What would a tribute to carrier aviation be without the Grumman F-14 Tomcat?
The Tomcat, made famous in the movie Top Gun, is a large, twin-engined, two seat, swing-wing supersonic fighter and interceptor.
First deployed in 1974, it served with the US Navy until 2006 being replaced with the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. The F-14 scored its first air-to-air kill in 1981 when a patrol of F-14s was engaged by, and then downed Libyan Sukhoi jets.
Tomcats were also adapted to fly air-to-ground missions with the ability to drop both precision-guided and non-precision bombs. The moniker Bombcat was often applied to these upgraded aircraft. F-14s took on air-to-ground missions in Iraq, Bosnia and Kosovo.
Interestingly, the F-14 on the USS Yorktown bears the markings of two different squadrons on the aircraft.
It bears markings of aircraft #103 of the USS George Washington on the port side with the squadron markings of VF-143, the Pukin' Dogs.
On the starboard side it is painted with the livery of the USS KittyHawk, Aircraft #101 of squadron VFA-154 The Black Knights.
