Speed & Angels
The true life story of two Navy officers chasing their dream of becoming fighter pilots showing the struggles that face them in training and during actual combat missions.
Film making 24/25
Cinematography 24/25
Audio 24/25
Bonus Features 20/25
Total 92/100
Speed & Angels is the true life story of two people who have a dream and fight for that dream from high school, into the Navy and to becoming a fighter pilot. Jay and Meagan have always dreamed of becoming fighter pilots and nothing would stand in their way.
With access to great footage on live combat missions as well as on the carriers at sea and in training the Navy has given a new look into their Naval officer training and becoming a fighter pilot. This 95 minute documentary follows two careers through Naval training in the highest publicized career in the United States Navy.
One individual in the movie gives the odds of becoming a Naval Aviator at about 1 in 100,000, so the odds are definitely against them from the start. Both have a dream that started when they were young and with not only hard work but some luck they will earn their wings.
Jay and Meagan both have incredible stamina and perseverance to become Naval aviators and overcome some incredible obstacles to earn their wings. Jay suffered a gunshot wound to the face during an accident at a party while in high school and doctors in the Navy continued to tell him he would never fly.
Jay’s call sign is Faceshot, a call sign is earned by some quirk of personality or story that may follow them through their entire career as Naval officers. Usually their call sign is given during their initial training but may change as they move further into their career and training.
Jay’s story of being shot in the face and how he continued to fight for his right of flying is only part of the obstacles he would face but he was a born flyer. Meagan also not only dreamed of flying but took her dream to heart and worked her way through college and to the Navy to become the last female F-14 Tomcat flyer.
During the filming in 2008 there was only one woman Navy fighter pilot flying the F-14 Tomcat, Meagan was one of 3,292 fighter pilots with only 24 being women. She shows the dedication and her perseverance to becoming what she dreamed of when first seeing the film Topgun.
Both Jay and Meagan overcame all the obstacles to become fighter pilots in the Navy and the film shows the obstacles, both emotional and physical. The other cast of the documentary like Naval training officers, SAINTS dog fighting pilots and even family and friends give an insight into their training as well as Navy life at home and at work.
The film starts at their career after they have graduated the Naval Academy to become officers as well as their flight school and follows them through their the main training of Naval Aviators. This training is mostly in dog fighting at the Saints Fighter Sqaudron Composite at NAS Fallon and in their actual at sea work.
During their adversary training they take the actual Topgun type fighting with highly skilled pilots who have been turning Naval Aviators into fighter pilots for years. The Saints as they are commonly referred to are full time fighter pilots that day in and day out dog fight to teach others the same skills.
The documentary shows the fantastic in cockpit scenes from cameras mounted inside the planes as they perform these gut wrenching turns and maneuvers. Other scenes and clips from other planes and the ground show the maneuvers just like you see in the movies but in real life.
This realism in sometimes the colorful language of the pilots reacting naturally to their experience and at other times the all too realistic and tragic consequences of mistakes. The film shows the pilots viewing both crashes and pilot error scenes during an air show and the more personal carrier landings.