ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — “Top Gun: Maverick” is flying full throttle into theaters this week and the St. Louis Boeing employees that helped build the F/A 18 Super Hornet got to see it on the big screen Wednesday night. 

The employees and their families also got to fly the Super Hornet simulator and meet a fellow employee from Southern California who was an adviser on the film. 

Kevin “Proton” McLaughlin is a Boeing F/A-18 team lead, and a retired U.S. Navy Top Gun pilot and Top Gun instructor. Most recently, he was an adviser on the “Top Gun: Maverick” film that hit theaters May 24. 

The film, which was delayed two years due to COVID, features Tom Cruise playing a middle-aged Maverick returning to the elite aviation training program to train a new generation of flying aces. 

The Super Hornet flying scenes in the movie are all real, according to McLaughlin, who said the actors mimicked movements of the actual Top Gun pilots in the back seat of the aircraft. CGI made it look like the actors were in the front seat controlling the Super Hornets.

McLaughlin said he helped with logistical support for the movie while filming was taking place and provided input on the script and plot development for realism perspectives. 

“It’s an amazing movie, and they did a really nice job,” McLaughlin said.

Kevin “Proton” McLaughlin is a Boeing F/A-18 team lead and a retired U.S. Navy Top Gun pilot and Top Gun instructor

Although he said he wished to have been a pilot in the film, “the best part of it was just to watch them stay true to the Navy, and there were a lot of technical advisers on there to ensure that.”

He added ‌the movie feels consistent to those who lived that life in the Navy, including himself.

McLaughlin said he is excited for people to watch the movie to see what the crew is going through inside the cockpit, decisions being made and the rapidity in which events happen. 

“It’s a good story. They did a really nice job of flushing things out. Bring things in from the old movie and the development of new characters. It will be a massive movie. There is no doubt in my mind, and I’m not a Hollywood guy. It’s that good,” he said. 

At the premiere, McLaughlin said the audience was cheering and clapping during the film. 

On Wednesday, after chances of trying out the Super Hornet simulator in the parking lot of Ronnie’s Cinema in south St. Louis County, there was a private showing of “Top Gun: Maverick” for Boeing employees and their families.