Oops..! Can I try that again?

[Hagar]

I read this in the paper in my local cafe this morning.
Note that the the Sun is not the most reliable of newspapers. The pretty pictures are nice though.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004321065,00.html
[quote]EXCLUSIVE

Top Gun hits lamppost

By JOHN KAY
Chief Reporter

AN RAF Top Gun pilot was facing the high jump last night - for flying so low he hit a lamppost.
The ace clipped the airbase light at 54ft with a wing tip on his Jaguar attack jet while doing 600mph.

He wrestled control of the crippled single-seater and headed straight out to sea from the coastal base in Cyprus.

Ground crews went into a full-scale emergency - but the pilot swooped round over the Med and headed back to base before slamming the plane on a runway.

RAF police immediately impounded the

[HawkerTempest5]

I read that this morning at work. Not sure that "The Sun" got all the facts right though.

[ozzy72]

Err Top Gun? Isn't that what graduates of the USN fighter school at Miramar get called?

[Scorpiоn]

Err Top Gun? Isn't that what graduates of the USN fighter school at Miramar get called?

I was wondering about that...

I don't generally take reporters seriously anyway.

[Hagar]

Err Top Gun? Isn't that what graduates of the USN fighter school at Miramar get called?

I did point out that this report is from the good ol' Currant Bun. They never let the facts interfere with a good story.

I'm not sure the Miramar graduates have exclusive claim to the name Top Gun. To the best of my knowledge this definition has only been in everyday use since the film became popular. I certainly hadn't seen it before then. I imagine the old gunslingers used it long before the Wright brothers made their first flight.

[Scorpiоn]

Yes, but note the capitalization.

He's the top gun of the West.

He's a Top Gun ace.

I'm just wasting my breath [finger strength].  Don't listen to me.

[Felix/FFDS]

RAF pilots are notoriously afraid of heights, from early on.  One of the prime examples of such scared RAF pilots is one D. Bader, when flying a BRistol Bulldog clipped a wing.

There's something about the Middle East and RAF pilots' natural fear of heights.....  There are several well-known photos of RAF Hunters and Jaguars ...

[Hagar]

Yes, but note the capitalization.

How about [switches to best John Wayne drawl] "Ah'm the Top Gun 'round here & don'cha fergit it......!"

[quote]
I'm just wasting my breath [finger strength].

[Hagar]

Thank you Felix. Too many shoots & leaves.

[Stormtropper]

[quote]RAF pilots are notoriously afraid of heights, from early on.

[loomex]

Miramar is closed. It is now done at NAS Fallon (KNFL), about 75 miles ESE of Reno, Nevada

[ozzy72]

The inverted bit is just so I can keep an eye on the ground

[Hagar]

Investigating officers found the damage to the post was exactly 54ft above ground level.  

So how high was this lampost?
Seems a daft place to stick something like that.

I remember one of the Red Arrows clipped the mast of a small yacht during a display over Brighton seafront some years ago. The aircraft ended up in the water & the pilot got a tad wet. Of course, the yacht wasn't supposed to be there.

[xFLAMESx]

The inverted bit is just so I can keep an eye on the ground

See!
Why wasn't the pilot as smart as ozzy?
Although at that altitude and speed - he'd have to be insane to go inverted
How many times have you been thankful you use a sim Mark?

[glb]Thanx. Carl[/glb]

[DougC-3]

Top Gun... I imagine the old gunslingers used it long before the Wright brothers made their first flight.

In dime novels at least .

...and Ozzy said, [quote]The inverted bit is just so I can keep an eye on the ground