History Awesome / TopGun

* In a hop in which Viper shows up as one of the simulated aggressors, Maverick gets defeated when he underestimates the teamwork of him and Jester. But before he goes down, he genuinely gives Viper a run for his money with that chase of his; Viper admits to himself that Mav really ''is'' that good of a pilot. And just minutes ago, [[OhCrap all of Maverick's wingmen were pissing their pants over]] [[TheDreaded Viper's presence]]...

* The climactic dogfight with the [=MiGs=]. Especially during the part where Maverick overcomes his HeroicBSOD at the beginning of the dogfight when he nearly goes into a flat spin that caused Goose's death halfway in the movie and Maverick [[DodgeByBraking dodging a MiG by braking]] then blowing him away with one last missile.
* The aerial cinematography as a whole, which is still stunning to this day. This is a movie that could easily be done with CG substitutes in this day and age, but there's something awestriking knowing you're watching real fighter jets the whole way through.
* The FighterLaunchingSequence in the opening deserves a mention. The entire intro is basically a love letter to the F-14A Tomcat, with amazing shots of the carrier crew prepping the fighters for launch, and then as the engines light up [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic Danger Zone]] kicks in. A corollary to that is the awesomeness that was the Grumman F-14 Tomcat. A carrier-based supersonic interceptor with the most advanced avionics and weapons of the time, including the AIM-54 Phoenix missile system. The workhorse of United States Naval Aviation, it served until retirement in 2004, providing fleet interceptor protection as well as being modified for ground-attack roles in its latter years.
* Maverick and Goose's encounter with the [=MiG=] harassing Cougar in the opener crosses this with SugarWiki/{{Funny|Moments}}. Flying his Tomcat ''inverted'' within a few feet of the [=MiG=] is about as effective demonstration of just ''how good'' a pilot Maverick is as the film-makers could have used. Then Maverick [[FlippingTheBird deploys the middle finger]].
* In a hop in which Viper shows up as one of the simulated aggressors, Maverick gets defeated when he underestimates the teamwork of him and Jester. But before he goes down, he genuinely gives Viper a run for his money with that chase of his; Viper admits to himself that Mav really ''is'' that good of a pilot. And just minutes ago [[OhCrap all of Maverick's wingmen were pissing their pants over]] [[TheDreaded Viper's presence]]...

* Meta example: During shooting Creator/TonyScott needed a specific shot and was told by commander of the aircraft carrier that it would cost $25,000 to turn the carrier and get it. Scott broke out his personal checkbook. He got the shot.

* The FighterLaunchingSequence in the opening deserves a mention. The entire intro is basically a love letter to the F-14A Tomcat, with amazing shots of the carrier crew prepping the fighters for launch, and then as the engines light up [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic Danger Zone]] kicks in.
** A corollary to that is the awesomeness that was the Grumman F-14 Tomcat. A carrier-based supersonic interceptor with the most advanced avionics and weapons of the time, including the AIM-54 Phoenix missile system. The workhorse of United States Naval Aviation, it served until retirement in 2004, providing fleet interceptor protection as well as being modified for ground-attack roles in its latter years.

* The climactic dogfight with the [=MiGs=]. Especially during the part where Maverick overcomes his HeroicBSOD at the beginning of the dogfight [[spoiler: when he nearly goes into a flat spin that caused Goose's death halfway in the movie]] and Maverick [[DodgeByBraking dodging a MiG by braking]] then blowing him away with one last missile.

* In a hop in which Viper shows up as one of the simulated aggressors, Maverick gets defeated when he underestimates the teamwork of him and Jester. But before he goes down, he genuinely gives Viper a run for his money with that chase of his; Viper admits to himself that Mav really ''is'' that good of a pilot. And just minutes ago all of Maverick's wingmen were pissing their pants over Viper's presence...

[[caption-width-right:350:"Greetings!"]]

* In a hop in which Viper shows up as one of the simulated aggressors, Maverick gets defeated when he underestimates the teamwork of him and Jester. But before he goes down, he genuinely gives Viper a run for his money with that chase of his; Viper admits to himself that Mav really ''is'' that good of a pilot.

* Maverick and Goose's encounter with the [=MiG=] harassing Cougar in the opener crosses this with SugarWiki/{{Funny|Moments}}. Flying his Tomcat ''inverted'' within a few feet of the [=MiG=] is about as effective demonstration of just ''how good'' a pilot Maverick is as the film-makers could have used. Then Maverick [[FlippingTheBird deploys the middle finger]].

* Maverick and Goose's encounter with the [=MiG=] harassing Cougar in the opener crosses this with SugarWiki/{{Funny|Moments}}. Flying his Tomcat ''inverted'' within a few feet of the [=MiG=] is about as effective demonstration of just ''how good'' a pilot Maverick is as the film-makers could have used

* The FighterLaunchingSequence in the opening deserves a mention. The entire intro is basically a love letter to the F-14A Tomcat, with amazing shots of the carrier crew prepping the fighters for launch, and then as the engines light up [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome Danger Zone]] kicks in.

* Maverick and Goose's encounter with the [=MiG=] harassing Cougar in the opener crosses this with CrowningMomentOfFunny. Flying his Tomcat ''inverted'' within a few feet of the [=MiG=] is about as effective demonstration of just ''how good'' a pilot Maverick is as the film-makers could have used

* Meta example: During shooting TonyScott needed a specific shot and was told by commander of the aircraft carrier that it would cost $25,000 to turn the carrier and get it. Scott broke out his personal checkbook. He got the shot.

* The climactic dogfight with the MiGs. Especially during the part where Maverick overcomes his HeroicBSOD at the beginning of the dogfight [[spoiler: when he nearly goes into a flat spin that caused Goose's death halfway in the movie]] and Maverick [[DodgeByBraking dodging a MiG by braking]] then blowing him away with one last missile.

** A corollary to that is the awesomeness that was the Grumman F-14 Tomcat. A carrier-based supersonic interceptor with the most advanced avionics and weapons of the time, including the AIM-54 Phoenix missile system. The workhorse of United States Naval Aviation, it served until retirement in 2004, providing fleet interceptor protection as well as being modified for ground-attack roles in its latter years.

* The FighterLaunchingSequence in the opening deserves a mention. The entire intro is basically a love letter to the F-14A Tomcat, with amazing shots of the carrier crew prepping the fighters for launch, and then as the engines light up [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome Danger Zone]] kicks in.

* Meta example: During shooting TonyScott needed a specific shot and was told by commander of the aircraft carrier that it would cost $25,000 to turn the carrier and get the it. Scott wrote a personal check to the commander to get the shot.

* Meta example: During shooting TonyScott needed a specific shot and was told by commander of the aircraft carrier that it would cost $25,000 to turn the carrier and get the it. Scott wrote a personal check to the commander to get the shot.

* Meta example: During shooting TonyScott needed a specific shot and was told by commander of the aircraft carrier that it would cost $25,000 to turn the carrier and get the shot. Scott wrote a personal check to the commander to get the shot.

* The climactic dogfight with the MiGs. Especially during the part where Maverick overcomes his HeroicBSOD at the beginning of the dogfight [[spoiler: when he nearly goes into a flat spin that caused Goose's death halfway in the movie]] and Maverick [[DodgeByBraking dodging a MiG by braking]] then blowing him away with one last missile.

* The climactic dogfight with the MiGs. Especially during the part where Maverick overcomes his HeroicBSOD at the beginning of the dogfight [[spoiler: when he nearly goes into a flat spin that caused Goose's death halfway in the movie]] and Maverick [[DodgeByBreaking dodging an enemy by breaking]] then blowing him away with one last missile.

* The climactic dogfight with the MiGs. Especially during the part where Maverick overcomes his HeroicBSOD at the beginning of the dogfight [[spoiler: when he nearly goes into a flat spin that caused Goose's death halfway in the movie]] and Maverick [[DodgeByBreaking dodging a MiG by breaking]] then blowing him away with one last missile.