On Friday, June 16th I was able to watch history in the making. I attended the retirement of the last two F-14s at Republic Airport. It was a HUGE moment & very emotional all the way around. It was amazing. The two planes were sitting right there on the property & the only thing separating the 1500 people & the planes was a little yellow rope. Which meant nothing to me & my family. My brother & his friend were the security for the planes & waved us under the rope so that we could take pictures of the aircraft & of us posing with these legendary machines.
It began at 11 am & we had to walk a 1/2 mile from Dave & Busters parking lot to the entrance. It was so hot & dusty along the road and was only going to get worse. We got there & grabbed the poland spring bottles they had chilling on ice. And then I turned around & there they were. These impresive planes just sitting there. FANTASTIC! What really impressed me was the fact that I knew....no wait....I was related to the security. I never know the guy on the other side of the rope. I knew the only two running the show. Why these two were put in charge of something so important is beyond me, but they were & were they ever proud. I was, too.
There was a 45 miute ceremony at 12:45 & at 1:30 the planes began their movement out to the runway. My brother & his friend were the two to remove the blocks from under the wheels of the planes so that they could roll forward. He had to get the "all clear" sign from the pilots themselves...so cool! I had a bet going with my mom that he would get his eyebrows singed off while standing a the back of the plane. Plus, the video is on goole, I've been told.
The F14s did two fly-bys & then came around for a third loop & did a vertical take-off & disappeared into the atmosphere. Gorgeous. Deafening. Tear-jerking. It was so sad to watch the Grumman people who put their heart into this & their passion for the company cry at the retirement of what has been called the greatest fighter plane built.
