A Cold Warrior Retires

The dis-oriented author grew up during the Cold War.  When I was a child, he Cold War and the Soviet threat preoccupied the nation. Even the birth announcement that my father sent around the to his colleagues noted that "Castro was still in Cuba". Well, today nearly half a century later, the Cold War is over but Castro is sill in Cuba.

This week saw the retirement of a legendary Cold Warrior, the F-14 Tomcat.

In the McDonnell Douglas F4 Phantom was the primary fighter used by both the Air Force and Navy. In 1972 the Navy adopted the Grumman F-14 Tomcat as its primary fighter.

The Phantom became the symbol of Naval Air power, with twin engines roaring on afterburner, it made a sound that had to be felt to be believed. As a young person I dreamed of strapping on a helment and flying a Tomcat against Ivan and his MiGs.

Then in 1986, the movie Top Gun was released. Top Gun was a box office success and helped launch the careers of Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Anthony Edwards, Meg Ryan and Kelly McGillis. The real star however was the Tomcat and naval aviation.

The Tomcat drew first blood in on August 19, 1981. USS Nimitz was cruising off the coast of Libya within the gulf of Sidra that Libya claims as territorial waters. Two F14's from VF41, the Black Aces, shot down to Libyan Su 22 fighters. I remember a radio announcer giving the baseball scores that day, it went something like this:

On the West Coast, LA over San Diego 4-3, on the East Coast Red Sox over the Yankees 3-2 and in the Middle East, US Navy 2 Libya nothing.

In the immortal words of Goose, "I fell the need — the need for speed!"