In order to recapture the magic of the ’80s classic Top Gun, Top Gun: Maverick went to some of the same locations as the original movie as well as a few brand-new ones. The highly-anticipated sequel once again saw Tom Cruise returning to one of his most famous roles as ace Navy pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, though instead of dive-bombing towers on an aircraft carrier, he’s instructing the next generation of Top Gun graduates. Even though teaching his late pal Goose’s son Rooster (Miles Teller) makes him doubt his capacity as a mentor, getting help from Ice Man (Van Kilmer) and Penny (Jennifer Connelly) helps him keep his need for speed.
While most of the beauty of Top Gun 2’s splendor comes from viewing the world from the inside of a cockpit, the locations are key to helping the classic fighter jet adventure connect to its sequel 36 years later. Like the original film, its locations are primarily found in and around San Diego, California, with beautiful vistas throughout neighboring states like Nevada and Washington State. Thanks to the breathtaking cinematography and aerial technology capturing the authenticity of flying in a fighter jet, the natural splendor of these locations become essential in Top Gun: Maverick’s visual storytelling.
10
Inyokern Airport, California
The opening scenes (as well as the final scenes) involving Maverick and his P-51 Mustang were filmed at Inyokern Airport. Incidentally, this location is also where Lady Gaga filmed the music video for the film’s anthem “Hold My Hand” and the iconic singer can be seen strutting on the runway with the Darkstar plane. If the actor, a licensed pilot when he’s not playing one, looks particularly at home with the P-51 Mustang (and not just because Maverick is living there), that’s because the WWII aircraft comes from his own private collection, and Cruise flew his own P-51 Mustang in the film.
9
San Diego, California
San Diego and its surrounding areas provided the locations for several sequences in Top Gun: Maverick, including the Top Gun base which was filmed at North Island Naval Air Station. Penny’s Hard Deck bar was filmed as the famous Breaker’s Beach in San Diego, and the entire set of the bar was built in less than a month to provide the iconic place for all the pilots to drown their woes and play some volleyball. The beach is located fittingly near the Coronado air station.
8
Point Loma, California
Special attention must be given to the location of Ice Man’s funeral scene, which was filmed at the Army’s Ford Rosecrans National Cemetery in Point Loma. The cemetery, with its perfect rows of headstones, overlooks the San Diego Harbor as well as the Pacific Ocean, offering a bastion of peace and tranquility for the departed and their families. Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery has been a final resting place for 112,000 service members from the Army, Marines, Navy, Navy SEALs, Air Force, and sailors ever since the Battle of San P asqual in the 1846 Mexican-American War.
7
Big Sur, Santa Clarita, San Francisco Bay, California
After the supersonic jet crash, the scene in the quaint Cecil’s Café was actually filmed at the Halfway House café in Santa Clarita, California. At the entrance of the canyon, when Maverick and the Dagger squadron arrive to target the uranium enrichment plant during Top Gun: Maverick’s ending action sequence, the pilots fly over what’s known as Big Creek Bridge along the Big Sur coastline of California. And finally, during the scene where Maverick and Penny go sailing, what would seem to be San Diego is actually San Francisco Bay.
6
Chico, California
For instances when the filmmakers needed to shoot footage in Butte County and Feather River Canyon in the High Lakes region, they went to the Northgate Aviation Chico Jet Center in Chico, California. These could be put anywhere that F-18 planes were needed using stunt pilots and a special process. Grey L-39 fighter jets were painted at various points so that visual effects artists could transform them into F-18s digitally.
5
South Lake Tahoe, California
For the harrowing scenes in the woods when Maverick gets shot down, Washoe Meadows State Park in South Lake Tahoe provided the perfect location. The destroyed airbase near the forest was filmed at Lake Tahoe Airport, which was undergoing renovations at the time Top Gun: Maverick was in production. This worked out well because it allowed the crew to make the location look like a warzone without worrying about how it would affect the space.
4
Mojave Desert, Nevada
The scene where Ed Harris’s top brass visits Maverick while he’s piloting the Darkstar plane, one of the 6 jet fighter planes in Top Gun: Maverick, was filmed at the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in the Mojave Desert. The Mojave Desert stretches across four states, including California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona, and provides areas with perfect terrain for performing these sorts of flight tests. Though a fictional aircraft, the Darkstar is rumored to mimic the legendary SR-71 Blackbird, a plane that could top out at Mach 3 outrunning missiles fired by Russian MiGs.
3
Oak Harbor, Washington State
Sometimes several real-world locations were used to represent one in the film, such as the Top Gun base. While a large part was filmed using North Island Naval Air Station on San Diego Bay, the Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in Oak Harbor, Washington was also used for certain runway scenes. In the original Top Gun, most of the school was shot at the Naval Air Station Miramar in San Diego, which later became the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar or “Fightertown USA.”
2
Rimrock Lake, Cascade Mountains, Washington State
When Dagger squadron goes into its tight flight formation at low-level, they hug a placid body of water in a spectacular show of control and synchronicity. This scene was shot at Rimrock Lake located in Washington State west of Yakima. When they fly near the uranium enrichment plant located in the fictional rogue nation, Washington’s majestic Cascade Mountains create the perfect snowy landscape.
1
The USS Abraham Lincoln & USS Theodore Roosevelt
Since aircraft carriers played a huge part in Top Gun, particularly during some of the pilots’ more harrowing training sessions, it’s no surprise that they feature prominently in its sequel. All the scenes involving an aircraft carrier were filmed on two separate vessels; USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS Theodore Roosevelt. The cast of Top Gun: Maverick went through an extensive aviation training course to get accustomed to riding in an F-18 so that the producers could utilize real aircraft footage wherever possible rather than relying on CGI and green screens.