about
Top Gun's genesis,
Dan Pedersen.
[A now seemingly quaint 1991 "Inside Addition" program (with
a much younger, Bill O'Reilly) interview with Dan Pedersen (there
misspelled 'Pederson') the first Officer in Charge of Top Gun may be
seen here, at 3:06 minute mark within the seven minute video.]
Those original Top Gun instructors all worked extraordinarily difficult and
long hours with minimal support or recognition. Nevertheless they astonishingly
changed Naval Air against great odds and in short order for our country's
benefit. Moreover their dedication and shared expertise saved pilots' lives in the
** The name "MiG" is a contraction of the names of two extraordinary Russian aircraft designers,
Artem Ivanovich Mi(koyan) and Mikhail Iosifovich G(urevich). They designed a series of
excellent Russian fighter aircraft. Thus each aircraft model number of theirs is preceded by their
"MiG" design emblem, i.e., MiG-17, MiG -19, MiG-21, MiG-29, etc.
Scream of Eagles). Some even had recent experience in
the then highly classified Have Doughnut and Have Drill projects, and some
would later down MiGs over North Vietnam. They were a small group of junior
officers led by a young natural leader and extraordinary fighter pilot, and later
Captain,
Air War over North Vietnam.
Now two years later in early 1972, although the
impressive initial Top Gun cadre knew had moved on,
mostly to the fleet, the NFWS was in full swing with
another compliment of the Navy's best fighter pilots
instructing, and was already making its mark, just as it was
about to become a separate Naval Command.
[As a side note: I was sitting in my Top Gun
class in early 1972 on the day we received "flash"
message traffic that a certain Lt. Cunningham (later
the Ace) had shot down his first MiG. Ironically, there
was some disappointment within the school. They
hoped for their own Top Gun graduates to get the kills, to further
validate their extreme new theories, syllabus, and school... and
although he - like I did earlier - did fly with some of the initial Top
Gun cadre in VF-121, Cunningham was unfortunately not an official
Top Gun selectee or graduate.... and he was not even known prior
to that day by our Top Gun class or our instructors, save for one
who said he slightly knew him.]
Study, Fly, Study, Then Study Some More
Although perhaps not as glamorous as the later
movie of the same name, the intensity, quality, and
value of the real Top Gun school far exceeded that of
the movie.
Every day started very early with classroom study
of a variety of lessons. . . from Soviet history to public
speaking, in addition to cutting edge, "loose deuce" fighter tactics. Then at least
one, if not two flights followed, flying against the best fighter pilots in the world
at that time. Thoroughly tired and drained after the debriefs, more classroom
work or study followed. Then it was home after dark for more study until late at
night. Then the next morning, the same routine commenced once again.
Even though lived with three other fighter pilots in a rented "snake ranch"
mansion with a beautiful ocean view atop Mt. Soledad
in La Jolla, had no time to enjoy it. Nor was there any
time for the inviting social life that my roommates were
enjoying. But didn't mind.
There was no other place
wanted to be, nor anything
wanted more to do than to be
a student at the best school ever - the Navy Fighter
Weapons School!
MiG-19s = Almost a Friendly Fire Incident
Of our early Top Gun Class Picture below, only two of the four fighter
crews pictured would later fly in SEA (South East Asia). And of those remaining
four individual Pilots and RO's, only two - Bart (standing, left center behind me
kneeling, and Jim, with glasses next to Bart) would ever down MiG's.**
Additionally, the History Channel
has an excellent recent video re-creation
of Bart's and other fellow Midway pilots'
dogfights over North Vietnam during our
1972 cruise.
[Bart looks good in the video. But his hair color certainly
has changed since we went through Top Gun together in 1972.
Nevertheless, his thoughts, his maneuvers, and his expertise are all accurately
depicted. And as he expresses in the video they are all the same things as I
remember him during our training, so many years ago.]
ronically, only a few months after the below photograph was taken,
nearly shot down Bart over North Vietnam, in a potential friendly fire incident.
My section was given a "cleared to fire" by our "Red Crown" controllers on
two
MiG-19s we had been chasing. My RO, (call-sign "TA") had deftly locked
up on our radar what we were told was one of the hostile "Bandit" MiG-19s.
With that confirmation, was eagerly set to fire an
Which written term is more correct?
!n its embryonic days beginning in 1969, the Top Gun
unitfdetachmentfschoolfvF-121 spinoff was casually, and in the
vernacular always referred to by two words: "Top Gun" -- as it also was
in official correspondence.
[However, the very early sign atop their stolen liberated trailer behind the vF-121 hanger did
say, "
AM-7 "Sparrow" missile
head-on at the rapidly approaching, targeted Bandit.
only hesitated, so as to close the range and
"sweeten the shot" to ensure a greater
probability of a 'kill'. . . . when suddenly saw
in the distance - Smoke!
knew MiG's did not smoke; knew that
F-4's did smoke, so therefore thankfully held
my fire.
A moment later Bart in his smoking F-4 - my previously "cleared-to fire-
upon, 'enemy' target" - blasted by my port side at 600kts!
While on a separate radio frequency and without our knowledge of his
position, Bart also had been vectored onto the same MiG's that were initially
between us - the ones we were given clearance to fire upon. (We learned later
that the two MiGs had slipped away undetected, out low to the south, leaving
Bart and unknowingly flying fast toward each other with our missiles armed
and ready, and with us given a clearance to fire on our locked-up target!)
n our flight debrief, Bart casually brushed the near catastrophe off. But to
this day, still shudder at how close came to firing on my friend.
*"Top Gun" or "TOPGUN"?
TOPGUN"... unlike my later diploma that said in two words, "Top Gun".|
! believe it was sometime later in its important and rapid evolution, and after it finally became a
wholly separate command in 1972 rather than a separate detachment, the Top Gun moniker was
eventually and officially changed to a single word, with all capital letters: "TOPGUN". However,
the always official name nevertheless remained intact while it still remained at NAS Niramar
before repositioning to NAS Fallon - the Navy Fighter Weapons School (NFWS).
TOP GUN AND
THE BRITISH
An exchange programme
between the Royal Navy
and US Navy had existed
for many years. But from
1964 onwards, in advance
of the Phantoms intro-
duction into Royal Navy
service, small numbers of
experienced FAA Pilots and
Observers were sent to
NAS Miramar in California
where they few as instruc-
tors on VF-121, the US
Navys Fleets Replacement
Air Group, or RAG. At
Fightertown, USA the Brits
helped train rookie crews
in the rudiments of fying
and fghting the F-4 before
these students were post-
ed to frontline squadrons.
At the end of their tours,
the British exchange crews
were able to bring home
great experience of the
Phantom and its systems,
but the relationship was a
reciprocal one. The pres-
ence of British instructors
on VF-121 made available
a handful more US Navy
aircrews to the frontline
fghting in Vietnam a war
that by the end of the dec-
ade had sucked in over half
a million US troops. A war
that was not going well.
US Navy pilots in Vietnam
were struggling to gain the
upper hand against the
enemy. And, by the end of
the sixties, concern about
their poor performance
had become so acute that
addressing the situation
became a priority for US
Admirals. And in the effort
to turn things round, the
small British contingent
at Miramar would play an
important part.
Alongside its Phantom
squadron, Miramar was
home to VF-124, its equiva-
lent Crusader RAG. And it
was Vought F-8 Crusader
jockeys who walked into
the bar at Happy Hour with
the biggest swagger. The
single-seat F-8s were real
pilots jets, known to their
pilots as The Last of the
Gunfghters. Relatively
small and agile, armed
with machine guns and
short-range missiles they
were out and out dogfght-
ers. The Phantom, by
contrast, was huge, carried
a crew of two and wasnt
even equipped with a gun,
relying instead on guided
missiles alone. For all its
record breaking, the Navy
never expected their new
interceptor to get tangled
up in the messy business
of dogfghting. It was sup-
posed to be beyond all that.
And Miramar F-8 pilots had
become bored of ambush-
ing them. Screaming into
someones six oclock only
to provoke a gentle 2 G
turn in response where
was the fun in that? Theyd
almost started to ignore
the Phantoms until one
of them stumbled onto
the tail of an F-4 being
fown by a Royal Navy Air
Warfare Instructor called
Geoff Hunt. And he wasnt
having any of it.
In response to the
indignity of discovering
an F-8 on his tail, Hunt
slammed the Phantoms
engines through the gate
to engage full afterburner
and pulled into a screaming
turn towards the attacking
F-8. And then the two jets
fought until their fuel was
gone. The Crusader pilot
landed with eyes like dinner
plates.
Only the best were
selected to go on the
Royal Navys Air Warfare
Instructors Course. And
for most students it was
the most demanding, most
rewarding fying that they
would ever enjoy. Ground
theory at HMS Excellent,
the Naval Gunnery School
in Portsmouth, was fol-
lowed by 3 months inten-
sive fying with 764 NAS at
Lossiemouth. Flying 3, 4
and sometimes 5 sorties
a day in the squadrons
Hunters, students would
learn about every aspect
of modern tactics and
weaponry, from ACM and
developing spatial aware-
ness leading divisional
attacks of 4 aircraft, to
delivering nuclear weapons.
Sandwiched around the fy-
ing they were given lessons
on how to brief and debrief
a sortie, and taught about
teaching. Because when
they were posted to their
next squadrons, it would
be as that squadrons
AWI the resident expert.
764 instructed its students
to join their squadrons
and share what theyd
learned, spreading that
expertise throughout the
whole frontline. And theyd
been doing it since 1959.
Through the instructors on
exchange at Miramar, the
AWIs methods made their
way into perhaps the most
well-known programme in
the history of naval avia-
tion: Top Gun.
The Brits at Miramar did
their best to ft in. They
gave themselves US-style
callsigns. But rather than
the Vipers and Mavericks
that seemed to prevail,
they came up with Alien,
Dogbreath, Cholmondley
and Spastic [LCDR Al
Hickling SP then CO
VC-724 in 1972-3]. When
Lt Dick Lord arrived at
Miramar in 1966 he called
himself Brit One. Because
he was South African and
because he liked the idea
of his American wingman
having to call himself Brit 2.
Lord was staggered by the
size of the operation the
US Navy had there.
Sitting on the hard-
standing were more
aircraft than made up the
entire Fleet Air Arm. His
own squadron, VF-121,
had over 80. And it was in
the units sheer size the
volume of people involved
that Lord, a single minded
and talented fghter pilot,
quickly realised that a
problem lay. As he passed
around the debriefng
cubicles that surrounded
the main room he listened
in. No-one teaching tactics
was more revered than
those pilots whod killed
MiGs in Vietnam.
Alright kid, you fy like
this Lord heard them say
because this is how I few
in Vietnam. And if you
dont, theyre going to bust
your ass! Then in the next
cubicle hed hear some-
thing completely different.
Alright kid, you fy like
this, because thats how I
few in Vietnam. And, if you
dont theyre going to bust
your ass!
There was no clear,
consistent message. He
could only imagine how it
must scramble the brains
of eager-to-impress young
students.
For his debriefng fol-
lowing his frst sortie as
an instructor, Lord asked
for coloured chalk. On
the AWI course at Lossie
after every engagement,
he scribbled down head-
ings, speeds, who did
what, when, where errors
were made. Then, in the
debrief after the sortie,
he could recreate the
fght on the blackboard,
pick it apart in detail and
learn from it. It took the
ego and subjectivity out
of it - stopped a debrief
just becoming a pissing
contest. Using the same
techniques he pointed out
his students errors and
explained how and where
hed gained an advantage.
And soon he found that his
debriefs were starting to
get crowded. Dan McIntyre,
boss of the air-to-air sec-
tion of VF-121, noticed it
too and asked him to write
a revised ACM syllabus for
the whole squadron and
tour the west coast bases
lecturing US Navy attack
pilots on ACM.
Lord threw himself into
it and, in early 1968, was
slipped a dusty fle marked
Top Secret: For US Eyes
Only containing USAF
Major John Boyds work on
Energy Manoeuvrability.
Shot through with math-
ematical formulae he could
see why the report had
been gathering dust. But
Lord stuck with it and
realised it was golddust.
Boyd had used graphs to
illustrate the performance
envelopes of different
fghters. By overlaying
one graph with another,
Boyds work could show
you exactly where your
own aircrafts advantage
lay. And exactly where
your weaknesses were
found. Lord added it to
his teaching, amused that
he was now lecturing on
something he wasnt even
allowed to have read.
As the war in Vietnam
deepened, sucking in
men and material in ever
greater quantities, alarm
was growing amongst
US Admirals about the
performance of the Navys
fghters and especially
about its new hot ship the
F-4 Phantom. By the end
of the sixties, the F-4 had
only accounted for thirteen
MiGs. The older, simpler,
gun-armed F-8 Crusader
had eighteen. More worry-
ingly, the overall American
kill ratio against the MiGs
was stubbornly refusing to
rise much above 2:1. Just
two small, cheap enemy
jets for every multi-million
dollar American fghter.
Throughout World War
Two and Korea the ratio
had been closer to 10:1.
Something had clearly
gone wrong.
In the summer of 1968,
Dick Lord left Miramar to
become the Royal Navys
pre-eminent weapons and
tactics instructor, the Air
Warfare Instructor of 764
NAS itself. But his legacy
at Miramar was there for
all to see in the standardi-
sation, organisation and
rigour of the new VF-121
tactics course. A couple of
months after Lord returned
to the UK, one of his fellow
instructors, Lt Cdr Dan
Pederson USN, the squad-
rons operations offcer,
became the frst CO of
the Navy Fighter Weapons
School. NFWS was soon
dubbed Topgun, its role,
like 764, was to take the
best crews in the feet and,
for a month, give them
intense and comprehensive
tuition in aerial combat
before sending them back
to share that knowledge
in squadron ready rooms
throughout the Navy.
Topgun wasnt con-
sciously modelled on the
Royal Navys Air Warfare
Instructors Course, but
the similarities were
pronounced, and Pederson
was quick to acknowledge
Lords contribution hed
attended some of the Fleet
Air Arm pilots lectures
himself. Dick Lords work
at the VF-121 Tactics
Group was the foundation
on which Pederson and
the original eight Topgun
instructors built their
course. One of the eight,
John Nash, maintained that
the month-long course
was nothing more than
an extended course of the
RAG tactics syllabus. And,
of course, Lord had written
that syllabus.
In 1970, a Phantom
launched from the deck
of the USS Constellation
shot down a MiG-21 with
an AIM-9 Sidewinder mis-
sile. It was the frst MiG
shot-down by the US Navy
in nearly two years of
war. The pilots name was
Lt Jerry Beaulier. And he
was a graduate of the frst
class ever to pass through
Topgun.
Dick Lords parting gift
to Miramar was a typed
fourteen-page document
he called Flying and
Fighting the Phantom. It
was a distillation of all
hed learnt about the jet
in his time in the tactics
group. Copies were handed
to every single VF-121
student on their arrival at
Miramar. It was also sent
to McDonnell-Douglas, the
Phantoms manufacturer.
They were suffciently
impressed to quote from
it on the opening page of
the F-4s operating manual,
known as NATOPS:
To be successful in
the fghter business the
aircrew must, frst and
foremost, have a thorough
background in fghter
tactics. They must acquire
an excellent knowledge of
all their equipment. Then
they must approach the
problem with a spirit of
aggression, and with utter
confdence.
It sat alongside just one
other quotation. And that
was from Manfred Von
Richtofen, the Red Baron;
the most famous fghter
pilot whos ever lived.
Dougal Macdonald
was Dick Lords last ever
student at 764 NAS. Not
everyone coped with either
the physical or psycho-
logical stresses of the AWI
course. Over three months
students spent a lot of
time pulling G and fying
straight at the ground
and that was never a
game for the faint-hearted.
And in being an Observer
rather than a pilot going
through the Air Warfare
Instructors Course,
Macdonald was a rarity. As
a Looker, he had no direct
control over the aircraft,
but, in having responsibil-
ity for navigation and
operating the weapons
system, he controlled
nearly everything else.
Without him, the guy in
the front seat could fy fast
and make a lot of noise,
but he couldnt fght a war.
It was a lesson that old-
school fghter jocks were
still getting to grips with.
A fghter with a two-man
crew was more capable
than a single-seater. The
workload was shared; you
had an extra pair of eyes.
Dick Lord took the
young Observer under
his wing, fying as pilot
on most of Macdonalds
sorties himself. He was
determined that Macdonald
was going to get through.
His frst impression of
any young aircrew he
met came from the look
in their eyes. Macdonald,
tough and eager, his eyes
were alive with the spark
he was looking for. Much
more than the pilots, Lord
knew, the Lookers were
completely outside of their
comfort zone at 764. But
Macdonald thrived during
his time at Lossie. And not
only did he qualify as an
Air Warfare Instructor him-
self, but, like his mentor,
he became an Instructor at
Miramar and, after sitting
the Top Gun course him-
self, joined an elite group
of aviators.
(PS In the broadcast
Doug let on that his call-
sign was Haggis - no
comment).
http://www.feetairar-
moa.org/pages/images_
pages/page79.htm

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'LFN/RUG$Q2IILFHUDQGD*HQWOHPDQ
'DWH 27 October 2011 By Dean Wingrin
The SAAF and wider aviation community has been saddened by the loss of Brigadier General RS (Dick)
Lord who passed away on the evening of Wednesday 26 October, having been ill for some time.
Although born in Johannesburg, Dick joined the Royal Navy in 1958 where he qualified as a fighter pilot.
He flew Sea Venoms and Sea Vixens aboard the Royal Navy aircraft carriers Centaur, Victorious, Hermes
and Ark Royal . Whilst serving in the Royal Navy, Lord did a two year exchange tour with the US Navy,
flying A-4 Skyhawks and F-4 Phantoms out of San Diego, California. t was during this posting that he was
forced to eject from an A-4 Skyhawk. Other tours of duty included that of Air Warfare nstructor, flying
Hunters from the naval air stations at Lossiemouth and Brawdy.
After 12 years with the Royal Navy, Lord returned to South Africa in the early 1970's and joined the SAAF
(almost by accident) and flew mpalas, Sabres and the Mirage . During the Border War, he commanded 1 Squadron, flying the Mirage F1AZ. He
then ran airforce operations out of Oshakati and Windhoek in the then South West Africa. Lord was commander of the Air Force Command Post in
Pretoria during the successful rescue of all 581 people from the ill-fated liner Oceanos in 1991.
A highlight of his career was organizing the successful flypast of 76 aircraft for Nelson Mandela's inauguration as President of South Africa in 1994.
Lord retired shortly thereafter as a Brigadier (now called Brigadier General) and moved to Somerset West near Cape Town.
Lord did not rest on his laurels and much to the delight of SAAF historians and enthusiasts, he authored many books on the South African Air Force.
The first, Fire, Flood and Ice, covered SAAF rescue missions and was later reprinted as Standby!. The following book was the immensely popular
Vlamgat, the story of the Mirage F1 in SAAF service. After repeated requests, Lord published his autobiography titled From Tailhooker to Mudmover.
His fourth and final book, published in 2008, was Fledgling To Eagle which recounted the story of the South African Air Force during the Border War.
All his books were eagerly welcomed and equally treasured.
have been privileged to have met Lord a number of times and have always found him to be an Officer, Gentleman and Teacher with a great sense
of humour. All those that served with him have echoed this sentiment. greatly enjoyed our discussions together and his passing is a great loss.
They shall grow not old
As we that are left grow old
Age shall not weary them
Nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun
And in the morning -
we will remember them
http:
//ww
w.sa
air
force
.co.z
a/
new
s-
and-
even
ts/10
37/
dick-
lord-
an-
offic
er-
and-
a-
gent
le
man
Brigadier General
Dick Lord1936-2011
Brigadier General Dick Lord,
the Fleet Air Arm pilot who
has died aged 75, was instru-
mental in the development of
Americas Top Gun fghter pilot
academy, made famous by the
flm of the same name.
Lord established his unusual
role in 1968, when he was the
foremost British instructor
sent on exchange at Miramar,
California, to train American
pilots then suffering signifcant
losses at the hands of MiG-21s
fown by the North Vietnamese.
While some criticised the per-
formance of Americas multi-
million dollar Phantom jet, Lord
concentrated on sharpening his
pupils Air Combat Manoeuvring
(ACM) skills to improve their
odds in a dogfght.
He and a handful of other
Fleet Air Arm graduates
of the Royal Navys gruel-
ling Air Warfare Instructors
(AWI) school in Lossiemouth,
Scotland, introduced rigorous
new methods for recording and
scrutinising the performance of
trainees during exercises. Lord,
for example, scribbled notes on
a pad on the knee of his fight
suit during mock dogfghts,
which he then exhaustively
analysed on a blackboard at
post-fight debriefs.
Such was the trust placed
in Lord that he was granted
access to classifed American
military documents comparing
the performance of US aircraft
against that of enemy fghters.
This access allowed him to write,
with others, the US Navys Air
Combat Manoeuvring manual.
A year after Lords arrival,
the tuition and methods
introduced by British pilots, all
graduates of the AWI school
at Lossiemouth, made their
way into the US Navy Fighter
Weapons School, which was
set up in 1969. Better known
as Top Gun, it remains the
most famous programme in
the history of naval aviation.
Soon after it was established
a Phantom fown by one of its
frst students shot down a MiG-
21, the frst time a US Navy
aircraft had succeeded in aerial
combat in two years.
Lord enjoyed the flm Top
Gun, but mused that it was
remarkable that any history
book studiously avoids men-
tion of any British involvement
and added that the flm had
not given us due justice. He
remained proud of his involve-
ment, however, and during his
time at Miramar had insisted
on using the call sign Brit 1.
This meant that his wingman,
though American, was forced to
use the call sign Brit 2.
Richard Stanley Lord was
born on June 20 1936 in
Johannesburg, where he was
educated at Parktown Boys
High. His father, a soldier in
the Imperial Light Horse, was
captured at Tobruk and did not
return from his PoW camp until
1946. Richards early fascina-
tion with fying was played out
in imaginary games of Biggles
high in the branches of a jaca-
randa tree.
Lord was one of several
English-speaking South Africans
who, despairing in the 1950s
and 1960s of a career in the
Afrikaner-dominated South
African Services, joined the
Royal Navy. His initial naval
training was at the Royal Naval
Engineering College, Manadon,
and he gained his wings in June
1959, fying Sea Venom and Sea
Vixen fghters from the aircraft
carriers Centaur, Victorious,
Hermes and Ark Royal.
In 1966 he found himself
fying from Ark Royal off Beira,
Mozambique, to enforce the oil
blockade of Rhodesia following
its Unilateral Declaration of
Independence. After one mis-
sion to intercept a suspected
blockade-runner, he returned to
fnd that the carrier had been
overtaken by a tropical storm
and that her fight deck was
pitching through 65ft: his air-
craft caught the third arrester
wire and damaged its undercar-
riage reckoned a near perfect
landing in the conditions.
Lord qualifed as an Air
Warfare Instructor and in 1968
began his two-year exchange
tour with the US Navy, fy-
ing Skyhawks and Phantoms.
On his return he was senior
instructor with 764 Naval Air
Squadron where he passed on
the skills and confdence that
had made such an impact in
America.
He returned to South Africa
in 1970, where he gained a
civil licence and began to teach
commercial pilots. But, as he
said later, a visit to Cape Town
by Ark Royal struck a deep
chord in my heart, and rekin-
dled his love of more adventur-
ous fying. Though heBrigadier
General Dick Lordstill was
unable to pass the Afrikaans
language test, he joined the
South African Air Force, the
second oldest air force in the
world.
With the SAAF Lord took
part in the Border War, fought
between South Africa and
Cuban-backed Angola from
1966 to 1989. He few Impala,
Sabre and Mirage fghters
against Cuban-piloted MiG
fghters, and commanded No 1
Squadron SAAF from 1981
to 1983, later directing SAAF
operations from Oshakati and
Windhoek (now the capital of
Namibia).
He ended his career in
charge of the Air Force Com-
mand Post in Pretoria, where
he was awarded a Distinguished
Service Cross for his role in
helping to organise the rescue
operations that saved all 581
passengers and crew of the
Greek cruise-liner Oceanos,
which sank off South Africas
eastern coast on August 4 1991.
Another highlight of his
career was to organise, in 1994,
the fy-past at the inauguration
of Nelson Mandela as President
of South Africa. Lord then re-
tired as a Brigadier General and
began writing about his life as
an aviator.
His books included Fire, Flood
and Ice (1998), a description of
SAAF search-and-rescue opera-
tions, conducted in conditions
ranging from drought, to white-
outs in Antarctica, to devastat-
ing deluges.
His biography,
From Tailhooker to Mudmover
(2000), which detailed his ex-
periences as a pilot with the
Royal Navy, the US Navy, and
in the Border War, is regarded
as one of the best and funniest
books about fying in the 1950s
and 1960s. He also wrote a his-
tory of the Mirage fghter in the
SAAF, called Vlamgat (2000) or,
in English, faming hole.
In From Fledgling to Eagle:
the South African Air Force
during the Border War (2008),
Lord drew on his own diaries
but also incorporated anecdotes
from dozens of other aviators
and squadrons, highlighting the
close relationship which existed
between the SAAF and South
African Special Forces.
Apart from fying, his passion
was military music, his favour-
ite piece being Sarie Marais,
the march of the Royal Marines,
which is based on an Afrikaner
folk song.
Dick Lord married, in 1968,
June Beckett, a BOAC air-host-
ess. While he complained about
the fantastical characterisations
in Top Gun, she contended that
the flms portrayal of big-talk-
ing fghter pilots was extremely
true-to-life. She survives him
with their two sons.
Brig Gen Dick Lord,
born June 20 1936,
died October 26 2011
[Obituary 06 Nov 2011]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
news/obituaries/military-obitu-
aries/naval-obituaries/8873213/
Brigadier-General-Dick-Lord.html
http://
i.tele
graph.co.
uk/multi
media/
archive/0
2047/
lord_2047
777b.jpg
Vampire Dual Seat
(side by side)
Trainer Jet Aircraft

Photos via Al Hickling
Jump to RN FAA Phantom F-4K trials on USS Saratoga story from Naval Aviation News Feb 1970
S
E
E
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N
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X
T
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P
A
G
E
S
USS Saratoga CVA-60 http://www.navy.mil/navydata/nav_legacy.asp?id=65
...In March of 1980, Saratoga and embarked airwing CVW-17 departed on their 16th Mediterranean deployment. Highlights
of the deployment included major exercises with the USS Forrestal (CV 59) battle group, and visits by the Chief of Naval
Operations, Adm. Thomas B. Hayward, and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Thomas C. Crow. Then-commanding
officer, Capt. James H. Flatley III, made naval aviation history on 21 June 1980 when he completed his 1,500th carrier
arrested landing. To make the event special, Midshipman James H. Flatley IV, the Captain's son, rode in the back seat....

(Then) LEUT Flatley Landed the 'NO HOOK HERK' also JUMP
USS Independence Naval Aviation News June 1975
http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/?product_id=1850
http://www.phantomf4k.org/resources/4271/imageGallery/DL2.jpg
Impending Hookon. Another F4K parked in Fly4. Archive EM(A) John Fisher
3 0 0 CORRESPONDENCE
unity', and belongs to a five-nation Far
East military exercise. For reasons mainly
connected with Denis Healey's desire to
save face with the locals when Chairman
Harold speeded up our Far Eastern with-
drawal from 1975 to 1971, Healey cooked
up Bersatu Padu to show how all three
services would jump into action to save
Malaysia and Singapore in an emergency.
So last week Complete Unity cranked
into action. Troops poured into Singapore
with Land Rovers, helicopters, guns and
other items designed to let Lee Kuan Yew
get on with reduoing his golf handicap in
peace. A shuttle of R.A.F. VC 10's showed
that London and Malaysia are but 20
hours apart. And to keep Denis's name
shining bright in the Vd1.P. lists the Ministry
of Defence flew out 3 7 journalists to watch
the fun.
Knowing that of the 14,000 British in-
volved nearly 10, 000 were Navy and
Marines, the unprejudiced might have
thought the Navy would figure in the
journalists' programme. It did - but only
after some last-minute stitching-up of the
P.R. organisations' own Bersatu Padu.
Apparently they got so enthused about air-
lifting out 2,000 odd soldiers and a similar
gaggle of R.A.F. that (they completely for-
got that the Jolly Jack Tars had been there
all the time, hull down on the horizon and
interfering with nobody.
It must also have been rather humiliating
for the R.A.F. to find that 'the Exercise
scenerio made them dependent on the Navy
ohopper pilots and Marine Cknmados
capturing an air-strip for them, and prob-
ably painting that silly slogan ' my Navy"
on the end of the runway to boot. Everyone
thought Chairman Harold had discovered
how to manage without the Fleet Air Arm.
Anyway - surprise, surprise - when the
Navy finally did get rememibered by the
P.R. boys the only day available was the
day after the Commando carrier Buhvm-k
was due to sail. Happily the said sailing
was postponed and the Navy had the las?r
word.
After a superb demonstration of Com-
mando assault techniques, they said coolly
that while the Army and R.A.F. spent the
next six weeks getting acclimatked, Bdwmk
was off to show the flag at Expo ' 70. They
would return when everyone else was
ready. It is hardly surprising that one of
the 6ide-shows at Bersatu Padu is a cam-
paign by the Australian Navy to persuade
Fleet Air Arm pilots to defect to them.
Yours ,truly,
G.A.F.
Naval Review
July 1970
Exercise
Bersatu
Padu
http://www.naval-
review.co.uk/
issues/1970-3.pdf
Most people also don't realise that TopGun school
was heavily based on the RN FAA AWI course
and that RN instructors taught USAF pilots in the
model precursor to TopGun. In fact the RAG man-
ual for students was written by a RN FAA pilot.
gf0012-aust comments:
http://www.defencetalk.com/forums/navy-maritime/role-aircraft-carriers-conflicts-10867/
-
Of significance is Ex BERSATU PADU. Involving
RN & RAN carriers - and which the UK DoD was
able to learn that organic air support provided by
RAN Skyhawks was far more effective and timely
than any land based air provided by RAAF Mirages
and RAF Lightnings. It is also an expeditionary
event, so has some relevance.
Navy News
Aug 1977
L i e u t e n a n t - C o m m a n d e r
L i e u t e n a n t ( S L l
L i e u t e n a n t ! S L )
S u b - L i e u t e n a n t < S L l
A c t i n g S u b - L i e u t e n a n t ( S L )
E n g i n e e r L i e u t e n a n t l S L )
S u b - L i e u t e n a n t ( S L )
A c t i n g S u b - L i e u t e n a n t ( S L )
225
NAVAL AIR SQUADRONS
HC 723
EX
EX
EX
EX
EX
EX
EX
EX
EX
EX
EX
EX
EX
EX
EX
EX
EX
( P ) B.J. Bo e t t c h e r
I n C o m m a n d !
( P ) V.T. Ba t t e s e
( a s S e n i o r P i l o t )
( P ) R.J. K y l e
( P ) K .J. Al d e r m a n
( P ) J.R. Br o w n
( 0) L.N. P h il l ips
( P ) A.W . Cr id d l e
( 0) J.L. Va g g
( P ) M .D. Bu c k e t t
( P ) T.J. M o r g a n
( 0) A.M . Ca s s
( P ) P .H. P in n ig e r
( P ) N.A. Ja c k s o n
( P ) D. K n o w l e s
( P ) R.K . La w r e n c e
( P ) D.A. F a ir h u r s t
( 0) M .J. W r ig h t
B.T. Ha m il t o n
A d d i t i o n a l
EX ( P ) H.G. Fo r b e s
EX L .F.J . C o s t a i n
EX ( P ) G.A . L e d g e r
EX ( P ) J.H. Ed w a r d s
EX ( P ) C.W . To w n s e n d
EX ( P ) D.J. Sin c l a ir
1 2.1 .76
5.1 .76
5.8 .74
1 8 .1 .75
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2.2,
1 9 .1
2.2
2.2
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1 9 .1 2.71 )
1 9 .1 2.71 )
( R e - f o r m e d a t N o w r a , 1 8 t h Fe b r u a r y , 1 9 5 7 )
L i e u t e n a n t - C o m m a n d e r
L i e u t e n a n t
L i e u t e n a n t ( S L )
L i e u t e n a n t
M i d s h i p m e n ( S L )
E n g i n e e r S u b - L i e u t e n a n t ( S L )
VC 721
EX ( P ) P .C. M a r s h a l l ( I n C o m m a n d ) 7.7.75
EX ( P ) C.C. Bl e n n e r h a s s e t ( a s 1 5.7.74
S e n i o r P i l o t )
EX ( P ) M .B. No r d e e n , U.S.N. 9 .9 .71
EN P .C. Jo h n s o n 9 .2.76
EN W E R.B. Vit e n b e r g s 2 1 . 1 1 . 75
EX ( 0) J .H. J o n e s 1 7.6 .75
EX ( P ) C .R .O . R e x 1 7.6 .75
EX ( ( P ) P . C o x 22.9 .75
EX ( P ) J .C . C l a r k 1 5.1 2.75
A d d i t i o n a l
EX P .H. Gr e e n f i e l d 1 .1 2.75
EX ( P ) C .F. T o m l i n s o n 1 1 .8 .75
EX ( P ) R .S . N o r m a n 5.1 .76
EX ( P ) A .J . B r a d t k e 29 .1 0.75
A .P . M i d d l e t o n 1 9 .5.75
L i e u t e n a n t
U n d e r g o i n g T r a i n i n g
EX ( P ) D.J . R a m s a y
EX ( P ) B.J. E v a n s
23.6 .75
2 3 .6 .7 5
( Fo r m e d a t N o w r a , 1 s t J u n e , 1 9 5 5 !
RAN Navy List March 1976
2nd RAN AWI Course
L to R: Peter Marshall & Max Poole 26 April 2012
at NAS Nowra with former TA4G 880
[formerly NZ6255] J Hangar
http://www.flightglobal.com/
pdfarchive/view/1969/1969%
20-%201337.html+...38.html
http://www.flightglobal.com/airspace/photos/militaryaviation1946-2006cutaways/images/12060/mcdonnell-douglas-f-4k-phantom-cutaway.jpg
F-4K PHANTOM
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1969/1969%
20-%200561.html & ...62.html
Leut Al Hickling RN later
SP/CO VC-724 in 1973
The flying teams; from the left: Peter Goddard;
Paul Waterhouse; Doug Borrowman; Brian
Davies; Al Hickling and Hugh Drake
DAILY MAIL TRANS-ATLANTIC AIR RACE 1969
Leut Phil
Thompson
Beecroft Range,
RANArmy
co-operation
publicity
photo,
late 1973
Australian Army
Sergeant
Graham Hay
VC-724
CO
Lcdr Al
Hickling
Holden Utility
Click above for:
Who ya gonna
call? Sea Vixen!
Jump to
another
example
Public Domain
THE HOOK,
Winter 2012
http://www.tailhook.net/PDF/Hook_Magazines/8.Winter2012.pdf
Vietnam War era unofficial poster
A similar poster
(with vultures)
was seen in
the office of
VC-724 Senior
Pilot (SP) in the
early 1970s
VC 724 Sqdn Linebook January 1974
http://www.avcollect2.co.uk/AvCollect/
buccaneer/brough/1st_carrier_landing.jpg
XK523 THE VERY FIRST CARRIER LANDING
Derek Whitehead makes a 'hookless' approach to
make the very first carrier landing onto HMS
Victorious on 19th Jan 1960 in XK523. Great Weather!
George Heron RN/RAN
On the 26th of March 1965, 736 Squadron was
reformed at Lossiemouth from 809 Squadron, as a
Jet Strike Training Squadron equipped with
Buccaneer S.1s. The S1s were partially replaced by
Buccaneer S2s from May 1966. The squadron
eventually disbanded on the 25th of February 1972
Jump Back
Cmdr George Heron top photo 2nd from right Navy News 10 April 1981
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HMS Ark Royal was the most powerful warship the Royal Navy
had ever put to sea.50,000 tons of British Sovereign Territory a
floating airfield that was home to 2,700 men, a stockpile of nuc-
lear weapons, and the most modern, capable air force in Europe.
But by the early seventies, Ark Royal was in the twilight of her
career. Only kept in service to help face down the Cold War threat
from the powerful Soviet Navy, it seemed Ark would play no
further part on the worlds stage.
Then, in January 1972, intelligence reached Whitehall that
British Honduras now Belize was threatened with imminent
invasion. To defend the colony Britains response had to be im-
mediate and unequivocal. And Ark Royal offered the only effect-
ive means of preventing the little Central American country being
overrun by battle-hardened, US-trained Guatemalan paratroops.
But to do so the old carrier would first have to endure a destruct-
ive, high-speed 1,500 mile dash across the Atlantic towards the
Gulf of Mexico. Only then would it be possible to execute an
audacious, record-breaking plan to launch a pair of Buccaneers
on an extra-ordinary and unprecedented long-range mission. It
was an operation loaded with difficulty and danger.
Drawing on many hours of interviews with the participants and
previously unseen, classified documents here and abroad, Rowl-
and White, best-selling author of Vulcan 607 has pieced together
this remarkable episode for the first time. And has brought to life
a unique, unfamiliar and thrilling piece of post-war British military
history: the world of the Fleet Air Arms last Top Guns.
-
For a controversy about this last 'Top Guns' go here. (Tailhook
Association has picked up this RN FAA AWIs started TOPGUN story):
-
http://tailhookdaily.typepad.com/tailhook_daily_briefing/2009/03/the-ault-retort.html
&
http://www.neptunuslex.com/2009/03/23/hmmm-4/
VF-805 linebook page(s) 1 of 2
CO SP
Ex-RN
Buccaneer Pilot
Late 1972 perhaps VC 724 CO Lcdr Brian Dutch AWI lower left with
Leut Chris Olsson lower right (formerly of the RN FAA Buccaneer pilot)
Chris Olsson had a
younger brother Nigel
who was the drummer
in Elton John Band in
1970s
Leut Chris
Olsson
transferred
from the
Royal Navy
(formerly a
Buccaneer
pilot) to
the RAN
beginning
of 1970s
due to the
RN FAA
winding
down at
that time
Flying Instructors Prayer:
My student is a headache that I do not want.
He maketh me to lie down at night very weary.
He leadeth me beside high-tension wires.
Yea, though he knoweth better, my hair turneth grey.
And though I fly on the clearest days,
I fear much evil, for he is with me. Amen.
THE HOOK, Spring 2009
http://www.tailhook.org/Sp09catwalk.pdf
Yea tho I fly thru the valley of death,
I fear no evil...
Because I'm the best in the valley
SPs Prayer
Flight Line Cafeteria
AL
Photo via Al Hickling