Originally posted by subsea This shot is of a Grumman F-14D, taken in 2006, with a Canon PowerShot G3. This was one of 2 F-14Ds that flew over the Grumman facility in Bethpage, NY, where it was designed, on their last official flight before the Navy retired all F-14s. After flying over Bethpage, the aircraft flew to Republic Airport, in Farmingdale, NY, and landed and then taxied to the American Airpower Museum on the grounds of the airport. There a few hundred of the remaining Grumman employees got the chance to meet with the flight crews and examine the aircraft. The following day, when this picture was shot, the aircraft departed, overflew the temporarily closed airport at both low and high speed a few times, and headed back to home base for preparation for disposition. There wasn't a dry eye among the employees, knowing that we'd never see these magnificent airplanes in flight again. This picture shows one of the aircraft getting ready to taxi out for departure.
Simply magnificent! Your picture has the right angle to show the wonderful lines of this flying machine. For me an indicator of how beautiful an airplane is and how much thinking has been put into designing it, is seeing the aircraft on its landing gear. Most aircraft have a landing gear that simply does what it is supposed to do while degrades its appearance when extended. There are some designs though that dont' interfere or even add to the beauty and the lines of an aircraft, Tomcat being one of these aircraft (the Mirage F-1 being another one that easily pops up in my mind).
Thank you for the story behind the picture! You're a lucky guy to be part of these historic and emotional moments!