Anyone who's anyone knows the F-14 series of fighter jet, AKA the Tomcat. Well just recently the F-14 is officially taking a retirement of duty, service and omniscient fear from the enemy to a place where they'll never fly again... to me this is what I call the End of an Era. We've actually faced several of them and they usually occur when we least expect them, or when we least suspect the significance of these creations, usually by machines. It is through machines that revolutionize our very existence in many ways we can't even imagine because were never thought of... from the simplest device such as the television, a microwave, to the largest, most complex pieces of technology such as the SR-71 Blackbird or the de-commisioned Concorde commercial plane. These machines place a mark in history which revolutionized the world, and when they're put away, it's pulling man's greatest creations back in a pseudomodern dark age, a kind of fear or lack of initiative to PUSH rather than pull.
Now the F-14 is being replaced by newer fighter jets that 'supposedly' compromising to our beloved Tomcat's capabilities, but Naval fighter jocks still refer to the Tomcat as the best, was and is. 36 years in service, that's more than twice the average military service of any man in service and has compared to any machine that has presented itself in service, that's even longer. We all know the Tomcat from the movie starring Tom Cruise in the famous, if not infamous, Top Gun, which was shot at Miramar Naval Air Station, the home and heart of the F-14's. There was muc hreason to speculate why this plane presented itself outside of others despite 'hollywood fame'.
It was retro, yet beyond its time, presenting now. When you looked at it, you KNEW what it was whether you loved or hated planes, it was still respected. It felt more like a supercar we ALL want or wanted to fly in at one time (I know I do) and lastly... it just looks so damn cool. I'm definitely gonna miss this plane because it's showing me just where the military is going with and what. But I'm afraid other machines like this will be facing their time in due retirement such as the A-10 Warthog/Thunderbolt. Other machines'll follow but this one definitely takes the breath away from most of us who'll discover, and to those who have been akinned to this great plane at one time.
Come to think of it, the only people who I know will feel shame for this, to any extreme would be militarily involved individuals, aeronautical fanatics... and SWATKat: Radical Squadron fans LOL. If one can remember, the F-14's design was mimicked in the Hannah-Barbara TV-show SWATKats: The Radical Squadron. The show too felt a saddening demise with only 2 season, the second season being its last and final one, with 3 last episodes cancelled, but planned, including a movie in the works... but the whole thing was decommissioned by the very people who raised it. The reason was never specific, but one would have to speculate as the creators were Hannah-Barbara. Hannah Barbara being infamous for the essence of cartoon mediocrity and had then created SWATKats? The combination seemed like it wouldn't and shouldn't have made sense... and to some point it didn't. That being said, that was probably why it was stopped. For once, Hannah-Barbara had created something with substance, an enthralling story, delightful characters... it just made sense... but I digress. Comparable to this, this show shares a kindred spirit to the rest which mark the 'End of an Era'. That something so great is given its last moment in fanfare... or simply left in the dark, we all still remember and wish for some kind of comeback, in any way possible.
I write about this and some may wonder "So the F-14 is being decommissioned, big deal, I hate war and that's all it was used for..." That may be the case but that's not my plight in this at all. The fact here is that I love history... that is being made. I acknowledge the fact that GREAT things are happening in my lifetime now (some... not so great... but lest we speak of them as they've dawned America's presence of mixed, confusing emotions, Bush being involved as well... so we'll just leave it alone...) but this one piece of history in the making being more noteworthy to me as I carry that love for my country, aeronautics (including the little bit of SWATKats I involved LOL). Before my parents got divorced, my mom was married to an Air Force man. During that time, my dad would take us air shows hosted by the air force bases we lived in... and demonstrated the power and skill these machines had, specifically the F-14. If not for less pleasing dilemnas that had occurred in my life, I might have considering going into the Air Force just to be able to be the pilot of one of those F-14's, or any other jet, as long as it was with an F-14 by association.
Since then my mom had since remarried, but still in the military, an Army man, and with ties still associated militarily, my love, fascination and ever growing exposure to practically every war machine known to man, has brought me akin to them, as if they were the icons of stuff you read about in fantasy books... legends ya know? Avatarial myths taken form in the shape and practice of steel, hardware, fuel and engines... and used in the very execution of defense for the country's cause (wherever it may lead). So many may see the F-14, as well as any other war machine developed by man as just that: A machine that condones in the act of war.
Yet war is an act of necessity. Mankind has developed itself on GREAT things only AFTER wars as wars engage human beings in the act of necessity. That means of necessity is to have something better than the enemy. Once that's all done and over with, there's technology left over to maintain, but also distribute among the masses for better things to make our lives easier and in other ways, enjoyable. I'm not saying that something great will come off the retirement of the F-14, but I am speculating that for every end of an era, there is a machine being used less till naught, and that in its lay to rest, another arises, if not something deriving from inspiration or purpose of that retirement.
Being a literary romantic, I see the F-14 and any other machine so great as more than just machines, but as relics. Relics that should remind us, inspire us and those around it to know what it stood for and to learn from it, respect it and hope for something better in honor of its predecessory ancestor. Just as the F-14 paid homage to the F-4 Weasel/Phantom (some spell it Fantom), there are a slew of other machines out there that carry its principle of remembrance EVERYONE will know. The F-14 though, holds a much more personal feeling, if not for America, EVERYONE because that plane has hit the mark on this planet much more than any other.
So as I bring closure to this personal (and boring LOL) entry, I leave one last note from a forum I engaged myself into regarding this famous, if not infamous plane of aerial combat... the F-14 Tomcat.
"Definitely the turn of an era if you ask me. Kind of like when the Concorde was de-commisioned for commercial use as a means to fly from destination A to B or when Neil Armstrong attended it's last flight... saying 'One small step for man, one giant leap back in time for mankind' ... they feel like kindred spirits here, yes.
We can't love machines like we can love a human... but we sure as hell can love them like we love legends."
And I feel that's true... you can't love machines like we can love another human, but they are that much closer to the stuff of legends, myths and arcane sanctum.
God Bless your time in service F-14, may your last aerial swagger on the decks of the last carrier you'll land on be the best, an God Bless the pilots who've logged their hours in service to these diabolically famous jets.
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For some insight on the F-14:
[link] Check it out.
2 Years...
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