Wednesday, October 18, 2006
The Tomcat.
A long and distinguished military career has come to an end. After 32 years, the F-14 Tomcat made it's last official service flight for the US Navy on October 4, 2006, and the last retirement flight on September 25, 2006.
Most people think of the movie "Top Gun" when you mention the plane, and rightly so. It was a hit movie that vaulted Tom Cruise, and the Tomcat to stardom. When most people think of Navel aviation, they think of the Tomcat.
Thirty two years of service for a shipboard fighter is nothing to sneeze at. The only plane that comes close to that kind of record is the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom. It lasted for 26 years.
In 2004, I had the rare chance to spend some time aboard an operational aircraft carrier. Two, to be exact. They were in San Diego, and the carriers were the CVN-76 USS Ronald Reagan, and the CVN-72 USS Abraham Lincoln. Both were in port, and we never sailed as was originally planned, but few still get to do that sort of thing. I had a chance to talk with the deck officer. This is the person in charge of both the flight deck, and the hanger deck. Nothing moves without his approval. During operations, if he's not on the bridge, even the captain of the ship has to listen to this man and go where he's told. He told me that he loved the F-14s dearly. Nothing, he said, epitomizes the word "fighter" like the F-14. But yet, he wasn't sorry to see them go. 32 years of seagoing operations and thousands of cycles had taken their toll, and they had become maintenance headaches. "You can always tell where an F-14 has been spotted on the deck." he told me. "There's a pool of hydraulic fluid and kerosene. left behind."
While we may laud the aircraft and it's history, however, we must not forget what these aircraft were designed to do. They were designed to knock down other aircraft from the sky, and, if possible, kill the pilots in them so they wouldn't come back later to try and kill you. Later iterations incorporated bomb delivery systems so they could destroy targets on the ground.
I've always been fascinated with aviation, and these aircraft were an important part of aviation history. But I'm always mindful of these aircraft's purpose. It's a sobering thought.
"There never was a good war or a bad peace."
Benjamin Franklin
Most people think of the movie "Top Gun" when you mention the plane, and rightly so. It was a hit movie that vaulted Tom Cruise, and the Tomcat to stardom. When most people think of Navel aviation, they think of the Tomcat.
Thirty two years of service for a shipboard fighter is nothing to sneeze at. The only plane that comes close to that kind of record is the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom. It lasted for 26 years.
In 2004, I had the rare chance to spend some time aboard an operational aircraft carrier. Two, to be exact. They were in San Diego, and the carriers were the CVN-76 USS Ronald Reagan, and the CVN-72 USS Abraham Lincoln. Both were in port, and we never sailed as was originally planned, but few still get to do that sort of thing. I had a chance to talk with the deck officer. This is the person in charge of both the flight deck, and the hanger deck. Nothing moves without his approval. During operations, if he's not on the bridge, even the captain of the ship has to listen to this man and go where he's told. He told me that he loved the F-14s dearly. Nothing, he said, epitomizes the word "fighter" like the F-14. But yet, he wasn't sorry to see them go. 32 years of seagoing operations and thousands of cycles had taken their toll, and they had become maintenance headaches. "You can always tell where an F-14 has been spotted on the deck." he told me. "There's a pool of hydraulic fluid and kerosene. left behind."
While we may laud the aircraft and it's history, however, we must not forget what these aircraft were designed to do. They were designed to knock down other aircraft from the sky, and, if possible, kill the pilots in them so they wouldn't come back later to try and kill you. Later iterations incorporated bomb delivery systems so they could destroy targets on the ground.
I've always been fascinated with aviation, and these aircraft were an important part of aviation history. But I'm always mindful of these aircraft's purpose. It's a sobering thought.
"There never was a good war or a bad peace."
Benjamin Franklin
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If you were "Navy", and anybody spoke badly of the Tomcats....well, it was just a bad time all around, even if you'd never been within a thousand miles of a carrier.:) I worked for a former LDO in D.C., while I and he was on shore duty. I ran into him in a club one night, and he was a bit in his cups, mumbling,
"Just let me hear the 'cats scream one more time."
Some friends and I got him home.:)
Before he was "put out to pasture" and made LDO, he flew the tomcats. He and his Son, who also was a Naval Aviator, once served briefly aboard the same carrier; the Daddy assigned permanently as LDO, the Son on TAD. I wasn't there, but legend has it that "Sonny" was hooked to the cable, waiting for the catapaults, when Daddy ordered the launch scrubbed because he was "too worried." The eight new assholes that Sonny gave Daddy right there on the flight deck, became Naval Legend.
After I had known him for a while, I asked him about it. He just stared a hole in me. "Shut up and don't EVER mention that again!!!"
I didn't.
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"Just let me hear the 'cats scream one more time."
Some friends and I got him home.:)
Before he was "put out to pasture" and made LDO, he flew the tomcats. He and his Son, who also was a Naval Aviator, once served briefly aboard the same carrier; the Daddy assigned permanently as LDO, the Son on TAD. I wasn't there, but legend has it that "Sonny" was hooked to the cable, waiting for the catapaults, when Daddy ordered the launch scrubbed because he was "too worried." The eight new assholes that Sonny gave Daddy right there on the flight deck, became Naval Legend.
After I had known him for a while, I asked him about it. He just stared a hole in me. "Shut up and don't EVER mention that again!!!"
I didn't.
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