A bipartisan bill is making its way through Washington that would preserve and possibly restore a famous piece of naval aviation history.
The F-14 Tomcat was in service with the Navy for more than 30 years and was famously used in the original “Top Gun” movie.
But when the aircraft retired in 2005, the U.S. government destroyed a majority of the airplanes that were here in the U.S. This made the prospects of the jet returning to the skies next to impossible.
The “Maverick Act” hopes to bring a jet that inspired a generation back to life.
“The Maverick Act got a lot of support,” “It passed the Senate unanimously. It now heads to Congress for a final vote.”
Pensacola Navy veteran Dan McCort can still feel the raw power the F-14 Tomcat brought to naval aviation.
“It was a blast to fly. I gotta tell you I got it,” McCort said. “I love the airplane. I love the missions because it came with a huge mission set.”
The only country in the world flying the jet was Iran. The jets were given to Iran in 1979. But when the government was overthrown, the jets fell into the hands of an anti-American government.
Because of that, when the jet retired in 2006, the U.S. ordered most of the aircraft and its parts be destroyed.
During Operation Epic Fury, American and Israeli pilots destroyed Iran’s entire Air Force, including all the remaining flyable F-14s.
“We had to take them out, but boy that was hard for me to watch,” McCort said.
A bill dubbed the “Maverick Act” was introduced through a bipartisan effort. The legislation would preserve and restore three F-14s sitting in our nation’s boneyard.
“That airplane inspired an entire nation, partly because of the movie, partly because of the times it was hard Cold War, and it represented frankly American air power,” said McCort.
“A fantastic piece of equipment that served our country well,” Congressman Jimmy Patronis said. “But I can’t help but poke fun at it simply because of what Tom Cruise has done with the most recent ‘Top Gun’ movies.”
The bill calls for the Navy to donate the Tomcats to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, where they will be restored. If there’s enough spare parts, the bill calls for one of them to be restored to flight status to be flown at airshows across the country.
All of this would be funded by private donors, and not American taxpayers.
“If there’s no taxpayer dollars being used to restore these things then put it on the table,” said Patronis.
McCort says restoring the airplane will cost millions of dollars.
#florida #pensacola #maverick #tomcats
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Lady the Tomcat was retired in 2006 not 2005
They should use that F-14D coded 204, looks in better shape than the ones from the boneyard..
Why cnt they restore and upgrade the F14 or even rebuild it so good it returns as a 8 or 10 Generation Fighter Jet.
さすがはアメリカ。やる事が相変わらずスケールが大きい。とても嬉しい事です。敵国である日本の零戦その他の日本機も完璧にレストアして実際に飛ばそうともする。本当に素晴らしい。対して日本は例えば海から引き揚げた機をレストアもしないでスクラップのまま展示する。情けない。
It's a cool idea, I like it…. It was a great aircraft and a Grumman.
80 man hours maintenance per 1 flight hour when retired.
Get the spare parts from Iran, for the F-14
Oh man you gotta put one of them in Miramar (aka Top Gun)
Yep, USA living in regret as usual due to political BS
I hope they restore it with the old Jolly Rogers colors
We need to start building Tomcat 21s! And bring back the battleships!
Yes!!!!!
It may cost millions, but many of us with experience would donate labor.
Man I miss these. Worked on the As, Bs and Super Ds.
What a wonderful, wonderful project. One of the most iconic planes ever built. It HAS to continue flying.
F-105 Thunderchief is next! "Thorsness act", F-4 Phantom "Olds Act"
Airplane Retired in 2006 Dont short Change the F-14
Pure graft – Trump rewarding a solidly red state. HSV has no connection to Naval Aviation whatsoever. It makes no sense to spend taxpayer dollars giving them these old jets.
Love the beautiful TOMCAT
Pls keep m flying
Greetings from Netherlands
They should not have retired them and instead upgraded them to modern standards IMO! There are advantages and disadvantages with the Hornets, but the TomCat represented the US Navy. I agree with this not being taxpayer funded though the country is broke and we can't afford things like this so if they can get the outside funding I love the idea. There are other Iconic Aircraft that also need to be restored and flown at Airshows like the F-4 Phantom and the SR-71 Blackbird.
She always looks intimidating just sitting on the deck!
For me growing up. It wasn’t ‘Top Gun’ but ‘Final Countdown’ with Kirk Douglas. I was interested in the Grumman F14 Tomcat.
The US should reintroduce them, they are still the best fighter.
..and now Anti American Forces are using the F-14. etc etc etc. lol geezus well done USA.
Not a big "jet" guy, but the Tomcat was my favorite by a mile.
Yes !! Bring back Tom !
United States Navy, Serving on the USS Kitty Hawk CV63 76-80, V2 Division Cat One Topside crew and PO, loved launching the Tomcat, what a thrill.. made two WesPac cruises launching those big beautiful Birds.. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Yes! Please bring it back to life.
I see them I also see 2 famous movies AND Robotech, Macross sdf1
Pretty wild to only see three. The Iran deal with the Shah overthrow really ruined it for the F-14. I hope the restoration uses the GE engines and not the TF30s. Maybe some headache reduction in maintenance would be welcome too!
Ok, I was about to make a snarky comment about being $40 Trillion in debt and just putting it on the credit card, but if no taxpayer funds are used I think it’s cool.
This would be cool. Sweden has a squadron that flies vintage Swedish AF jets (Lansen, Draken and Viggen and a WWII SAAB B17) and maintained by volunteers.
I would love to see some extinct jets in the sky again. (F-105 right up near the top. Some of the big jets like the F-4 are a lot for a volunteer organization with a mainly donation budget.)