A-4E Mongoose #151095 / TOPGUN 55 ca. 1985

Douglas A4D-5 (A-4E) Skyhawk BuNo 151095 (c/n 13265). Blue 55 "Jester" from the movie Top Gun. Aircraft later had Red 55 markings. 151095 was assigned to the Navy Fighter Weapons School, Topgun, NAS Miramar, from Mar 1985 until Sep 1989.

With renewed emphasis on Air Combat Maneuvering (ACM) training brought on with the establishment of the Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN) in 1969, the availability of A-4 Skyhawks in both the Instrument RAGs and Composite Squadrons at the master jet bases presented a ready resource of the nimble Skyhawks that had become the TOPGUN preferred surrogate for the MiG-17. At the time, the F-4 Phantom was just beginning to be exploited to its full potential as a fighter and had not performed as well as expected against the smaller North Vietnamese MiG-17 and MiG-21 opponents. TOPGUN introduced the notion of dissimilar air combat training (DACT) using modified A-4E/Fs. Modified aircraft, called "Mongoose", lost the dorsal hump, the 20 mm cannon with their ammo systems, and the external stores, although sometimes the centerline station was kept. The slats were fixed.