Tom Cruise Owns More Than One Plane - Here Are The Coolest In His Fleet
One of Tom Cruise's most famous movie roles is that of fighter pilot Captain Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell, a part he first brought to the screen in 1986 in "Top Gun" and reprised in last year's "Top Gun: Maverick."
Both films feature plenty of shots of Cruise behind the controls of an aircraft, a position he is comfortable with off-screen as well. Cruise earned his pilot's license in 1994 and has used the skill in previous films like "Mission Impossible: Fallout" and "American Made."
Cruise is famous for doing his own stunts, and going into the filming of "Top Gun: Maverick," he was determined to use as much real footage as possible and even wanted to fly Maverick's F-18 himself, but the Navy wouldn't let the actor behind the controls of their $70 million war machine.
Cruise did, however, fly several other aircraft in the film, including helicopters and one of his own planes, a World War II-era fighter-bomber. Let's take a look at that aircraft and some of Cruise's other personal aircraft. (Cruise doesn't just collect aircraft, he also has several cars and other vehicles as well.)
P51 Mustang
The military propeller plane Cruise flew in "Top Gun: Maverick" was a P-51 Mustang that was built in 1946 and purchased by Cruise in 2001. Paramount released a featurette about the plane, in which flight instructor and "Top Gun: Maverick" technical advisor Steve Hinton remarked, "There's still a lot of that pioneering spirit of aviation when you're flying a P51. I know Tom loves doing aerobatics, it's a wonderful plane to do aerobatics with." The video also shows Cruise taking co-star Jennifer Connelly for a ride in the plane, something she called "an incredible experience, certainly like nothing I've ever done before. And he's an amazing pilot," she added.
Cruise also took "The Late Late Show" host James Corden for a ride in the P-51, although Corden was noticeably unsettled to be flying in the vintage aircraft, particularly when Cruise warned him about the contingency plan should the plane's lone engine fail — inverting the plane and ejecting Corden to parachute to the ground.
"I'm just going to turn over and I'm gonna plop you out of the plane," Cruise teased.
"I don't want to be plopped out," an ashen-faced Corden responded. Cruise took Corden on a thrilling ride, even staging a mock dogfight with another P-51 pilot.
Gulfstream IV
Cruise's fleet of planes is not limited to vintage fighter-bombers. Cruise reportedly travels in a Gulfstream IV, a $20 million jet equipped with a jacuzzi and private film screening room. The Gulfstream IV was first produced in 1985, just a year before the first "Top Gun" movie was released, and can be configured to carry a maximum of 19 passengers. The twin-engine craft has a maximum range of a little less than 5,000 miles and a top speed of 552 mph.
Gulfstream made the IV for just eight years, producing only 862 of the model. Most of them were sold to government and military customers, but it's no surprise that a movie star of Cruise's stature and with his military connections was able to get his hands on one and outfit it with the equipment necessary to allow him to cruise the skies in comfort while also being able to review his latest work.
HondaJet and Challenger 300
Jack Sweeney, who had a since-suspended account on X, the platform previously known as Twitter, was able to identify three other aircraft belonging to Cruise before his account was removed. One was a HondaJet HA-420 with the identification number N77VA, the same plane Cruise arrived at Burbank Airport with when he came to take Corden for a ride in his P-51 Mustang. The HA-420 has two engines, seats eight people, and can fly at a maximum altitude of 43,000 feet. It has a top speed of just under 500 mph and a range of just over 1,200 nautical miles. Sweeney also identified a Bombardier Challenger 300 as belonging to Cruise.
The Challenger is a twin-engine jet that typically seats eight people but can accommodate up to ten. It has a range of 3,220 miles, a top speed of 460 mph, and a maximum altitude of 45,000 feet. Cruise reportedly keeps all of his planes at a private hangar in Burbank, giving him easy access when it's time to take one for a spin.