Driving past the “future site” of an upcoming aviation museum the other day, I noticed that a new old airplane had joined the rotting vintage fleet in the fractured parking lot. Sitting between a wingless C-141 Starlifter and a stodgy A-7 Corsair II was bona fide movie star – the Grumman F-14 Tomcat. Today, when I watch Tom Cruise jet-jockeying with F-5s painted to look like Soviet MiGs, I can’t help but think that it all looks a little contrived and melodramatic. What wasn’t contrived, however, was the famed U.S. Navy Top Gun school, which provided Navy pilots with enhanced training in the areas of air combat maneuvering and the use of guns. When it comes to guns, the F-14 had a big one . . .
