Tom Cruise’s Top Gun fighter pilot helmet sells for £250k at auction

Prop from blockbuster movie brought in more than five times its pre-sale estimate.

A fighter pilot helmet worn by Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise in the 1980s blockbuster Top Gun has sold for a staggering £250,000 at auction in Los Angeles.

The prop from 1986 action-adventure film directed by Tony Scot, which sees Cruise star as a pilot named Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, was sold for more than five times its pre-sale estimate.

It's one of three helmets that were made to fit Cruise, who played the brash, heroic pilot in the film.

The fighter pilot helmet, left, and Tom Cruise in Top Gun, right.

It went under the hammer alongside a number of other items of film memorabilia at an auction in the Prop Store’s Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction, which fetched a total of £4.75 million.

A Darth Vader costume used for promotional purposes for Star Wars: A New Hope was sold in the Los Angeles auction for £221,000.

A stormtrooper helmet which was also used in Star Wars: A New Hope sold for £105,700.

A trainer worn by Michael J Fox in Back To The Future Part II when he played Marty McFly went for £26,400.

Brandon Alinger, Prop Store’s chief operating officer, said the auction was a “resounding success”.

He added: “The bidders were out in force and we had more registrants than any prior auction of this type.”

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