Top Gun

Visible crew/equipment: When Charlie walks down to the front of the class in the hanger, Jester is the only one at the front. Look at the reflection of Maverick's glasses, and the reflection shows lots of people standing in front of him, likely film crew. (00:26:20)

Top Gun mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When "Charlie" is first introduced to the class, she struts down the aisle in heels. When she follows Maverick into the building, you can briefly see that she is wearing flats to compensate for Maverick's short stature. (00:26:00 - 00:28:50)

Continuity mistake: At the end, a victorious Maverick is hoisted on the shoulders of the guys. As he goes up, he isn't wearing sunglasses. His head goes out of the shot, and when he comes down, he's wearing a pair.

Factual error: Tom Cruise says of the song 'Sitting on the Dock of the Bay' "my folks loved it". However, his father died in 1965, his mother died "shortly after him", and the song wasn't written until 1967.

Top Gun mistake picture

Other mistake: In the opening scene is a paragraph describing why the Top Gun school was started. The word "insure" is used when the word should have been "ensure". They wanted to guarantee the U.S. had superior pilots, not take out an insurance policy.

imshiffman

Factual error: Before "classes" begin, the pilots are told that they would be flying against planes that are faster than their F-14's. The F-14's top airspeed is over 500 mph faster than the F-5's, and more than DOUBLE that of the A-4.

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Suggested correction: They are the same earrings the light just hits them at different angles.

Revealing mistake: Near the end of the movie, when Maverick's plane is about to be launched, there is a quick closeup of an F14's nose gear, which is quite obviously not hooked up to a catapult or anything else.

Continuity mistake: In a scene soon after Cruise's partner dies, when he's flying with his new partner, you can see his call sign on his helmet, but when they get on the ground and he's talking to Cruise, all the letters on his helmet are removed.

Revealing mistake: In the last dogfight, we see four MIGs circling around Iceman, trying to get him down. A few moments after, Maverick gets to the scene, and the same shot is being used.

Continuity mistake: In the final dog fight scene, Maverick is flying with Merlin as his co-pilot. Merlin's helmet is purple and can be seen many times behind Maverick. In one scene though, the helmet behind Maverick's is orange, which is Sundown's colour.

Visible crew/equipment: When Goose and Maverick are in the sea after their plane crashes, look carefully, there's a thin black rope latching onto Maverick and the camera crew's boat.

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Suggested correction: There is a thin black line, but it's not necessarily connected as described. Life rafts have a sea anchor (basically a nylon basket which drags in the water) in order to slow their drift and keep them oriented with the sea behind the occupant (which is where that line is). So, it could be visible movie equipment, or it could be the sea anchor (or maybe they used the sea anchor attachment for the crew boat?).

Continuity mistake: Throughout the film Maverick's plane has the number "114" on it. However, at the end when he is waiting on deck, the number has changed to "104". This is actually Iceman's plane, which has already taken off. When Maverick launches, the number has changed back to "114" again.

Continuity mistake: The Navy allowed only two live missile shots (one AIM-9 Sidewinder and AIM-7 Sparrow) for the filming of the movie. Maybe that is why we see so many missiles fired from an empty rack.

Continuity mistake: In the volleyball scene, Maverick can be seen looking at his watch because he has a hot date with Kelly McGillis, however while they are actually playing, it is easily noticeable he is not wearing his watch in some of the shots.

Continuity mistake: In the final battle scene, which takes place way out over the water, in some of the F-14 shots, mountains can be seen in the background.

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Suggested correction: How is this a mistake? The aggressors would have to come from a land base so there is every possibility of mountains being visible.

They are based in San Diego, Miramar Naval Air Station. Mountain can be seen from there but not what was filmed. Mountains shown are in Nevada.

Revealing mistake: In every in-flight cockpit scene a brass hand wheel is visible on the right side of the headbox of the seat. The only time this hand-wheel is installed on the seat is to disconnect the seat from the aircraft and to disarm the seat. Therefore, the plane and actors in those scenes were on the ground with a moving camera because there is no way that an F-14 would be allowed to fly with "dry" seats.

Continuity mistake: When Maverick rides his motorcycle up the hill to Charlie's house, the sun is just about to set in the background. He stays at Charlie's a while, they drink some wine, then he leaves. As he is leaving, the sun is still setting in the background.

Factual error: In every scene in which Maverick and Goose are in their flight suits, the squadron patch they wear is that of Airborne Early Warning Squadron One Two Zero (VAW-120). The same graphic is use on their flight helmets. Airborne Early Warning Squadrons in 1986 were flying the E-2C Hawkeye, a twin-turboprop aircraft with a rather large and obvious 24' diameter rotating dome mounted above the fuselage. Also worth noting, the squadron logo used on the aircraft in the movie was that of Strike Fighter Squadron 25, the "Fist of the Fleet." VFA-25 never flew F-14 Tomcats. In 1968, they flew the A-7B Corsair II, then in May 1983 they transitioned to the F/A -18A Hornet. Additionally, Hollywood and Wolfman are wearing patches/helmet graphics of VAW-124 Bear Aces (another VAW E-2 squadron).

Iceman: You can be my wingman any time.
Maverick: Bullshit! You can be mine.

More quotes from Top Gun

Trivia: The "MiG-28s" in the movie are actually all Northrop F-5E Tiger II's, an American plane used for training and sold to other countries. In reality, there is no MiG-28.

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Suggested correction: It could be argued that in the alternate reality of Top Gun the fictional "MiG-28" was an improved reverse-engineered F-5 (VPAF gave the Soviets access to ex-VNAF F-5:s for evaluation after the fall of Saigon) explaining their similarity.

This isn't a valid correction for a trivia entry. There is no mistake being suggested, just letting viewers with limited plane experience know MiG-28 isn't a real plane.

Bishop73

More trivia for Top Gun

Question: This is probably a stupid question, but I know nothing at all about how these kind of aircrafts are flown. What exactly is the purpose of the guy sitting in the back of the plane? All they seem to do in the film is look in all directions for enemy aircrafts.

Answer: These aircraft are extremely complex; the presence of the backseater, variously known officially as the Weapon Systems Operator or Radar Intercept Officer, allows the pilot to focus on the immediate needs of flying the plane, as his backseater can take on many of the other tasks required. They serve as navigators, tacticians, bombardiers, weapons systems operators and, of course, as we see in the film, an extra set of eyes; they use their discretion in passing information to the pilot, ensuring that the pilot has only data that's important to the situation and isn't swamped by trivia. Without the distraction of having to fly the plane, they can often be better placed to coordinate between multiple planes, leading to situations where the backseater can be placed in command of the mission.

Tailkinker

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