Top Gun: Encyclopedia II - Top Gun - Plot summary

Top Gun - Plot summary

Tom Cruise plays Lt. Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell, a cocky young United States Navy F-14 Tomcat pilot. Maverick is the son of a fighter pilot shot down during the Vietnam War and listed as missing in action, the details of which haunt Maverick to this very day.

The film begins with Maverick and his RIO (Radar Intercept Officer, the back seater in the two-man F-14) "Goose" (Anthony Edwards), flying wing man to lead pilot "Cougar" and his RIO, "Merlin" (Robbins), en route to intercept an unknown inbound (a "bogey"). It turns out to be two enemy MiG-28 aircraft (the country is left unnamed), and although they ultimately do not engage the MiGs in combat, the experience unsettles Cougar. Maverick, low on fuel, heroically risks his own plane in order to help Cougar back to the aircraft carrier Enterprise. (Note: The US assigned odd-numbered classifications to Soviet aircraft during the Cold War.)

Cougar is horrified at the incident, risking his life when he has a family to think about. He realizes he has lost the edge and "turns in his 'wings'" (retires). That means Maverick and Goose are now the best team in the squadron, and are sent to the Navy's elite "TOPGUN" fighter pilot school (US Navy Fighter Weapons School, now known as US Navy Strike Fighter Tactical Instruction) at Miramar, near San Diego, California.

While testing his instructors' patience with his reckless flying and establishing a rivalry with top student Tom 'Iceman' Kazanski (Val Kilmer), Maverick falls in love with his beautiful female civilian instructor, Charlotte 'Charlie' Blackwood (Kelly McGillis).

When Goose is killed in a forced emergency ejection during one of the mock airborne engagements, Maverick begins to lose his nerve. Top Gun's commanding officer eventually takes Maverick aside and explains that he served with his father in Vietnam. During heavy dogfighting they wound up on the wrong side of "some line on a map"; Maverick's father was shot down and the State Department, hoping to avoid an international incident, covered up the details. Newly motivated by this conversation, Maverick elects to graduate Top Gun and remain a pilot.

During the post-graduation party, Iceman and Maverick are ordered to report to Enterprise. A ship has 'broken down' inside hostile waters and the pilots are to fly cover for it until repairs are completed. In the ensuing air-to-air engagement, one Tomcat is shot down and the catapult is jammed, preventing reinforcement. When Maverick almost collides with a MiG-28, he briefly loses his nerve and turns from the fight. Clutching Goose's dogtags and calling upon his old buddy, Maverick is reinvigorated and engages the enemy.

Maverick returns to Enterprise a hero, having shot down five MiG-28s. Given his choice of posting, he decides to return to Top Gun as an instructor.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Plot summary", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki