After many recent episodes discussing how 1986’s Top Gun and this year’s Top Gun: Maverick are “movies, not documentaries,” it seemed appropriate to round out ‘Top Gun Month’ (which ended up being two months) with a look at the 2008 Naval Aviation story that is a documentary.

This week, episode 20 of the F-14 Tomcast is repurposed to further share the story of how Speed & Angels came to be. Tomcast hosts Crunch & Bio welcome past FPP guest Paco Chierici and Meagan “Vargas” Varley who describe how the documentary was imagined and filmed.

Listener questions addressed on this episode include why a pair of aircraft were needed to attack the target in Top Gun: Maverick, inclement weather considerations for fighter cockpits, Super Hornet afterburner use during catapult shots, and why grown men are weeping during Top Gun: Maverick.

Episode artwork by Janek Krause. Top Gun anthem covered by Jaime Lopez / announcements by Clint Bell.