The real life Pete Mitchell says people are left stunned after learning how Top Gun pilots pee in mid-air.
New Channel 4 docu-series Top Guns: Inside The RAF showcases the crucial role RAF Lossiemouth plays in safeguarding the UK’s airspace and seas.
The six-part series will follow the lives of a number of Typhoon pilots on the front lines, at their RAF Lossiemouth airfield, in Moray, Scotland.
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Group Captain Jim Lee, Station Commander, RAF Lossiemouth, said: "The documentary not only showcases the teamwork, skills and commitment of everyone within Team Lossie but it also shines a public light on the critical role they play in protecting our nation – in the air, over the sea and on land – at home and abroad."
Also featuring in the show is Typhoon Pilot Ben 'Chergs' Chergui, who insists that the flight-life is nothing like the way it is portrayed in the films.
“The first question I get asked about my job is, ‘Is it like Top Gun up in the jet?’ And the other is, ‘How do you pee in a jet?’” the 32-year-old, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, told The Sun.
He claims that pilots are forced to carry 'pee bags' on missions that sometimes can last up to eight hours.
“You’re essentially sat on a live ejection seat, so firstly you have to make your seat safe by pressing a handle and putting a pin in,” Ben explained.
“Then you have to unstrap completely from the seat and get out a bag filled with a special chemical that when it gets wet, turns to jelly.
“You do the business and then the issue after that is where to store this bag.
“There’s no bin in the cockpit.
“So you just have to find a place to put it that preferably isn’t next to your sandwiches.”
After seven years of training, Ben was forced to make a life-or-death decision mid air.
He flew to Syria to support Operation Shader, where he was asked to bomb members of the IS terror group.
He said: “It can feel quite isolating when you’re the one making that decision, but at the same time the training you have undergone really sets you up well for it.
“Unless I’m 100 per cent sure that it’s the correct person I’m not going to drop a weapon on them because I’m not paid enough to live with that for the rest of my life.
One of the most difficult parts about Ben's job is refuelling, as he continued: “It’s one of the most insane things that mankind does day to day.
“You are flying at 500mph behind something that’s flying at 500mph and you’re trying to plug a probe into a basket the size of a dinner plate.
“And this can be in bad weather, at night, in clouds. Sometimes if there’s electrical activity as well, you get sparks coming off the basket.
“There’s a huge amount of responsibility.”
Episode one of Top Guns: Inside the RAF airs on Channel 4 on Monday 21 August at 9pm.
Topics: Channel 4, TV and Film, Top Gun
Anish Vij