[Shotimes] OT Used car financing

[Hartberger, Jason M. AT2 (AW)]

The Tomcat's gonna be gone (for all intents) earlier than that. The
cruise I'm on is the last cruise the tomcat will ever make. We're the
last carrier with tomcats, and what's really cool is that we have two
squadrons of F-14s, something that hasn't happened in a really really
long while, VF-31 and VF-213 (the Tomcatters and the Black Lions,
respectively). It's always great to see them get shot off the catapult,
go to full afterburner, and rocket straight up into the night sky for
the next 5 minutes until all you can see is the little white speck in
the distance... no other plane can give a display of power like that.
Sometimes they'll all get together after a mission and do a mass flyby
at near supersonic... lemme tell you, nothing brings tears to my eyes
like seeing 15-20 F-14Ds flying 100 feet above your head going 500
knots... :') especially knowing that nobody will ever see that again. If
you get a chance, watch the TV coverage of the USS Theodore Roosevelt
pulling back into Norfolk; we have a little surprise planned with
Tomcats involved ;)...

OTOH, I fix Tomcats (and that other gay little plane and Prowlers and
Vikings and Hawkeyes and Seahawks... and cars too!), and they are a
BITCH to fix. It usually involves hammers and lots of swearing... much
like the SHO! Only these little cube-foot boxes are 40 years old and
worth millions of dollars... but oh, is it worth it!

Jason

-----Original Message-----
From: James F. Ryan III [mailto:av8r567@optonline.net] 
Sent: Sunday, December 11, 2005 2:10 PM
To: Hartberger, Jason M. AT2 (AW); Sholist
Subject: Re: [Shotimes] OT Used car financing

> Well I know F-14s are going to be pretty cheap in a little while.

Sadly, as you know, when the last F-14 is replaced by the Super Hornet
in
2010 and the last Harrier is replaced by the F-35B in 2016, we will
never
see these amazing aircraft ever again.  They are both too complex (i.e.
dangerous) to fly if not flown on a regular basis.  Therfore, they won't
go
to any Reserve squadrons - they'll just go to Davis-Monthan to rot or be
chopped up.