Royal Navy Top Gun feels the need for speed flying the F/A-18 Super Hornet

Royal Navy officer Fraser Nadine is enjoying the opportunity of a lifetime with the US Navy as a fighter pilot.

The 33-year-old lieutenant – call sign 'Spuddle' – is flying F/A-18 Super Hornets off the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson.

Lt Nadine completed his basic aviation training in the UK and then volunteered for an exchange programme in the United States.

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'It's incredible'

Having completed fast jet training and mastering the F/A-18 – the backbone of the US Navy's carrier strike force – he is now serving with Strike Fighter Squadron 192, VFA-192, nicknamed 'The Golden Dragons'.

The jet can reach one and a half times the speed of sound and is launched by a catapult – a method not used by the Royal Navy in nearly half a century.

"It's incredible," Lt Nadine says.

"You tell the shooter – the catapult officer – what the weight of your jet is, and they will tune in the correct power setting.

"Then you'll go from sitting still on the catapult to 200 miles an hour in under two seconds. Then you're straight into the mission mindset from there."

The jets are the same as the ones flown by Tom Cruise's character Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell in the Hollywood blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick.

"The flying is awesome.. you're above Death Valley and huge swathes of the country in airspace set aside just for your training which is amazing," Lt Nadine added.

Aircrew can expect two sorties a day, from bombing and maritime strike missions to defensive combat air patrol and more.

But much more daunting, says the pilot, is a night launch.

"It's pitch black, you can't see anything other than with the aid of a tiny finger light to check all your switches, just trying to get yourself settled," he explained.

"You dim everything and are then shot into pitch darkness."

'One. Cool. Job'

Thanks to Hollywood, Lt Nadine does not have to do much to explain his job. But is it like we see in the movies?

Unsurprisingly, he says not quite.

"Life on a squadron is very busy during the day and then everyone goes back and watches a movie and goes to bed, rinse, repeat for nine months... When you meet the public, they're very excited."

But, despite inevitable glamorisation, when a movie about your job is the second-highest-grossing film of 2022, you know you have got a good thing going.

On social media, the Royal Navy summed up the fighter pilot's lifestyle with 'Fast jets. Big decks. Cats and traps. One. Cool. Job.'