Bruggen’s 14 Squadron aircrew watched Top Gun at Goose Bay in Canada while on an operational low flying exercise in preparation for Red Flag in October 1988:
‘Toward the end of the detachment the Boss invited the Base officers and their wives for drinks in the RAF bar on the ground floor of our accommodation block as a way of saying ‘thank you’ for looking after us so well. Flying finished at about midday because of poor weather and we all arrived back at our accommodation block together.
The Boss went to his room on the ground floor having reminded us all to be in the bar before 1700 hours to meet our guests. We headed upstairs to the large crewroom for a quick beer. Someone produced the not long-released Top Gun so we all grabbed a few cans and settled down to watch it.
That was it for the afternoon, beer followed beer, pilots sat next to their navigators, and the whole Squadron, minus the Boss, sat “enthralled” during the highs and lows of the film and the combats too. When Maverick’s navigator, Moose, was killed emotions ran high, with one or two crews sitting with their arms around one another’s shoulders. The film finished at about 1645. The Boss then looked in having found no one in the bar. It was not a pretty sight: His Squadron was well and truly wasted. He gave us five minutes to shower and change and be on parade! We made it too, it was a great party.’
(From Winged Warriors – The Cold War from the Cockpit by Paul McDonald)