Midwest Conference on Masonic Education 2024

2024 Conference Keynote Speaker — Dave Baranek, TOPGUN Instructor

Educating the Educators: How TOPGUN Does It

Dave Baranek was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida, where he grew up drawing airplanes and putting together scale models from kits. In his early teens he set his sights on flying Navy jet fighters. He attended Georgia Tech and participated in the ROTC to qualify for officer training, then entered the Navy in 1979.

Without 20/20 eyesight he could not become a pilot, so instead he became a radar intercept officer (RIO), operating the weapons system in the Navy's hot new F-14 Tomcat fighter. Shortly after he joined his first squadron he received the callsign "Bio," which many of his former squadron mates still call him.

Based on his outstanding performance, he was selected to become an aerial combat instructor at the elite Navy Fighter Weapons School, better known as Topgun. While serving as an instructor in 1985, he had the unusual experience of flying aerial sequences used in the film "Top Gun," starring Tom Cruise and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. He also traveled to Paramount Studios as a dialogue advisor on the project.

He enjoyed a successful 20-year career in the Navy, including assignment to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the US 7th Fleet. He commanded an F-14 Tomcat fighter squadron, responsible for nearly 300 people and 14 aircraft worth about $700 million.

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