Pete “Maverick” Mitchell rocked a set of sunglasses in Top Gun; here’s the defense tech history behind them.

The Problem

In the 1930s, aircraft started flying higher and further, exacerbating an annoyance into a big problem: the sun hurt pilots’ eyes, and long exposure led to blurred vision and headaches.

Sunglasses were the obvious solution, but attempts to use commercial sunglasses failed.

The lens was shaped for style over function, permitting glare to enter from the sides and below. Furthermore, the crude tinted lenses reduced brightness, distorted color and flattened contrast, making terrain, aircraft, signals, and cockpit instruments harder to see.

Tinted flying goggles, used since World War I, offered coverage, but were bulky, uncomfortable, prone to fogging, and still had the same color issues as commercial sunglasses.

In the early 1930s, the Army Air Corps contracted American Optical to design a pair of sunglasses specially engineered to solve this problem for pilots. In 1935, American Optical produced the D-1—the first standardized U.S. sunglasses designed specifically for military aviators.

In parallel, test pilot John Macready worked with a company called Bausch & Lomb to develop aviator-specific sunglasses. Originally called "Anti-Glare," they featured special green crystal lens to filter harsh light, banning the rays, without sacrificing clarity.

These were issued to the military the following year, and in 1938 went on sale to the public, branded with a name that was the value proposition: the Ray-Ban Aviator.

While these 2 sunglasses solved the problem, the looming of World War II initiated a larger effort.

In late 1941, the military standardized a new type of sunglasses to produce them by the millions for aviators…and sailors. The government specified the frame, lens shape, and tint. The flat nickel-copper frame fit in the flight helmet without interfering with compasses; large teardrop lenses protected the pilot’s field of view, while green tint worked at altitude and over water.

Standardized for both services, these became the AN-6531 “comfort cable” sunglasses, named for the wire frames that wrapped around the ears.

World War II and the comfort cable expanded the look beyond pilots and into the wider military.

By 1943, aviator-style glasses became associated with skill, operational competence, and command presence in the military.

But on the commercial side, sales were relatively minimal.

The sunglasses just weren’t in style.

Then on October 20, 1944, General Douglas MacArthur waded ashore in the Philippines wearing aviators.

The photographs went viral.

What began as protective equipment became a symbol of military authority.

After the war, aviators spread into policing, driving, outdoor sports, and civilian fashion. Actors and musicians kept the silhouette alive.

Then Top Gun happened.

The original 1986 movie boosted Ray-Ban Aviator sales by 40%, cementing the frame as a pop-culture icon. And it happened again in 2022 with Top Gun: Maverick.

The iconic AN6531 became known as the Type G-2, but it too would be supplanted.

In 1958, the evolution of ejection-molded flight helmets led to the Flight Goggle 58 (FG-58) aviator sunglasses (mil designation HGU-4/P).

These sunglasses were made famous by NASA’s Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions, though they never achieved the iconic status as the original “Aviators” that Douglas MacArthur and Pete Mitchell wore.

FYI: You can still buy new AN-6531 and FG-58 sunglasses, and of course, Ray-Ban Aviators.

The U.S. military has reportedly exhausted nearly 80% of its THAAD missile inventory due to the war with Iran, fueling concerns among senior military commanders that key air defense and precision missile stockpiles are reaching dangerously low levels.

The Pentagon denies the claim.

TRIVIA

On August 9, 1965, 53 people died in a fire at an underground U.S. military facility near Searcy, Arkansas. What was stored there?

A) nuclear submarine reactor
B) intercontinental ballistic missile
C) chemical-weapons stockpile

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ANSWER
B) Most people associate ICBMs with northern states, but that wasn’t always the case. A fire broke out at a Titan II missile site near Searcy, Arkansas, while the missile silo was being renovated. The missile was installed and fueled at the time, although the nuclear warhead had been removed. The event tragically claimed 53 lives.