Writing 'TOPGUN – The Legacy': An Author’s Perspective
Origins of TOPGUN – The Legacy I had written on TOPGUN earlier in my writing career – first, as a chapter in one of my Osprey Publishing...
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Jack Donovan
- Mar 30, 2022
Pop into France
In mid-March 2022 I received an email from Jack Donovan of Minneapolis, Minn. telling of the World War 2 travails of his late father,...
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Vincent "Jell-O" Aiello
- Nov 16, 2021
The Watch
Some pilot I am. I don’t play golf, I don’t drink coffee, and I’m not all that into big fancy wristwatches. Except, of course, for my...
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Vincent "Jell-O" Aiello
- Aug 20, 2021
Inherent Dangers
Captain A. G. Lamplugh famously said, “aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it is...
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Vincent "Jell-O" Aiello
- Feb 8, 2021
Not Today
But since that day I’ve been trying to do better. I try to notice where I am, what I'm doing right now, then I try to relish the moment...
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Mike Torrealday
- Dec 18, 2020
Welcome to the ‘Caterpillar Club’
BANG!The sound was as startling as the rapid deceleration accompanying it. My feet were knocked off the rudder pedals and the jet began...
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Mike Torrealday
- Oct 20, 2020
Crossing the Pond
Planning The movement of all fighter deployments—whether training or combat—is planned by an ‘Air Operations Squadron.’ The AOS is...
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Jack Curtis
- May 14, 2020
Hello Darkness, My Old Friend
On the signal from a 20-something Sailor you advance the throttles forward and feel the machine come to life. You don’t hear much because...
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Vincent "Jell-O" Aiello
- Nov 19, 2019
UCLA NROTC Gala Address
As we spend a few minutes together this evening—me now a couple years removed from my career, you on the cusp of entering yours—I thought...
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Jack Curtis
- May 27, 2019
The First One
He was good at it, and he made it look easy. And for a middle of the bell curve kind of guy like myself, I was equal parts awed and...
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Brian Sinclair
- Mar 25, 2019
To Push or Not To Push...
During a recent podcast episode we read a listener question asking whether either one of us had ever been involved in a mishap. Co-host...
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Kevin "Hozer" Miller
- Jan 5, 2019
A Day at the Beach
Yes, flying high performance aircraft off a ship was fun. Well, maybe not like the goofy grin you have on an amusement park roller...
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Vincent "Jell-O" Aiello
- Dec 14, 2018
Three More Days
This is the fourth and final installment chronicling my 2003 deployment with VFA-97 aboard USS Nimitz, as told through emails from the...
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Vincent "Jell-O" Aiello
- Nov 7, 2018
Independence Day in Iraq
This is the third installment chronicling my 2003 deployment with VFA-97 aboard USS Nimitz, as told through emails from the time. It is...
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Vincent "Jell-O" Aiello
- Oct 9, 2018
Kai's Birthday Email
April 21, 2003. Coalition forces, led by the Americans, have taken Baghdad and greater Iraq. The conventional fighting was mostly over...
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Vincent "Jell-O" Aiello
- Sep 27, 2018
Three Days
Kevin Miller’s latest novel, Fight Fight, opens with our hero “Flip” Wilson facing a sudden aircraft carrier deployment in response to...
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Vincent "Jell-O" Aiello
- Aug 18, 2018
On Fighter Piloting and Fatherhood
The need to be proactive Student pilots are instructed early in their training to “never let an airplane take you somewhere your brain...
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Vincent "Jell-O" Aiello
- May 11, 2018
Military Aviation Mishaps
Mishaps Lately, news outlets have reported several instances of military aircraft involved in mishaps because… well, there have been a...
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