re: A Question About Dogfighting in Top Gun

Young Val Kilmer bears a resemblance to Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone.

To the OP: It's doubtful you could extract anything useful out of that scene to understand who should've done what. There's probably a couple of actual dogfighting concepts employed in the creation of the scene, but the scene (as I remember it) is more a mashup of various points of view. If you could view the presumed scene from the ground you might be able to dissect everyone's role the way a coach dissects a football play in the film room. But I don't think that'll work with the movie... it would be like a football coach having nothing but footage from two or three helmet cams on the field to gameplan with.

If you're really inclined to study, google "aerial dogfighting tactics" or similar, read up a couple pages, then re-watch. You may learn more that way than just accepting a dogmatic response like "stick with your wingman". Fundamentals and dogma are important in becoming the best in a given field... but then again, part of our cultural mythology is to appreciate the genius of the hero who knows when to creatively/instinctively abandon fundamentals-- hence the popularity of successful rule-breaking characters like the almost unironically named Maverick, Capt. Kirk, etc.