Hobby Master Archive

The filming of “TOPGUN: Maverick” in 2019 coincided with the 50th Anniversary of Naval Aviation Warfighting Development Center (NAWDC) at NAS Fallon, NV. Due to production delays and Covid the movie wasn’t released until 2022. During the filming 3 F/A-18s were used for various scenes with two aircraft wearing the same numbers 00 and pilot’s name under the cockpit. Altogether there were three aircraft used during the filming, two F/A-18Es (165636 first and then 165667) and one F/A-18F (165796) with the latter one used to film with Tom Cruise in the backseat.