The Navy officially retires the F-14 Tomcat today. The F14 Tomcat was one of my personal favorites in regards to military aircraft.

It was designed and built here on Long Island by Grumman and I fondly remember as a teenager going out east to the Calverton area (final assembly and test flight facility) and hearing and watching those birds take flight. The grounds were secure, but that area is in a narrow part of Long Island and the Tomcats routinely would fly out over the ocean or Long Island Sound making them easy to see and hear, especially while fishing.


The “mascot” of the Tomcat was a common sight here during the 1970’s and 1980’s. Grumman used to be the island’s largest employer and my parent’s neighbor was one of the thousands that directly worked on the Tomcat over the years. "Anytime Baby" was one of that man's favoite sayings.

I also remember sitting in my backyard where I live now one day close to the end of Tomcat production here on Long Island and seeing one fly over . I recognized the sound of the approaching jet and called my wife outside to see it. The Tomcat was performing some test maneuvers I am willing to bet, but it was fantastic sitting in my own yard watching it do steep climbs and rolls out over the Sound for several minutes until it sped back east, breaking the sound barrier on route.

Some will be mothballed in Arizona as for the others those not already dismantled will be in museums. (There are a few on displays around here)

That is asides from the ones owned by Iran, but since we have not sold them replacement parts in years they have a very hard time keeping them in the air.

Farewell to the Tomcat, one of the greatest jets ever built. (And it looks great too )
Tomcat Tales

The F-14 Tomcat was indeed a very impressive and great fighter aircraft. I will miss seeing it in the skies.
Job well done "Top Gun".

It is certainly an iconic aircraft. There’s an interesting discussion of the Tomcat here, by some who seem to know what they are talking about.

Just to be contrary…

’Now granted, the F-14 is dead-sexy and for for 2-decades it dominated carrier air wings with much more glamour and perceived importance than the lowly “light strike fighter” Hornets. It was in all the PR campaigns and recruiting posters. Movies were made featuring it. All the attention culminating in a very large, powerful and influential "F-14 Mafia". Why the Tomcat was considered so important is a little hard to grasp when looked at objectivley since it is ostensibly a defensive weapon system deployed on a platform (the carrier) that is primarily offensively oriented. But nevertheless, the F-14 without question ruled carrier decks in the 70's and 80's. So much for the idea that the Hornet was a favored aircraft, but I digress... The Tomcat's job during the Cold War was to defend the carrier from attack by swarms of Soviet Tu–22M bombers armed with long range AS-6 anti-ship missiles. The F-14/AWG-9/AIM-54 combination [i.e. the plane plus its missiles] was the only thing going that could defend against this threat, which required intercpetion as much as 4-500 miles out from the CVBG. While the true very effectiveness of the Tomcat's very long range AWG-9/APG-71/Pheonix weapon system has become the subject of considerable doubt, one thing that is not is that the threat it was designed for no longer exists. Today’s naval emphasis is in the littorals where the most likely air threat to the carrier is a small number of strike-fighter aircraft armed with an Exocet type weapon. Against this threat the SH [SuperHornet] is probably superior to the F-14 thus the SH is the more appropriate aircraft to the needs of today. In other words, the threat has changed and the means of addressing that threat should change with it.’

Actually, the real threat these days would be some nut in a rowboat with a home-made bomb and a grudge, wouldn't it? The best defence against that would be a sensible foreign policy.