Theme # 3 "A Movie Title"

This is the under belly of a Grumman F-14 "Tomcat". Fame and recognition by the general public came about with the release of the motion picture "Top Gun" on 16 May 1986. Tom Cruise was the Hollywood actor trying his best to be a tough Navy pilot attending the elite Top Gun flight school. This particular F-14 has found it's final home at Grumman Memorial Park situated a few miles from my home. It's located on the old property of Grumman's Flight test facility in Calverton, NY. I worked for Grumman for 34 years starting out as a Electronics Technician. After completing my BSEE I continued on with Grumman for a rewarding career.

I took the liberty and copied a little historical data on the real Top Gun Flight school.

The United States Navy Fighter Weapons School was established on March 3, 1969 at NAS Miramar, California after a United States Navy study (sometimes referred to as the "Ault Report") directed by the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) at less than desired performance of fighter aircraft, aircrews and weapons. The head of the study group, CAPT Frank Ault recommended that a graduate-level school be established to train fleet fighter pilots in air combat tactics to improve the relatively poor air combat performance of Navy aircrews over Vietnam.
The school was initially formed and placed under the control of Miramar-based fighter squadron VF-121 "Pacemakers", an F-4 Phantom Replacement Air Group (RAG) unit responsible for providing type-qualified air and maintenance crews to first-line units of the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet. It received relatively scant funding and resources and built its syllabus from scratch, while borrowing aircraft from its parent unit as well as other units to support the practical aspects of their operations.
Its objective was to develop, refine and teach Air Combat Maneuvering tactics and techniques to selected fleet air crews, using stand-in aircraft that could realistically replicate the nimble Russian-designed fighters that they were most likely to oppose in combat. At that time the threat aircraft were in the form of the transonic MiG-17 'Fresco' and the supersonic MiG-21 'Fishbed'. This teaching concept is known in military aviation parlance as DACT, or Dissimilar Air Combat Training, and presently is widely used in air arms the world over.
Air crews selected to attend the TOP GUN course were usually considered to be the best that their units could offer. Upon graduating they would then return to their parent fleet units to relay what they have learned to their fellow squadron mates, in essence becoming instructors themselves.

Camera: Nikon D-90

Date/Time: January 29,2009@ 14:53:44 hrs.

RAW (12-bit)

Lens: VR 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 G

Focal Length: 18mm

Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority

Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern

1/50 sec - F/8

Exposure Comp.: 0

ISO 200: White Balance: Auto

AF Mode: AF-A

Filter: Nikon Circular polarizing

Software: Adobe Lightroom 2.2, CS-3, PSE-7
Image Count: /365