Damn.

I watched the last F-4 Phantom fly off the deck of the USS Midway back in 1984 (IIRC) and now it's replacement the F-14 is gone. That aircraft pretty much frames my nearly 24 year Naval aviation career. That was a nice aircraft as not too many of them crashed - sort of like the A-6 Intruder/Prowler and unlike the A-6 Cosair which was the worse from my experence with it. In the four plus years I was aboard Midway I buried 41 shipmates (same as the hull number ) and too many of them were A-6 pilots. I asked one Corsair driver about his aircraft and he told me there was like a four or five second delay between the time he hit the throttles and the time thrust started coming on and that made landing on Midways tiny pitching rolling deck at night very difficult.

Lot of guys aboard ship hated the pilots as stuck up ... not me ... those guys earn every dime they make and every extra bennie they get. There are no braver pilots made.

I always think that we retire useful aircraft far too soon.

This is no exception.

I just hope a few Tomcats are kept in flying shape for future generations to enjoy.

CJ