Bye bye, Tomcat

Last week, 22 September 2006 marked the retirement of the famous Grumman F-14 Tomcat, the very fighter jet that had me spellbound at a much younger age.

I don't remember which came first, the movie Top Gun or the book serious on contemporary weaponry that had an elaborate description on the F-14. But I do recall carrying a tiny model plane of Tomcat in my pocket in my later elementary years and the vivid memory of playing the Nintendo game, Top Gun, trying to land the damn thing on the carrier. I also committed the specs of it, radar type and range, missiles carried and number, etc., to my memory while I had a hard time remembering content of my textbooks.

Although the big cats had collectively shot down only five enemy aircraft throughout its time of serving, still, hats off to you, coolest fighter ever!