Top Gun? Not really!

Beach sunsets and neon. Naval aviators with Ray Bans drinking iced water. Maverick and Goose. Well, possibly. But, long before Top Gun hit the screens in the mid 80’s and did for US Navy applications what Nike did for trainers, this young iced water drinker was dreaming of a more modest flying career in the RAF.

Becoming a pilot in the RAF wasn’t going to be easy. The RAF Aircrew Selection Centre had a gruelling schedule of assessments over a number of days where everything from mental maths to arm lengths were tested, recorded and endlessly talked about (spoiler: I was binned at the final hurdle for not having the eyesight of a peregrine falcon). Never mind, I’ll get over it one day.

Anyway, the other day while I was supposed to be sorting out the loft, I came across a dusty, battered old box with a book inside that I’d been given on my 12th birthday. It was a book about the RAF (my parents couldn’t afford Ray Bans) and in one chapter, there was a section about the different types of ‘aptitude’ tests we would take if we ever got as far as an invite. This was my first experience of what we now call non-verbal reasoning - more than 40 years ago! 

Section of RAF aptitude test from the 1980s

Now, could a peregrine falcon solve those puzzles in 30 seconds? No. But, I get it, it could see them from a very long way away. So, the next time you watch Maverick ‘buzzing the tower’, just remember how much time he spent practicing NVR as a boy!