[Kevmo]

That sounds very familiar to me. I recall similar exercises where the Harrier pulled up vertically 100 feet, pointed their radar and missile tracker at the fighter jets, and recorded multiple kills.

Nowadays, such a thing can be done with drones as far as I can tell.

Do ya got a link to the original article?

[BwanaNdege]

Do ya got a link to the original article

There was no "article". My post was recounting a conversation I had with the pilot who actually flew the trials at "Top Gun" (or maybe just China Lake). He was a friend of mine in the squadron.

He was the total antithesis of the Tom Cruise character. He was calm, even headed, a methodical teacher. Top Gun was (is) about sending a pilot from your squadron to learn techniques (not just buzz the tower) and be able to return to teach those techniques to rest of the pilots in the squadron.

I flew with a hot dog pilot like " Maverick", who later led a flight of two helos into "cumulogranite", a granite-filled cloud, killing himself and four others, injuring several and destroying two very expensive aircraft.

Full disclosure: I have the mindset of a Helo Pilot, hot a Jet Jock.

One correction to Harry reasoner. Helicopters actually CAN glide, at about a 4:1 slope. It is called "Autorotation". I've done hundreds of practice autorotations, including Full Autos (no engine power recovery) to the ground in Bell Jet Rangers and even in a UH-1L Huey.