FELIX 210 departing NAS Miramar

NFWS F-14A marked '31' is on short final to NAS Miramar

F-14A of VF-1 landing at Miramar in the late afternoon on 24R

Airpower taxying to the runway of Volkel. Pity about the weather that day, some 27 years ago. The Tomcat participated in the exercise Volkit.

A Tomcat with 'Felix, the Cat' on the tail. Unit is Fighting VF-31, 'Tomcatters', the second oldest continuously active US Navy aircraft squadron. This aircraft is now on display at NAS Atlanta and the picture was taken at the Miami Air Show 1990 early in the morning.

Fighter Squadron (VF) 74 "Be-Devilers" was established on 16 April 1944 (as VBF-20) and disestablished 50 years later on 30 April 1994. It started to operate with the F4U Corsair, and these were followed by the F6F Hellcat, F8F Bearcat, F9F-8 Cougar, F4D-1 Skyray, F-4B Phantom II, F-4J, F-4S before transitioning in 1983 to the F-14A Tomcat and, from August 1988 this F-14B. With the Tomcat, the squadron was heavily involved in combat operations in Operation El Dorado Canyon (Libya, 1986), Operation Desert Shield (Iraq, 1990) and subsequently Operation Desert Storm (Iraq, 1991).

VF143 aircraft at one of the Air Tattoos at Greenham Common, which is now a kind of a nature reserve.

Assigned to VF-143 on board USS Eisenhower.

With the introduction of the F-14D VF-124 'Gunfighters' was assigned the role of training air and ground personnel for this type. The first F-14D was accepted by the squadron on the 16th of November 1990, with four of the type undertaking the first fleet F-14D carquals onboard the USS Nimtz (CVN-68) on the 2nd of October 1991.

A Grim Reaper of Fighting Squadron 101 awaiting permission to taxy to the catapult of the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) during the final Tomcat Carrier Qualifications.

A Grim Reaper caught the Theodore Roosevelt cable and came to rest, after the well known controlled crash. AD-163 was the full colour bird of the squadron, normally this was the double nuts, or AD-100.

The final F-14 Tomcat Qarrier Qualification (CQ) took place in March '05 on board USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) off coast Virginia. During the CQ, Tomcat crews prepare and qualify themselves in carrier ops. They had to make a certain number of catapult starts, arrested landings, touch-and-goes, and those by day and night. When concluded they are qualified to go on deployment. These crew eventually departed with the CVN-71 to the Persian Gulf that marked the sunset cruise for the F-14. The crews belonged to VF-31 and VF-213 but used aircraft of Fleet Replacement Squadron VF-101 Grim Reapers.

This Tomcat, wired for Tactical Airborne Reconnaissance Pod System (TARPS) missions, was moved to Tucson, and eventually sadly scrapped. Several Tomcats within the US Navy were wired for this large and sophisticated camera pod.

Just on the day I was visiting Oceana, this beautiful retro F-14B came out the paint shop. AG-143 made its last operational flight a few day's later and was then flown to Bradley AFB (CT) for preservation in the New England Air Museum

A "Tophatters" Tomcats blasts away from Volkel air base during exercise Volkit.

A "Tophatter" full after-burner at the runway of Volkel during exercise Volkit.

Kept at Miramar prior to respray and transfer to the USS Midway museum in nearby San Diego.

In the markings of VF-101 "Grim Reapers", the US Navy's Atlantic Fleet Readiness Squadron (FRS).