Which began during the Cold War. The last deployment of the F-14 Tomcats, from Defense Link: Two strike fighter squadrons arrived at Naval Air Station Oceana here today, ending a six-month deployment and closing the book on the Tomcat as an asset in the Navy's war fighting arsenal. The "Tomcatters" of Strike Fighter Squadron 31 and the "Black Lions" of Strike Fighter Squadron 213 were deployed with Carrier Air Wing 8 embarked on the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. The squadrons' "fly-off" marked the last operational flight of the F-14D Tomcat and the final stage of the squadrons' transition to the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet. VF-213 pilots will begin F/A-18F training next month and VF-31 pilots, who are transitioning to the F/A-18E, will remain operational until September when they will fly the last Tomcat in the Navy's inventory from Oceana... The Navy decided to decommission the Tomcat and move to the Super Hornet to lighten the workload on its people after recognizing the excessive amount of maintenance needed to keep them operational. "It takes about three to four times more maintenance man-hours per flight hour to maintain than the newer Hornet," LaBranche said. "Retiring the extremely relevant but maintenance intensive Tomcat was a way to save the exhaustive efforts of our people and better spend their labors." ...Throughout its 32-year service to the fleet, the Tomcat has been synonymous with excellence. Since the first aircraft entered operational service in September 1974, the Grumman Aerospace Corporation-built F-14 has seen numerous upgrades and modifications to meet the demands of the Navy as the premier carrier-based multi-role strike fighter. "It is one of the greatest fighter planes in history," Lt. Chris Rattigan, a pilot with VF-31, said. "When you think of naval aviation, you think of the Tomcat." | 
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