"End of an era: USN's Tomcats make their final approach before decommissioning"

Jason H wrote:
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The CO came on the 1MC the night the first strafe was done. We were all
pretty impressed. I talked to the pilot that did the strafing and he said it
was probably the coolest thing he's ever done, ever. Tomcats don't usually
strafe because they don't usually need to. When's the last time you've heard
about any (navy, marines are crazy) plane using its gun? It just doesn't
happen very often, but the irony is that a tomcat using its gun to strafe a
ground target was about the last thing the designers EVER thought it would
do. Air-to-ground offense is the very antithesis of its intended role,
air-to-air defense. It just goes to show what a fantastically great aircraft
the Tomcat was. The ground crews refused to clean the gun blast off the
nose, it was a badge of honor! They went as far as to tape over it while
they were washing the bird. I sobbed like a little girl when the final
Tomcat fly-by went down. I have the video if anybody's interested, I shot it
myself :-).

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Ah, memories!

This takes me back thirty-four years, when the first article weapons
test F-14 arrived at VX-5.

The first time the M61 was fired inflight, the hot gas hit the pitot
tubes and static ports and the computer tried to turn the aircraft
inside out, beginning with instantly programming the wings full forward.

That got the crew's attention!

Later, unrelated to the M61, the first Marine to take the stick of an
F-14 in VF-124 had an inlet guide vane slam shut on a burner takeoff. He
did a fine job of bringing it around and landing it, excreting intake
lining, rivets and various engine parts all the way.

Yes, Virginia, the Marines were scheduled to get the F-14, and had their
initial cadre in the RAG and FRAMP with VF-1, -2, -14, -32 and the
Imperial Iranian Air Force at the time.

Rick