The F-14's are going fast on retirement. With VF-213 'Black Lions' and VF-31 'Tomcatters' just set on a cruise to the Middle East, there were just two F-14 squadrons left at NAS Oceana. These were VF32 'Swordsmen' and VF-101 'Grim Reapers'. The participation of the Tomcats during the airshow was a hot topic until days before the show. Reason for this was that the last Tactical Demonstration by a Tomcat was done in 2004. In 2005 there wasn't a demo team. Only a few weeks before the show the 'GO' was given by higher command for a last Tac demo by a Tomcat. Now the real preperations could start in making the crew ready for a safe demo. Luckily the crew that flew last years demonstration were more than happy to spend some extra hours in the flight sim to be able to perform the demo at the airshow. The crew was Lt Jack 'Rocco' Tangredi and Lt Joseph 'Smokin' Joe' Ruzicka.
While being at the East coast, Jan and I setted up a schedule so that we could maximize our time their. NAS Norfolk, Langley AFB, USCG Elizabeth City, Pope AFB and of course NAS Oceana were all part of the schedule. Unfortunately hurricane Ophelia had some other plans forcing us to either cancel or change our schedule.
Monday 12 September
We arrived at Newark airport after a 7h flight. We picked up our Mercury Mointaineer and drove for another 8h to Virginia Beach. We arrived at our hotel around 10 o'clock pm. After check-in we went to the 7-11 for a quick snack and a little tour around NAS Oceana before falling in sleep.
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