The only way to fly
 

What if you could have your own F-14 Tomcat to take you around to all your gigs, what would that be like? Of course you'd *have* to buzz the tower on arrival...

I've got a gig coming up in FL later this month, so I thought I'd find out for myself. Sorta.

Oh, if only...!!

I'd "Cash for Clunkers" it and get an F-22.

"GO AIR FORCE!"
;-)

Sure the Raptor is new-tech what with stealth and vectoring thrust, but it's damned ugly! It looks like an F-16 that got a snub-nose job and then got fat in the waist which split the single intake in two. ick. And that flat, low-vis paint job - totally bland visually.

I've always liked the Tomcat because it's so drastically different than anything the US ever produced; swept wings *with* flaps and spoilerons, the long intakes which angle inwards toward the fuse, and who can match all the 70's-80's era Navy squadron markings?

If I had the ability to own a decommissioned fighter I'd want something that looked like it meant business just by looking at it. The Raptor is more advanced but geez... what a fugly bird. The A-10 is more appealing!

(If my Dad saw this he'd have a coronary; he was one of the few pilots who flew all of the century-series fighters - except one - in the 60's & 70's. He always wanted in the F-104 but his career took a different direction and he got the Thud instead.)

Gotta love all those crazy markings they *used* to allow on our Navy fighters, now it's all low-vis grey.