Re:Tomcats!

[Rob W.]

altho Id still like to know what moon equipped means

I believe that the Tomcat wore the words "Moon Equipped" on the nose of the jet as the skipper of VF-101 was a certain "Moon" Vance at some point when this Tomcat served in 101's ranks.  Nice shots, thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Rob

[Skys7]

Congrats to all who decided to become a part of history today.  No other aircraft, note, I said no other aircraft, will ever be sent off like the Tomcat is being sent off.  Sort of elevates its status a bit.  Who knows, when the final Tomcat words are written, it may eclipse all others.  At least in the hearts and minds of those who frequent these threads.

Bravo Zulu Baby!

I don't know what to say other than everything what Dave has said is true!! In this day of instant gratification, I'm sure this thing we call the internet has indeed kept all fans of the Tomcat well connected all the way thru to these final flights. My thanks to all those that kept everyone "in the loop" and thanks to those in Texas that gave us the "heads up" (you know who you are ) out here at the final resting place. Here's a few shots from the last two hectic days....

First from Palmdale...

Tomcat provided by Supafly & Tank

Heineken provided by Fencecheck....

[Skys7]

And from North Island.....

Tomcat provided by Bunny & Mooch

Heineken provided by.....well.....those notorious Tomcat chasers!

[Skys7]

Moments before touching down......for the Final Time!!    North Island Sept. 29 2006

Crew signatures

[rander]

ronder,

I think you answered my question Take care of this bird! Do you know what is the future of this particular plane?

Greetings, neu

It's going to the Hawaiian Air Museum on Ford Island at Pearl Harbor Hawaii. It should be there some time in the later part of November.  If your in the San Diego area nest weekend October 7and 8, The F-14 D will be a display aircraft at the Coronado Speed Festival onboard NAS North Island. THere will be current and vintage race cars using the runways and taxiways to attempt as much speed as possible.

Rander Veteran Tomcat Tweaker

[rander]

More of 163904
First is a right side shot of Felix 102, we had to kneel it to get the wings high enough to clear the big gate leading in to the hanger yard.

second is the left engine exhaust nozzle. some one in a previous post asked for cans, heres one frrom me.

Third is a shot looking down the left wing,  In the back ground are three SARDIPed F-14A's  160913, 161136 and 159847 ( to the best of my information)

[rander]

Felix102 BUNO 163904 was manufactured in May 1991 and was the 19th F-14D built

[rander]

Felix 102 close ups

[obobitsyou]

Rander -

Thanks for all those detail shots of 102.

In the meantime - I have traken the liberty of finding a shot of AD-266 at Pensacola - National Museum of Naval Aviation - this is the Jet on display on the Tram Tour.

Also, I have included a pic of the forward fuselage that is on display inside for kids, like my son, to crawl into the cockpit. So thats about another .25 Tomcat right?

I believe on the Tomcat Association's Website they list about 20 (twenty) Tomcats on display in California. It would be hard to top that!

Bob

[Skys7]

Look! .....this is the last time bub!
I AM NOT Maverick......and he IS NOT Goose!

[jhanna1701]

The forcast for Farmingdale on Wed is not looking good.  Thunderstorms predicted.  Does anyone have any updated info yet on Wed's arrival?  Do you think that it could be changed due to weather?  Coming in from Chicago, so trying to plan accordingly.

Thanks,

Jamie

[M.M.]

In this day of instant gratification, I'm sure this thing we call the internet has indeed kept all fans of the Tomcat well connected all the way thru to these final flights.

Indeed it has.  I mentioned before how cool it was to to watch things develop on Thursday, as the flight plans were released and everybody along the route started sprinting.  The day only got better as the photos of 103 started to appear:  Keith's just-in-time shot of it departing Fort Worth, Paul's jaw-droppers from Grand Junction, and then the Mafia's evening-light shots from Palmdale.  And thanks the gremlins (for once!), we've seen awesome coverage of 102's arrival at NI as well.

To all of you who were chasing Tomcats this week, thanks for sharing the adventure with the rest of us.  While it would have been great to see some of the action first-hand, with the excellent online coverage from more places than any one person could have gone, I don't feel I missed anything. 

Now, if I'm keeping track correctly, there's one remaining F-14 flight, right?  So this is the only "live" F-14 left at Oceana at this moment?

-M.M.

[françoise]

 .......the 101 was flying one week and half ago in a perfect grey sky of Oceana......don't know if this 101 now the only"in live".......I wish it could 

[skychief]

Skippyscage  All I can say is beautiful work.
If I had a vote the shot with Mt Garfield would be my picture of the month.
 

 Felix 101 is sitting in Hanger 500 at Oceana Last Cat standing.

[Skys7]

Skippyscage  All I can say is beautiful work.
If I had a vote the shot with Mt Garfield would be my picture of the month.
 

I second that vote! Outstanding!The burner take-off shot is sweet also!