Try free for 30 days

  • Topgun Days

  • Dogfighting, Cheating Death, and Hollywood Glory as One of America's Best Fighter Jocks
  • By: Dave "Bio" Baranek
  • Narrated by: Jeremy Arthur
  • Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (23 ratings)

A 30-day trial plus your first audiobook free.
1 credit/month after trial—to buy any title you like, yours to keep.
Listen all you want to a selection of thousands of Audible Originals, audiobooks and podcasts.
$16.45 a month after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.
Topgun Days cover art

Topgun Days

By: Dave "Bio" Baranek
Narrated by: Jeremy Arthur
Free with 30-day trial

$16.45/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $23.99

Buy Now for $23.99

Pay using voucher balance (if applicable) then card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice and authorise Audible to charge your designated credit card or another available credit card on file.

Editorial reviews

Topgun Days: Dogfighting, Cheating Death, and Hollywood Glory as One of America's Best Fighter Jocks is a focused description of one man’s exhaustive climb to the pinnacle of his career as fighter pilot. This autobiography by Dave Baranek will prove enjoyable to those generally interested in military life as well as those who wish to live vicariously through an expert fighter pilot. Baranek explains the patience and discipline required to ascend the fighter pilot career ladder. He segues into his life as role model for Hollywood’s glamorized version of topguns. Assigned to create action footage for the Tom Cruise vehicle Top Gun, Baranek himself briefly becomes a pop phenomenon. Baranek’s pride and sincerity can be heard in narrator Jeremy Arthur’s entertaining recital.

Publisher's Summary

Dave Baranek (callsign "Bio") was one of 451 young men to receive his Wings of Gold in 1980 as a naval flight officer. Four years later, seasoned by intense training and deployments in the tense confrontations of the Cold War, he became the only one of that initial group to rise to become an instructor at the navy's elite Fighter Weapons School. As a Topgun instructor, Bio was responsible for teaching the navy's and Marine Corps' best fighter pilots how to be even better. He schooled them in the classroom and then went head-to-head with them in the skies.

Then, in August 1985, Bio was assigned to combine his day-to-day flight duties with participation in a Pentagon-blessed project to film action footage for a major Hollywood movie focusing on the lives, loves, heartbreaks, and triumphs of young fighter pilots: Top Gun. Bio soon found himself riding in limousines to attend gala premieres, and being singled out by giggling teenagers and awed schoolboys who recognized the name "Topgun" on his T-shirts. The audiobook ends with his reflections on his career as a skilled naval aviator and his enduring love of flight.

©2010 David Baranek (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Topgun Days

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    17
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    15
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    14
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Couldn't put it down!

Really interesting and informative. Great to hear from RIO rather than pilots. The chapter about filming the movie made my want to watch Top Gun again!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Dave "Bio" Baranek is worth following

If you are into Jet fighter aircraft and the people who make it all tick, then Dave Baranek (Call Sign BIO) is someone you want to follow and listen to. His Podcast (one of) "The F-14 Tomcast" is fantastic, and after listening to Bio & Crunch ((and Vince "Jello" Aello's Fighter Pilots Podcast)) you will see how their training and personalities make their deliveries so interesting. unfortunately l was hoping for more with this book, more on the flying day to days with being in the US military. This book was good, but l wanted more. I will have to buy both of Dave's newer books to continue my Jet aero learning.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.