Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
Original language
English
Categories
Politics & government

TOPGUN

Dan Pedersen

An American Story

Timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School, aka "TOPGUN", the founder of the program shares the untold story of how he and eight other young pilots revolutionized the art of aerial combat and created the center for excellence and incubator of leadership that thrives to this day.

When American fighter jets were being downed at a horrifying and unprecedented rate during the Vietnam War, the U.S. Navy turned to a young lieutenant colonel, 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 Phantom F-4 to their will and learn how to dogfight all over again.

Now, the Fighter Weapons School's founder, the man who was picked to lead it at the start, from Miramar to Area 51 to the war in Vietnam, tells the inside story. Pedersen established a legacy that was built by him and his "Original Eight" and carried on for six decades by some of America's greatest leaders. The book is a heartfelt personal testimony to an elite community of innovators and disruptors who stand as an inspiration to all.

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.

Available products
Book Published 2019-03-05 by Hachette Book Group - New York (USA)
Book Published 2019-03-05 by Hachette Book Group - New York (USA)

Comments

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.

Teeming with white-knuckled action and the dynamic personalities who would come to define a generation of combat pilots, Topgun brings the deadly dance of air warfare alive.

A superb read...Dan Pedersen's Topgun is a riveting, seat-of-the-pants flight into the lethal world of the fighter pilot told by the man who started it all!

For those who will never experience the thrilling privilege of soaring at Mach 2 in the back seat of a Navy F-4 Phantom fighter, Dan Pedersen's superb memoir is the next best thing....Many aviators-turned-authors lose readers in jargon and procedures, but Pedersen's full-hearted personal narrative engages them with maverick charm, showing how he and his innovative team reinvented the art of air-to-air combat in the jet age. Topgun: An American Story is as revelatory as a freshly declassified briefing, written with the flair and insight of Tom Clancy.

Netherlands: De Boekerij

"Teeming with white-knuckled action and the dynamic personalities who would come to define a generation of combat pilots, Topgun brings the deadly dance of air warfare alive."

Jerry Bruckheimer is producing Top Gun: Maverick, a sequel to the 1986 blockbuster and starring Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer and Jennifer Connelly, which is scheduled for a Summer 2019 worldwide release.

Goose and Maverick, move over - this is the true heart of Topgun, told with energy, style, humor, and tactical brilliance...a 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.