16th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest The American Experience
Top Guns

Remember the movie Top Gun? The primary inspiration for that film was an article "Top Guns" by Ehud Yonay, from the May 1983 issue of California magazine, which featured aerial photography by then-Lieutenant Commander Charles "Heater" Heatley. The article detailed the life of fighter pilots at the Naval Air Station Miramar in San Diego, self-nicknamed as "Fightertown USA."

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 12.2016
Date Uploaded: 05.2018
Photo Location: California, United States of America
Camera: NIKON D810
Copyright: © Jassen Todorov