About
Captain Kevin M. Smith with his wife Sue Smith.
Captain Kevin M. Smith U.S.N. (Ret.) is a former United State Navy pilot with tens of thousands of hours flying aircrafts for military and civilian purposes.
He was the commander of the first deployed Top Gun unit VFP-63D1 aboard the USS Constellation. Captain Smith, as a pilot with deep experience flying the F-8 Crusader, a plane that resembled the Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21, was uniquely equipped to provide the F-14 Tomcat pilots of the first ever deployed Top Gun unit in close-in air combat training.
Priming an aviation unit to fly the F-14 in close-in air combat was a challenge, and Captain Smith and his crew were forced to come up with novel solutions to some of the problems posed by the training in order to provide the best support to the F-14 pilot community.
They ultimately overcame all of these challenges and came out as the top-performing squadron of the United States Pacific Fleet.
For this successful deployment, which set a number of records, Captain Smith was awarded a Citation from the Commander, U. S. Seventh Fleet.
Captain Kevin M. Smith at a book signing for The Sonic Warrior: Chronicles of a Top Gun Pioneer.
He also received Letters of Commendation from the Commander, U. S. Pacific Fleet; the Commanding General Third Marine Airwing; The Commanding Officer, USS Constellation; and the Commander, Carrier Airwing Nine.
His drive to teach persisted beyond his military service, and today he is an author, radio host, and public speaker devoted to helping Americans build strong critical thinking skills using the skills of high-velocity reasoning he developed during his time in the Navy.