Confessions of a Hornet Pilot

Experience the US Marine Corps’ camaraderie and the F-18 Hornet through a Yorkshire pilot’s California adventure.

Tug Wilson becomes the luckiest aviator in the world when he is selected to fly the F-18 Hornet on an exchange posting with the US Marine Corps. And then it gets better: he finds himself living in Ocean Beach in San Diego and flying out of the TOPGUN hangar at Miramar!

Representing both his country and the Royal Air Force, you might think he would have gained enough maturity by now to get through this tour without too much drama… Alas, no. During his three-year fantasy ride, pushing the world’s most intoxicating jet to its red-hot limits and loving every moment, Tug narrowly avoids causing an unholy trinity of diplomatic incidents. Seriously, what did you expect?

So jump into the cockpit with Tug and experience the unrivalled camaraderie of the US Marine Corps, see how wondrous the exalted F-18 Hornet truly is, and find out what happens when a Yorkshire boy accustomed to the glamour of RAF Valley on the Isle of Anglesey is thrown into the California dreamland. This is the Wild West in the wildest of jets, and I can tell you, for a fighter pilot, it doesn’t get better than this.