Most pilots like to classify their favourite aircraft. Fighters are commonly known as hot, and if they are good looking they are often referred to as sexy. One aircraft which fulfilled both of these criteria was one of the most famous aircraft of our time, the superlative Grumman F-14 Tomcat. For more than three decades the famous F-Fourteen was the backbone of the US Navy`s Carrier Air Groups (CAG). Few aircraft have attracted more attention or been in the public spotlight more than this famous high performance two-seat interceptor. Attributed with the downing of four Libyan fighters in the 80’s the F-14 later became the subject of Hollywood movies such as Top Gun (Tom Cruise at his best) and The Final Countdown.
On September, the 22nd 2006 the era of the Grumman F-14 Tomcat in US Navy service came to an end, which is a good reason for us to have a closer look at the very last of the Grumman Corporation’s famous navy cats.