A pair of ex-fighter pilots wants to give video game Top Guns a chance to show the Right Stuff in the real world. Fight’s On is the brainchild of airline pilot and former F/A-18 aviator C.W. (“Mover”) Lemoine and fellow Hornet veteran Trevor (“Gonky”) Hartsock. Lemoine is shooting a pilot for what he hopes will be a YouTube Streaming Series pitting the best of DCS World online dogfighters against each other. But instead of virtual combat, the competitors will be flying with Lemoine and Hartstock in a pair of Siai-Marchetti S.211 fighters in the real sky.
Fight’s On proposal notes that pilots often hear gamers claim they’re so good at what they do, they could easily handle the real McCoy. “Instead of just rolling our eyes, what if we could actually put them to the test?”
Already a successful YouTube programmer with more than 300,000 subscribers to his channel, Lemoine hosts the “Mondays with Mover” show that includes interviews, flight training videos, and breakdowns of aviation news. “We’re creating a pilot episode of what will hopefully become a series taking people and letting them (safely) fight it out over the skies of Texas in our Marchetti S-211 aircraft,” said Lemoine.
And it’s not all about guts and glory. Fight’s On will donate 5% of its proceeds raised from a crowdfunding campaign to Folds of Honor, a charity supporting the families of members of the military who gave their lives. “We plan to fly a Folds of Honor recipient at the end of the episode to tell the story of their family member who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country,” Lemoine said.
