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Editors Note: Every airplane that goes into service is accompanied by controversy. This is especially true of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. Our two experts argue that the Super Hornet is not necessarily the airplane the Navy needs for the future, and their backgrounds lend weight to their arguments. Rear Admiral Paul Gillcrist U.S. Navy (Ret.) spent 33 years as a fighter jet pilot and wing commander and was operations commander for all Pacific Fleet fighters. Bob Kress is an aeronautical engineer and, during his long career at Grumman, he was directly involved in the development of the F-14 Tomcat. Their ...

My squadron and air wing were detached to NAS Fallon, Nevada, for strike training. Most of us attended lectures all day, but I was tasked with giving the battle-group-air-warfare commander an orientation flight in the F-14D. As skipper of the cruiser in charge of the battle group's air defenses, he had been spending time with the air wing to better understand how we conduct our missions. He had observed a number of the strike events through the tactical-air-combat-training system (TACTS) replays, and he had flown with the E-2C and EA-6B squadrons. He was proud that the Prowler guys hadn't been...

Squadron Homecoming Marks End of Era for Tomcats Story Number: NNS060310-05 Release Date: 3/10/2006 1:58:00 PM By Journalist 1st Class Stefanie Holzeisen-Mullen, Fleet Public Affairs Center Atlantic VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (NNS) -- The “Tomcatters” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VF) 31 and the “Black Lions” of VF-213 arrived at Naval Air Station Oceana March 10, ending their six-month deployment with Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 8 embarked on the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), and closing the book on the Tomcat as an asset in the Navy’s war fighting arsenal. VF-31 and 213’s “fly-off” marked the last operational flight of...

051216-N-9362D-001 Persian Gulf (Dec. 16, 2005) - Commander Carrier Air Wing Eight (CVW-8), Capt. Bill Sizemore makes his 10,000th trap aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71). Sizemore was piloting an F-14D Tomcat assigned to the "Blacklions" of Fighter Squadron Two One Three (VF-213). Roosevelt and embarked CVW-8 are underway on a regularly scheduled deployment conducting maritime security operations. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Randall Damm (RELEASED)

    Official U.S. Navy file photo of an F-14D Tomcat assigned to Fighter Squadron (VF) 31. The return of the squadron marks the final deployment of the F-14 Tomcat to the Pacific Coast. View Larger Download HiRes   Tomcatters Return from Pacific DeploymentStory Number: NNS041029-01Release Date: 10/29/2004 7:24:00 AMFrom Commander, Naval Air Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet Public AffairsNORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- The “Tomcatters” of Fighter Squadron (VF) 31 will return to their home base at Naval Air Station Oceana Oct. 31, following a five-month deployment to the Western Pacific aboard the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN...

BATTLE OF THE SUPERFIGHTERS Two Experts Say the Super Hornet isn't so Super Editors' note: every airplane that goes into service is accompanied by controversy. This is especially true of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. Our two experts argue that the Super Hornet is not necessarily the airplane the Navy needs for the future, and their backgrounds lend weight to their arguments. Rear Adm. Paul Gillcrist U.S. Navy (Ret.) spent 33 years as a fighter pilot and wing commander and was operations commander of all Pacific Fleet fighters. Bob Kress is an aeronautical engineer and, during his long career at Grumman,...