HOBBY MASTER 1/72 US NAVY GRUMMAN F-14D TOMCAT 164347 (HA5238)

The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is a twin-engine, variable sweep wings capable of supersonic flight. The aircraft is crewed by a Pilot and a Radar Intercept Officer who share the tasks of navigation, target acquisition, ECM and weapons usage. The Tomcat was operated by the United States Navy and the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force only. The name “Tomcat” is said to come from the call-sign used by Vice Admiral Thomas Connolly which conformed to the USN tradition of giving Grumman aircraft feline names.

VF-213 “Black Lions” was established in 1955 flying the F2H-3 Banshee and eventually the F-14A in September 1976 and the F-14D in 1997. In September 2005 the USS Theodore Roosevelt “The Big Stick” sailed with VF-213 and several other units to take part in “Operation Iraqi Freedom’ and “Operation Enduring Freedom”. By mid February 2006 the carrier had entered the Mediterranean on her way home. F-14D 164347 was produced in 1991 and sent to AMARC in 2006. This aircraft carries the modex “200 “which indicates the aircraft is a CAG bird flown by the commander of the Carrier Air Group.