Markings of VF-111, USS Kitty Hawk, 1979

Delivered to the US Navy in Dec. 1978. On 26 September 1994 was transferred to the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center (AMARC) with inventory number 1K0069. Loaned to Pima Museum, on 9 September 2011 was restored and received markings of Fighter Squadron 111 (VF-111), USS Kitty Hawk, in 1979.

Fighter Squadron 111 (VF-111), USS Kitty Hawk, 1979. Made famous by the movie "Top Gun," the F-14 Tomcat is the last of Grumman's "Cat" series of Naval fighters which began with the F4F Wildcat in the 1930s. Tomcats entered service on the USS Enterprise in 1974, and flew some of the last American combat missions over Vietnam while providing air cover over Saigon during the American evacuation in April 1975. The Tomcat was retired from service in the U.S. Navy in 2006.