The Aggressors: Britain's Top Gun School
By Hattie Hearn, American Air Museum Curator
It’s 1983 and in a darkened operations room located deep in the Norfolk countryside, Fighter Controllers monitoring a bank of radar scopes issue precise instructions into the ears of four US F-5 Tiger pilots. Their mission is to intercept hostile fighters that have intruded into friendly airspace. The controllers guide them onto the target and the aircraft engage in a dogfight over the North Sea, each dipping and diving to line up a clear shot, pulling more than seven Gs with every turn. The F-5s land several blows before the intruders escape into a steep dive.
The enemy fighters limp back to their base. But they’re not heading to Eastern Europe, as might be expected, but to the UK. These jets aren’t Soviet, and neither are their pilots. In fact, they are American F-15 Eagle pilots. The F-5s, meanwhile, are following their temporary foes to their base in Huntingdonshire, home of the 527th Tactical Fighter Training and Aggressor Squadron, where their brightly coloured, Soviet-style camouflage has become a familiar sight to the rural population. This was a typical training mission for the 'Aggressors', who put scores of US fighter pilots through their paces during the Cold War.
Formed in 1976, the 527th Tactical Fighter Training and Aggressor Squadron, based at RAF Alconbury, was a unique USAF Squadron in the UK. The U.S. Navy had already established a similar program in the United States, popularly known as TOPGUN. The United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program (SFTI program) employed highly talented instructors to deliver fighter weapons training. Like its TOPGUN equivalent, the USAFE Aggressors were tasked with training US fighter pilots in Soviet combat tactics.
>Three F-5E Tiger II aircraft from the 527th Tactical Fighter Training Aggressor Squadron, 1983
Dissimilar Air Combat Training (DACT) was introduced in the late 1970s in response to the high casualty rate inflicted on US fliers in the Vietnam War. Up until this time, the US military had wrongly assumed that the age of dogfighting had come and gone with the emergence of nuclear-armed aircraft and long-range missiles. However, in Vietnam, fighter-bombers, such as the F-4 Phantom, had proven themselves to be vulnerable to interceptions by smaller and more agile Soviet Mikoyan-Guerevish (Mig) aircraft. The US military realised that a pilot’s ability to survive his first ten combat missions would dramatically increase his odds of completing a tour of duty. Training against dissimilar aircraft would equip pilots with this vital real-time experience.
The USAF’s most experienced pilots were recruited as instructors for the 527th and underwent an intensive immersion program in Soviet aircraft and tactics to make them think and fly like Russians. To complete the realism, the Aggressors needed an aircraft that closely resembled aircraft operated by Warsaw Pact countries. The 527th found the ideal candidate in the Northrop F-5E Tiger II. Smaller, simpler, and more agile than other aircraft in the USAF inventory, the F-5 provided an ideal stand-in for the nifty MiG. To further prove this point, F-5s were chosen by Hollywood producers to play the fictional MiG-28s in the blockbuster Top Gun.
The Tigers of the 527th were painted in bold Soviet style camouflage schemes and adorned with two-digit Soviet style nose codes. To fulfill the international requirement that military aircraft should have their national insignia displayed, a small stencil star and bar insignia was applied to the rear fueselage. The Warsaw Pact styling didn’t just extend to the aircraft. Pilots were issued with hammer and sickle scarfs and red and gold name tags, while their flight suits were adorned with a Cyrillic version of their squadron patch.
Twice a year, F-15 Eagle pilots based in Europe were required to rendezvous with the Aggressors for two weeks of combat training. Gun cameras recorded the key moments of the engagement while sophisticated equipment allowed assessors to follow each aircraft’s maneuvers from the ground. The aircraft were controlled by USAF and RAF fighter controllers from a specially designated "Agressor Cabin" at RAF Neatishead radar station in Norfolk. After the mission had ended, the F-15 pilots met with the Aggressors to watch back the tapes and conclude who had survived the encounter. As 527th pilot, Major Kent Clark explained, “It’s not so important who shot John, but why John got shot, so it won’t happen tomorrow.” The Aggressors also shared their expertise with other NATO air forces, delivering training at bases across Europe. The 527th relied on up-to-date intelligence to keep up with Soviet technological and tactical advances.
By 1988, the F-5 Tigers were showing signs of wear and tear after enduring eleven years of intense combat flying. They were also losing their similarities to enemy aircraft as a new generation of Soviet fighter emerged. The decision was taken to re-equip the 527th with General Dynamic F-16 Fighting Falcons and move the squadron to RAF Bentwaters in Suffolk. Five of the F-5Es were transferred to the Navy's TOPGUN school. The Agressors' time at Bentwaters was cut short by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the subsequent decision to terminate the USAF Agressor program. The 527th Tactical Fighter Training and Aggressor Squadron was officially inactivated in September 1990. The 527th maintains the status of being the only F-16 unit ever to be based in the UK.
During its time in the UK, the 527th was awarded four Air Force Outstanding Unit Awards. While it was its Navy equivalent that garnered fame from the synonymous Top Gun movie, the USAF Aggressors can be credited with equipping thousands of fighter pilots to face Soviet adversaries in air-to-air combat. The importance of Aggressor training was shown with the reactivation of the 527th on 29 September 2000 as the 527th Space Aggressor Squadron, the first of its type in history. Rather than training pilots in the air, the Aggressors simulate electronic threats, from jamming satellite communications to infiltrating cyber networks. In 2020, the 527th was transferred to the United States Space Force. Today, F-16 and F-35-equipped Agressor Squadrons have revived Dissimilar Aircraft Combat Training to provide the latest generation of USAF aviators with the skills they need to compete against modern air combat threats.
