Read by Jim Meskimen

NATIONAL BESTSELLER "If you loved the movie, you will love the real story in the book." -- Fox & Friends On the 50th anniversary of the creation of the "Topgun" Navy Fighter School, its founder shares the remarkable inside story of how he and eight other risk-takers revolutionized the art of aerial combat. When American fighter jets were being downed at an unprecedented rate during the Vietnam War, the U.S. Navy turned to a young lieutenant commander, Dan Pedersen, to figure out a way to reverse their dark fortune. On a shoestring budget and with little support, Pedersen picked eight of the finest pilots to help train a new generation to bend jets like the F-4 Phantom to their will and learn how to dogfight all over again. What resulted was nothing short of a revolution -- one that took young American pilots from the crucible of combat training in the California desert to the blistering skies of Vietnam, in the process raising America's Navy combat kill ratio from two enemy planes downed for every American plane lost to more than 22 to 1. Topgun emerged not only as an icon of America's military dominance immortalized by Hollywood but as a vital institution that would shape the nation's military strategy for generations to come. Pedersen takes readers on a colorful and thrilling ride -- from Miramar to Area 51 to the decks of aircraft carriers in war and peace-through a historic moment in air warfare. He helped establish a legacy that was built by him and his "Original Eight" -- the best of the best -- and carried on for six decades by some of America's greatest leaders. Topgun is a heartfelt and personal testimony to patriotism, sacrifice, and American innovation and daring. Dan Pedersen entered the U.S. Navy in 1953. He was the senior officer in the group of nine men who formed the Navy's legendary "Topgun" program at Naval Air Station Miramar in March 1969. He served in combat during the Vietnam War, with a flying cruise on USS Hancock (CVA-19) and three on USS Enterprise (CVN-65). He retired as a captain, having accumulated 6,100 flight hours and 1,005 carrier landings while flying 39 types of aircraft. He lives with his wife outside San Diego. "If you loved the movie, you will love the real story in the book."-Pete Hegseth, Fox & Friends "If an institution is the lengthened shadow of a single man, then the history of modern naval aviation might well be described as the lengthened shadow of Dan Pedersen. Here, in direct, vivid, and unvarnished prose, is the high-flying, supersonic tale of the Topgun program and its extraordinary founder. Through it all, Pedersen's innovative spirit, as well as his essential modesty, shines through."-Hampton Sides, New York Times bestselling author GhostSoldiers and On Desperate Ground "It's hard to read Dan Pedersen's Topgun and not think of Tom Cruise rock-'n'-rollin' through the California mountains in the similarly named motion picture more than 30 years pleasure to read."-Wall Street Journal "Pedersen's bold, white-knuckle action and passion to be the best make this an exciting book from beginning to end."-Christian Science Monitor, Best Books of the Month "Goose and Maverick, move over -- this is the true heart of Topgun, told with energy, style, humor, and tactical masterpiece that captures the essence of naval aviation in all its complexity and beauty. Dan Pedersen takes us on a high-speed jet ride through the fast times of Topgun, the Navy, and the need to fight our enemies from a position of superiority."-Admiral James Stavridis, USN (Ret.),Supreme Allied Commander of NATO (2009-2013), chairman of the U.S. Naval Institute,and author of Sea Power: The History and Geopolitics of the World's Oceans "With the hot-seat velocity and cockpit realism of a military combat thriller, the author delivers exacting details and emotional noble, thrillingly realized combat aviation memoir from one of America's finest."-Kirkus

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