In 1912, an American naval officer named Eugene Ely experimented with taking off and landing a Wright Brothers era biplane off the deck of a large ship. He succeeded. And thus was born a completely new branch of naval warfare.
Different types of Aviators
As mentioned in both Plane Spotting and the section “Naval Aircraft” under Naval Weapons, navies operate different kinds of airplanes and not all of them necessarily even need carriers to operate from. Therefore, the aviators who fly them, also vary in the skills required. Aviators can be broadly classified as
Carrier Pilots
Helicopter Pilots
Patrol Craft Pilots and Crew
Seaplane / Flying Boat Pilots
Training an Aviator
Carrier Operations
Marine Aviators
Famous Naval Aviators
- Laurence Olivier
- George H. W. Bush
- John McCain
- Admiral George Morrison, the man responsible for the Gulf of Tonkin incident but better known as the father of Jim Morrison.
- Alan Shepard the first American to fly to space. Also, the first golfer on the moon.
- John Glenn (a USMC fighter pilot) the first man to complete an entire orbit around Earth, later a Senator from Ohio and currently the oldest man to have flown to space..
- Jim Lowell, first man to orbit the moon and later on, the commander of the ill fated Apollo 13 mission.
- Neil Armstrong, first man to set foot onto the moon.
- Randy “Duke” Cunningham, the last naval aviator to earn five air to air kills and ace status; became a US Congressman and subsequently became infamous for one of the worst bribery scandals involving a federal level politician.
- Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of Defense during the younger Bush’s term flew F-9 Panthers in the 50s and retired as a Captain in the Naval Reserve.
- Prince Andrew, Duke of York was a Royal Navy helicopter pilot who was on active duty during The Falklands War.
Naval aviation in fiction
- Perhaps the most well known example is Top Gun. While the pilots are seen flying off a carrier (implied to be the USS Enterprise) only in the beginning and the end, the titular TOPGUN program is geared specifically for naval aviators.
- The sequel Top Gun: Maverick is about the titular Maverick training a four plane team of naval aviators for a difficult strike op, then leading the op himself.
- The Final Countdown is a sci-fi flick about a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and its embarked air wing being sent back in time to before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
- Flight of the Intruder is about the adventures of an A-6 Intruder (carrier based heavy attack aircraft) pilot and navigator during the Vietnam War.
- The novel HMS Leviathan is a closely observed portrait of life on board the Royal Navy's biggest-ever (In-Universe) aircraft carrier.
- Hot Shots! is a blatant parody of Top Gun, and is therefore not a movie you’re looking for if you want an accurate portrayal of Naval Aviation.
- Midway is a fictionalized version of the Battle of Midway in World Wat 2.
- An Officer and a Gentleman is about Aviation Officer Candidate School cadets trying to earn their commissions in the US Navy’s aviation branch.
- Pensacola: Wings of Gold features a group of Marine student pilots training to fly the F/A-18 Hornet off carriers.
- The protagonist Harmon Rabb of JAG was a naval aviator before being medically grounded, then getting his eyesight fixed and regaining his flight status - all the while being a Navy JAG lawyer too.
- The short lived ABC series Supercarrier was an attempt at a tie-in TV show to capitalize on the success of Top Gun.
- The video for the Van Halen song “Dreams” features the Blue Angels - the US Navy’s aerobatic demonstration team. The real life Blue Angels use the song during their performances in air shows, fleet reviews etc.
- Black Sheep Squadron was a TV show that featured the fictionalized exploits of Marine Fighter Squadron VMF-241 “The Black Sheep” during World War 2.
- The notoriously bad Stealth featured three naval aviators played by Josh Lucas, Jessica Biel and Jamie Foxx pursuing a rogue drone.
