Darren Roberts Posted January 17, 2005 Share Posted January 17, 2005 Nope, I was on TD in San Diego when the Stennis came into port with the last F-14 cruise aboard. The F-14 is finished for Sea tours. The jets from the Stennis are now at NAS Oceana. I have a friend on the Stennis that has sent me digitals from the last cruise. I was able to do a tour of the Ronald Reagan which was tied up alongside the Stennis. WRONG - The F-14 is finished for deployments with the Pacific Fleet, but they will still have a couple of more cruises on the Atlantic, VF-32 is in the gulf at this moment on the Harry S Truman, i get emails from them at least three times a week. VF-213 and airwing 8 are scheduled to relieve them in late March and there is talk of VF-31 rejoining the Atlantic fleet for a cruise, maybe as part of Air Wing 8. This has been strongly debated though. I think you will see that VF-213's will be the last Tomcat cruise in '05 and that all squadrons will be or have started conversion to the Super Hornet by mid '06. VF-32 is set to convert to the SH begining in November. Hey Fuji, Say "hey" to Jace Denney for me. He was my contact a couple years back when I took them a 1/32 Tamiya model. Just out of curiosity, has it grown legs and "walked away", or is it still in their ready room? He was working on one, but I never did hear if he ever got it finished or not. Twobobs was thinking of scaling up their 1/48 scale sheet for him, but I don't know if they ever did. Link to post Share on other sites
TomcatFanatic123 Posted January 17, 2005 Share Posted January 17, 2005 it's the end of the world for us guys!!!time to find a new love... maybe vipers or mudhens? a toast.. to the turkey! the greatest swing wing fighter of all time ;) Nope, I ain't gonna find a NEW love, Not for me. I've always been a Tomcat fan, and will always be one till the day I draw my last breath. Even if they're all in the boneyard, I'll still keep building Tomcats. Say it loud and say it proud man! I dont care if they're all in the boneyards, gate guards or in museums, I'll still love the Tomcat, no matter what, no "new love" for me. But guys, look at this alright? there will be a day when F-14's are in civilian hands, look at the F-86,F-100 and F-4, there will be a day when the F-14 returns to the airshows to remind people just who was the last true Naval fighter. I think that the fate of the Tomcat will be one of fond memories, just like the F4U, F-4, F-8 and those who came before it, and children will go up to them on display and one day, a little boy will go up to a Tomcat, point at it and as "daddy, whats that?", and one of us will be able to say.."that son, is a legend and a thing of beauty". I know, because thats how I started, back in 1989 when I was 4, at the Point Mugu airshow, I walked up to Vandy 1, the Black Bunny, and asked my dad what it was, and he said one thing to me: "Son, that is the best". Long live the Tomcat. Amen to that!!!!!!!!! Link to post Share on other sites
F6F Posted January 18, 2005 Share Posted January 18, 2005 So on the subject of how many squadrons are left, it's only VF-32, VF-31 and VF-213? ;) And this means that VF-143 has or is in the process of transitioning? Don´t forget VF-101. Link to post Share on other sites
The_Animal Posted January 18, 2005 Share Posted January 18, 2005 Animal, Im nearly with you, there.But the Flanker is so gorgeous in all its guises Im gaining hope for some more cloud dancing inspiration from the Russkies! The F-14 isnt dead yet!!! Just nearly.... I'm only building one 1/32nd Flanker and that's the one that my JAG fanfic character shoots down with his F-14D VF-41 Black Aces Tomcat (yeah, yeah, I know the Black Aces didn't fly the D but, in my fanfic, THEY DO). And I'm gonna have them nose to nose...displayed...with the title "North Korean SHOWDOWN!" `(10 KILLS...1 Flanker, 7 MiG 29s, 1 MiG 23 and a MiG 27) Hmmm, now I gotta ask a question in JET MODELLING about what I should do for KILL markings. Link to post Share on other sites
The_Animal Posted January 18, 2005 Share Posted January 18, 2005 y'know what's sad for me is that I live in Tucson and therefore get to see firsthand every so often the fleet of F-14 bones rotting here....*sigh* One of my photos I think shows what once may have been the Topgun "PowderPuff" bird, meaning the light blue with white tail tips and radome. Can't imagine what else it is, anyway. ~sigh~ I just wish the CNO could convince AMARC to give me one of my old VF-41 Tomcats that's just rottin' out there. I could give it a home...Build my house around it, put it in a NICE big living room. Link to post Share on other sites
The_Animal Posted January 18, 2005 Share Posted January 18, 2005 Say, guys, I'm thinking of doing a rather expansive project. I'm planning on doing 2 aircraft of each squadron in 1/72 scale. 1 lo-vis, 1 hi-vis. I thought about doing every freakin' paint scheme for every freakin' squadron from time of inception of the Tomcats, all the way through to retirement, but I probably wouldn't be able to get that all finished due to lack of decals for some squadrons as well as the expansive numbers of markings for each squadron throughout their lifetime. I'm considering actually PAINTING on some squadron markings for the rare squadrons like the following ones that probably don't have ANY decals for them. VF-191 Satan's Kittens, VF-194 Hellfires VF-201 Hunters VF-202 Superheats VF-301 Devil's Disciples VF-302 Stallions I would like to immortalize on my shelf, the entire lo-vis and hi-vis markings for each and every squadron that ever flew the F-14 Tomcat. Link to post Share on other sites
Jonathan_Lotton Posted January 18, 2005 Share Posted January 18, 2005 Well, that would certainly be an insanely cool project, the hard part would be to choose which high/low vis scheme to do from said squadron Since they often had multiple different schemes. Personally, I found VF-2's final high viz scheme to be insanely cool, as well as VF-41's, something....classy about that darker grey color and markings Link to post Share on other sites
BlackWolf3945 Posted July 10, 2005 Share Posted July 10, 2005 I'm considering actually PAINTING on some squadron markings for the rare squadrons like the following ones that probably don't have ANY decals for them.VF-191 Satan's Kittens, VF-194 Hellfires VF-201 Hunters VF-202 Superheats VF-301 Devil's Disciples VF-302 Stallions Repliscale did a sheet that had markings for VF-191 and VF-201 (5011) and another sheet that had markings for VF-194 (5012 I think), both in 48th and 72nd. Dunno if they did them in 32nd or if any other manufacturers have done markings for any of these squadrons... Fade to Black... Link to post Share on other sites
phantom Posted July 10, 2005 Share Posted July 10, 2005 Back to the origanal question, Down to: VF-31, 100 AJ VF-213-200 AJ VF-32 never to see a carrier again, transit time. VF-101 last student gone? down to a couple airframes. Thats it , thats all folks. :D Link to post Share on other sites
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