Will Join Spruce Goose and Blackbird

An F-14D Tomcat, symbol of Top Gun, and made famous by Tom Cruise, has finally arrived at Evergreen Museum in McMinnville, OR. It made its last hop at approximately Mach 0.04 last weekend, from Saturday night to Sunday morning.

Examples of the huge Navy fighter, retired this year after decades of faithful service to the Navy, are being distributed to various air museums around the country and now the McMinnville museum has one.

The Navy had originally planned to fly the fighter directly to McMinnville Airport, but airport officials determined that the runway was too short for an unarrested landing, and trying to set up a cable for one last tailhook landing simply wasn't feasible, according to the McMinnville News Register.

So the plane landed in Portland, OR, and despite the fancy wing folding mechanism that allowed the plane to have a much shorter span, the wings were taken off. The elevators and rudder were also removed, along with the explosive charges for the ejection seats.

Finally, after being placed on a purpose-built trailer, the aircraft was trucked down from Portland and placed in position.

It will be in distinguished company. The only example of Howard Hughes' giant HK-1 flying boat, the "Spruce Goose" is at Evergreen, as is an SR-71 Blackbird spyplane and a Titan II Cold-War era ICBM.

The News-Register reports the Tomcat arrived pretty dirty, but volunteers claim they will "dress it all up" in its VF-31 squadron colors including the "Felix the Cat" insignia in time for its official unveiling on Navy Day, October 14.

FMI: www.sprucegoose.org