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Isfahan Air Base handling maintenance, overhaul of Tomcats Isfahan, Nov. 6, IRNA – Isfahan's Shahid Babaie Air Base is unique in its kind worldwide in terms of maintenance and overhaul of F14 fighter jets (tomcat). Commander of the Air Base, Brigadier Ali-Reza Barkhor told IRNA on Sunday that his Base is the only center for training pilots for fixed wing planes of the Islamic Republic Army. He said his Base is also handling flights F14 planes after 33 years of sanctions which indicates high experience of Air Force technicians. The commander said the flight of such warplanes is of significance...

Jane Melia and Charlie Coughlan look at the tail section of an F-14 Tomcat from Oceana Naval Air Station that washed ashore at Long Strand near Owenahincha, Ireland, on May 5. DENIS MINIHANE PHOTOS / THE IRISH EXAMINER By JACK DORSEY, The Virginian-Pilot © May 10, 2006 NORFOLK — A tail section from an F-14 Tomcat discovered on a beach in Ireland came from an Oceana-based plane that crashed 3½ years ago off Key West, Fla., the Navy confirmed Tuesday. How it got at least 4,900 miles away, no one knows for certain.As if it had been a corked...

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...

ONBOARD USS JOHN C. STENNIS, Sasebo, Japan — The U.S. Navy’s meanest, fastest and most agile fighter jet, nearing retirement, is deployed in the western Pacific Ocean for the last time. The Grumman F-14, which entered military service in 1972, also is a movie star. At least for aviation aficionados, it upstaged actors including Tom Cruise in the film “Top Gun.” Pilots flying the F-14s are from Fighter Squadron Three One, or VF-31, from Virginia Beach, Va. The VF-31 Tomcatters, also known as the “Felix the Cat” squadron, now are embarked on the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis....

USS GEORGE WASHINGTON, At Sea (NNS) -- Launching from USS George Washington's (CVN 73) flight deck on the afternoon of Feb. 25, aircraft from Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 7 fired 17 live missiles onto a range over the Arabian Sea in two separate waves. The history-making missile exercise took place during a routine deployment for the George Washington Strike Group, deployed in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. The ordnance was delivered by Fighter Squadrons (VF) 11 and 143 flying F-14B Tomcats, and Strike Fighter Squadrons (VFA) 131 and 136 in F/A-18C Hornets. Clearing the way for the...