I don't think these movies have any relationship to each other. Top Gun (the way I see it, anyways), is a movie about 20-somethings, who because of their youth and therefore quick reactions (not to mention their arrogance and cockiness), are trained by the military-industrial complex to 'operate' multi-million dollar weapons platforms. This movie is less about flying and more about the shennanigans of these cocksure roosters strutting about trying to outdo each other with their expensive real-life video games, or playing adolescent mind games in the drinking parlors. That's the subplot with the Tom Cruise character, who learns how immature he is in his duties and emotionally childish in his personal life. (I don't remember all the details; I only saw this movie once, when it first came out--and that was enough).
Captains of the Clouds on the other hand, seems to be about pilots who love flying. It doesn't need to be explained in the film, but you get the idea these are the kind of guys who got one or two flying lessons, soloed--and then never looked back. The rest they learned by the seat of their pants. These guys like flying so much that they've passed into middle age and continue to survive on a subsistence lifestyle; barely making enough to pay for fuel and food--just so they can keep flying. They have no business acumen and that's why the Cagney character is undercutting them price-wise. In any event--they're all in it for the flying and that's all they know. The military portion is only the last third of the movie, so I don't really consider this a military movie per se. It's a plot device to also show how patriotic these guys are and how they want to help their country through the use of their flying abilities.
This is the way I perceive these two movies. I think Top Gun is less about flying and more about growing up; while Captains of the Clouds is about some colorful bush pilots who know nothing except their love of flying. Both movies are good in their own regards and serve their particular purposes.
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