F-14B
“White-23”
VX-9
“Vampires”
NAS
Fallon
2004
(Excerpt from the Navy Times)
Dateline:
NAS
Fallon
, NV
Today a historical event took place as
the last F-14 Tomcat of Fleet Test Squadron VX-9 was handed over to the
Navy’s premier ‘Topgun’ combat school in Nevada. The F-14B, still
finished in its eye-catching gloss black paint scheme and full color
markings, some what rare these days in an air arm that is normally overall
gray, is only one of four aircraft that the school has acquired for combat
training. “It’s a rush” pilot Lt. Natalie “Heart Break” Tennyson
remarked. “The F-14 is the only aircraft in the world that does the
mission it was designed to do”. “Only the F-14 can track multiple
targets over a hundred miles away and engage eight of those targets at the
same time” commented Capt. Jerry “Bradshaw” Douglas, who is an F-14
Radar Intercept Officer. The Navy’s Naval Strike
Air Warfare Center, which is located at Naval Air Station Fallon in Nevada, now has four of
the F-14s in use and plans on keeping then in service until 2010.
This started
as a joint effort between me & my girlfriend at the time, we used the
pathetic Zhengdufu 1/72 F-14B kit with the decals coming from my stash of
leftovers. I mention her & one of the Aviation professors at La. Tech
in the write-up.
Bud
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