So Long Maverick!

The year was 1986 and it was a good movie year. "Aliens" was in the theatres and so was the movie that probably did more for the U.S. Navy than any other picture since. "Top Gun" flew onto the screen and became a smash hit. It's fabulous aerial scenes teamed with Tom Cruise cheesing his way from scene to scene was a classic. Like any good Simpson and Bruckheimer film, it was full of pounding music, stunning visuals and low on story. But who cared? I certainly didn't! My 9-year old mind was still fixated on the one thing that still appeals to me about the movie, and that was the F-14 Tomcat.

From the time I can remember, I was always fascinated by aviation. Even today, I will spend hours upon hours in the Air and Space Museums in DC just walking among them. I still have tons of simulators at home and I still read up as much as I can on aviation history. So it was with a bit of sadness that I read that the last 'combat experienced' F-14 was finally back home here in the states and was off to retirement in (wait for it!!)... Florida. There's just something so fitting about the fighter that helped define naval aviation for the past two decades go into retirement in Florida. The Tomcat's successor, the F/A-18 Super Hornet is just as accomplished a fighter though movies featuring it in prominence ("Independence Day" among others) have not given naval aviation the boost it experienced with "Top Gun."

There's just something about the plane that is appealing to aviation nuts. It is large and ungainly, it doesn't look like it would be agile at all, but the fact that it remained in service for nearly 30 years is a testament to the fact that the fighter was a well designed plane. At the height of the cold war it was one of the first lines of defense for our aircraft carriers and it was a task to which it was well suited. One can wonder if it hadn't been for Tom Cruise, would the plane have enjoyed as much noteriety as it garnered after 1986. It's a mystery, but I can tell you that mention the Tomcat to most people as being the "Top Gun" plane and there will be instant recognition. Try that with any other fighter in the U.S. inventory. Not so easy is it?

In a way it's a good thing that the Tomcat is retiring now. Although we still have enemies around the globe, the way modern war is being fought you need troops on the ground rather than planes in the air. I mean you won't use a gun to kill a tick (or maybe you would) so similarly, you can't really use a fighter plane to fight a terrorist. And it's fitting too because Tom Cruise, the pilot behind that popular plane also seems to be on the decline these days. What with his strange outbursts, dancing on sofas and going on and on about the ill effects of perscription medicines, it's probably best that the plane enters retirement before Tom Cruise can take it down with him.