June 9 Drive and Dine to Fallon Naval Air Station

Club members met in Carson City before caravanning to Fallon for a tour of the Naval Air Station, home of the Top Gun training program.

Navy Public Affairs Officer Zip Upham leads club members toward the air traffic control tower at Fallon Naval Air Station.

Jim Smith checks out the view of the F18s and F16s preparing for a training mission.

Doug and Tona Brown review the photos they’ve taken on the June 9 Drive and Dine to Fallon.

F16 jets are lined up on the tarmac as one rolls out. We learned that the instructors and other pilots playing the “bad guys” fly the F16 jets so that the trainee pilots in the F18s can tell them apart from the “good guys.”

In the center photo: Public Affairs Officer Zip Upham provides lots of fascinating information about the Naval Air Station to Jim Smith, Barbara Coe and Jim Klee in the air traffic control tower. Club members learned a lot about the filming of Top Gun: Maverick at the base and many locations around northern Nevada.

Left to right: Terry Schmalz, Jacque Dyer, Paul Schmalz, Mladen Chargin, Al Crume and guest, Jackey Christani, Robin Pierce and Linda Klee enjoy the Drive and Dine to Fallon.

Barb Coe, Linda Dosey and Sue and Dan Borges in front of the Fallon Naval Air Station air traffic control tower.

Mladen Chargin, Jim Smith and Al Crume get an up-close look at an F18 jet.

Jackey Christani, Paul Schmalz, Sue Borges, Terry Schmalz, Buzz and Jacque Dyer and Art Majors take part in the tour of the Fallon Naval Air Station.

Jim Smith stands between the bombs and missiles under the wing of an F18 fighter jet at Fallon Naval Air Station.

Tour leader Zip Upham points out the tailhook on the F18. Pilots must use this hook to grab the cable when landing on an aircraft carrier with only a 400 foot runway.

Club members listen intently as they learn about the F18.

Jim and Marilyn Smith’s 2015 Corvette gets photographed in front of the F18 fighter jet on display at Fallon Naval Air Station.