Lockheed F-16 Fighting Falcon (90-0944)

TopGun Instructor pilot USAF Maj. K. R. "Polar" Amerine begins her left break to peel away from a section of F-16 Fighting Falcons as the section returns to NAS Fallon after completing a TopGun training mission in this photo taken earlier this year. Maj. Amerine, flying NAWDC's "Side Five Five," was completing her "Last Flight" ... the final time she would be participating in a TopGun exercise.
After leading her section into the left break, "Polar" remained in the air while the other two Vipers seen following her here touched down and landed. Then, "Polar" made three more passes, including one in which she "buzzed" (grin) the tower in the same way that "Maverick" (Tom Cruise) had done in the movie Top Gun. And incidentally, the control tower at NAS Fallon is the actual tower seen in the Tom Cruise movie. Although the setting of the film is at Miramar, the scene in which "Maverick" smokes past the control tower was shot at NAS Fallon.
At the time this photo was taken, NAWDC was still known as NSAWC (as can be seen on the underside of the center Viper, Side Five Tree).
After landing, "Polar" was "met" on the ramp by her fellow TG pilots ... with lots of ice cube-filled water buckets and many well-shaken champagne bottles. I'd like to share those pics, too; however, there are no aircraft in the shots. lol