Hobby Master Archive

In 2001 VF-41 “Black Aces” made their final F-14 carrier deployment in 2001 before transitioning to the F/A-18E. To mark this occasion each aircraft aircraft had “Last Tomcat Cruise 1976-2001” printed on the vertical stabilizers, “First to Strike” on the port side leading edge and “First to Fight” on the starboard leading edge. A Maintenance Master Chief had named each aircraft after eleven of his girlfriends so it was decided to paint a name on the starboard side of each aircraft’s radome. The CAG’s aircraft BuNo 162608 received “Anna”.