Top Gun: Maverick

Oak Harbor based Navy pilots flew some of the most heart stopping footage of the movie

Every once in a while a sequel really gets in right, or maybe is even better than the original. Top Gun fans had to wait well over 30 years for the return of Tom Cruise’s famous fighter pilot Maverick, but everyone agrees it was well worth the wait. What you may not know is that Navy bases up and down the West Coast were necessary to deliver this kind of high-flying action, and Oak Harbor based pilots were responsible for some of the most heart stopping aerial footage of the movie.

While you won’t see any of the island itself in the movie, it was the launch site of a very dramatic close to the story. Naval Air Station Whidbey Island (NASWI) played host to cast and crew of this all-star production team in March of 2019 (the finished film wasn’t released until 2022 due to the pandemic). NASWI leased out the Officers Club on base for catering, briefings, and rehearsals, with cast and crew staying at an on-base inn for privacy.

The young pilots based at this station were the invisible stars of the show, flying Navy EA-18 Growler jets with actors including Tom Cruise riding in their backseats. Those amazing aerial scenes of the pivotal mission at the end, that the Top Gun pilots have been training for? Actually NASWI pilots at the wheel. Those snowy mountains they fly through, representing “enemy territory”? Actually the beautiful snowy peaks of the Cascade Mountains.

Naval Air Station Whidbey Island pilots’ sequence time stamp:

01:30:00-01:53:00
This dramatic sequence at the end of the film is flown by Naval Air Station Whidbey Island pilots, with actors bringing the drama to life from the backseats. The beautiful snowy peaks they fly through in undetermined enemy territory are actually Washington’s gorgeous Cascade Mountain Range. The jets used in these scenes are Whidbey Island based Navy EA-18 Growlers. While the base in Oak Harbor only has an open house once a year, you can still feel the power of the Growlers from most anywhere in town as they roar overhead on training flights. Learn more about the jets and general military history of the area with a visit to the Pacific Northwest Naval Air Museum, or soak up the vibes at Flyers Restaurant & Brewery.