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Blair Bunting Recreates Scene From Top Gun

Sep 26, 2016

“Fighting undulations, air pockets and sheer physics, what looks smooth from the ground is nothing less than the last true cowboys carving the air in a dance that in one wrong move could become deadly.”
- Blair Bunting

Though it might have only been theory and speculation at the time, what started out as a conversation over a cocktail-napkin in the pilot’s lounge at Miramar Base would very soon become living reality. Standing in the very same location that was used to film the “love and feeling” scene from the movie “Top Gun”, advertising photographer, Blair Bunting, a few of his friends and one of the pilots from the Patriots Jet Team were discussing if the scene where “Goose” photographs another jet fighter pilot from an inverted aircraft would be possible in real life. Only a few months (and a lot of meticulous preparation) later, Blair would find himself sitting in a fighter jet himself, getting ready to produce that very same shot.

“Thirty minutes into the flight we found ourselves at the moment of truth”, says Blair. “It was time to find out if we could capture the image that Goose took in Top Gun. In order to do this, my jet would roll inverted at 500 feet off the ground. The second ship would roll in and ever so slowly creep closer, as I tried to take the photo all while calling out positioning to my pilot who relayed the info to the ever closing jet below. If this sounds insanely complicated, that’s because it is.”

You can find the full story of this one-of-a-kind photo shoot in the link below, where Blair explains in close detail how he managed to capture this seemingly impossible shot, and the dangers that followed in doing so. The site also contains a short video documentary about the event that will have you glued to your seat!

Copyright Blair Bunting