This footage below has surfaced on Twitter captures an incredible moment as an F-14D makes a close, high speed, pass to overtake another Tomcat, possibly the flight leader or wingman.
The jet’s wings are fully swept for a very high-speed pass followed by a sharp crossing maneuver.
The clip is a particularly dynamic moment from the final cruise video made by Navy Fighter Squadron 31 (VF-31), the “Tomcatters,” filmed during the final weeks of Navy F-14 operations in 2006.
The full video, which is well worth watching, is available below.
The aircraft in the video clip on Twitter is BuNo 164603, which was first delivered on May 29, 1992, to Fighter Squadron 124 (VF-124), the “Gunfighters,” but ended its flying career as “Bandwagon 101” in a specially-painted retro scheme with VF-31.
The latter squadron was one of the last two operational Navy Tomcat units, flying alongside Fighter Squadron (VF-213), the “Black Lions.” The “Tomcatters’ official radio callsign is “Bandwagon.”
Officially, the final flight of a Tomcat in U.S Navy service fell to the actual jet in this video clip, the smartly-painted BuNo 164603, which on Oct. 4, 2006, made one final journey to Farmingdale Republic Airport, New York.
It is now displayed outside the Northrop Grumman plant in Bethpage, New York, Grumman’s original headquarters and where F-14 major assemblies were manufactured.
