Fast fighter jets, military heroes and a “bad boy” Tom Cruise? Yes, when the original Top Gun was released in 1986 many people were interested in joining the Navy because of it. Tom Cruise may play a pilot in the movie, but a Minnesota man lived the real thing.
Todd Dufault of Columbia Heights, Minnesota was inspired by the film and that led to him enlisting in the Navy. Later, he started a career as a commercial airline pilot. He fell in love with planes early in life, but the spark of what to do next was planted by Top Gun.
“I was about 12 years old and I played on a baseball team that traveled all around the world and I fell in love with airplanes and airports,” Dufault says. “That kind of that put the seed into my brain about becoming a pilot at some point. But I really didn't know the path to go down.”
Fast forward a few years and while Dufault was a junior in high school Top Gun came out.
“That pretty much started me on the path toward the military and I ended up becoming a Navy pilot in 1989. I got my wings in 1990,” he told Vineeta Sawkar on the WCCO Morning News. “It was just an exciting movie and the planes, the F-14 Tomcat, and just the way we operated, and the Navy was such a different beast that it really attracted that to me.”
Was the real thing like the dramatized version we see on the big screen? Dufault says that while Hollywood obviously takes poetic license, there are similarities between Top Gun, the sequel, and the real thing.
“When I saw the second movie just recently, I recognized lots of scenes from even the bar,” Dufault told WCCO. “The bar in San Diego and oh my gosh, I can't tell you how many times I've been in that bar sitting like that with my buddies. Maybe not so much the piano playing and singing, but absolutely the camaraderie.”
In Top Gun: Maverick, there is a scene where Tom Cruise gets stuck with a bill at a bar and Dufault says he has witnessed that exact scene play out.
“When the bartender, I don't want to give away too much of the movie, but when she rang the bell and Tom Cruise had to buy a round I was laughing because I've seen that,” Dufault explains. “One of my best friends came into a bar at the officer's club wearing his hat and they rang the bell and he walked up to the bar and then he threw his cover onto the bar and that was another bell. Spending $300, $400 to get out of out of the officer’s club that night.”
Now that Top Gun: Maverick has become such a worldwide hit in theaters, Dufault says there’s a good chance this movie inspires another generation of viewers who chase the dream of becoming a Navy pilot like he did.
“I absolutely believe that,” Dufault says. “It might be some guys that are on the fence, not quite sure how, what service they want to go to. And then they see the movie and they think, oh yeah, that looks pretty exciting. We have a saying, we're on the tip of the spear. The aircraft carrier goes to wherever it's needed, some of the first pilots in to the battle and that is very intriguing. A lot of pilots, it's just kind of the warrior mentality and how can I do this from an airplane perspective.”
Dufault flew for 20 years in the military, and then became an airline pilot.
“So I still get to fly.”
Dufault adds that anyone looking to chase the dream of Navy flight school need to do well in school, especially in science based backgrounds with the way the technology is shifting and increasing. He also adds that those extracurricular activities in school are a big selling point to Navy recruiters.
“The Navy recruiters want captains of sports teams or societal groups,” Dufault says. “All kinds of diversification as far as your interests, and you're well roundedess, community activism and community service. But if you're motivated enough, you know, you'll find a way. So you look for attitude, motivation. That that will be 75% of the deal right there.”
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