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TomCatDriver — Tearful Farewell with Carolyn

Published: 2007-04-07 02:15:17 +0000 UTC; Views: 407; Favourites: 6; Downloads: 1
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Description San Marcos Airport,April,1975. following an inflight hydraulic failure while enroute from BethpageNY to NAS Miramar to deliver a brandy-new F-14 Tomcat to NavAirPac,followed by an emergency landing. a certain RIO {yours truly}met a pretty lady member of Skyhawks Air Service,and two souls became one. after our Cat was repaired by a joint Navy/Grumman crew,it was time to be on our way,but very reluctantly for me! but Duty called,and i felt a terrible sense of loss and lonliness all the rest of the way to the West Coast,and i was informed later by other Skyhawks personnell that she cried herself to sleep that night,and just moped around for days afterwards. pilots/aircrew we may be,but after all,we are still only human.....all turned out OK later tho! pic for my good friend,SD19! {pretty mushy stuff,eh?}
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Comments: 58

TomCatDriver In reply to ??? [2011-09-03 15:08:24 +0000 UTC]

mushy....

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i8l90 In reply to TomCatDriver [2011-09-03 20:32:49 +0000 UTC]

Hidden by Commenter

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TomCatDriver In reply to i8l90 [2011-09-03 20:36:28 +0000 UTC]

i know....i,m just a big,fat softie deep down.

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i8l90 In reply to TomCatDriver [2011-09-03 20:38:25 +0000 UTC]

Hidden by Commenter

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TomCatDriver In reply to i8l90 [2011-09-03 20:50:24 +0000 UTC]

i actually go out of my way to find veggies on planes to feed the wild rabbits at the employee parking lot....

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i8l90 In reply to TomCatDriver [2011-09-03 21:00:42 +0000 UTC]

Hidden by Commenter

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TomCatDriver In reply to i8l90 [2011-09-03 22:08:03 +0000 UTC]

if only....

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i8l90 In reply to TomCatDriver [2011-09-03 22:14:00 +0000 UTC]

Hidden by Commenter

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TomCatDriver In reply to i8l90 [2011-09-03 22:15:21 +0000 UTC]

yes.

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i8l90 In reply to TomCatDriver [2011-09-03 22:38:21 +0000 UTC]

Hidden by Commenter

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TomCatDriver In reply to i8l90 [2011-09-03 23:01:23 +0000 UTC]

littering...nasty slobs! i learned not to do that as a kid.

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i8l90 In reply to TomCatDriver [2011-09-03 23:06:08 +0000 UTC]

Hidden by Commenter

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TomCatDriver In reply to i8l90 [2011-09-04 04:05:26 +0000 UTC]

manners! good.

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i8l90 In reply to TomCatDriver [2011-09-05 21:15:10 +0000 UTC]

Hidden by Commenter

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TomCatDriver In reply to i8l90 [2011-09-06 09:55:04 +0000 UTC]

it,ll all "smooth out" with time.....

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i8l90 In reply to TomCatDriver [2011-09-06 11:47:51 +0000 UTC]

Hidden by Commenter

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TomCatDriver In reply to i8l90 [2011-09-06 12:16:26 +0000 UTC]

i went through that stage too once.

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i8l90 In reply to TomCatDriver [2011-09-06 20:14:37 +0000 UTC]

Hidden by Commenter

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TomCatDriver In reply to i8l90 [2011-09-07 09:45:36 +0000 UTC]

you,ll make it....

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i8l90 In reply to TomCatDriver [2011-09-07 11:56:09 +0000 UTC]

Hidden by Commenter

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TomCatDriver In reply to i8l90 [2011-09-07 12:25:57 +0000 UTC]

XD....

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i8l90 In reply to TomCatDriver [2011-09-07 20:31:45 +0000 UTC]

Hidden by Commenter

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TomCatDriver In reply to i8l90 [2011-09-08 11:47:15 +0000 UTC]

with tears running down her face and mine......but i returned to San Marcos ASAP! and how did CW greet me?

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i8l90 In reply to TomCatDriver [2011-09-08 12:09:35 +0000 UTC]

Hidden by Commenter

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TomCatDriver In reply to i8l90 [2011-09-08 13:15:10 +0000 UTC]

actually,as soon as CW saw me,she came at me and took me down with a flying tackle,pinned me to the floor like a wrestler,and said "you lousy anchor-clanker-swabbo bastard! don,t you ever leave me again like that!...",after which she burst into tears again....{of joy this time!} can we say Soulmates?

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i8l90 In reply to TomCatDriver [2011-09-09 02:04:41 +0000 UTC]

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TomCatDriver In reply to i8l90 [2011-09-09 04:13:14 +0000 UTC]

pure mush...

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i8l90 In reply to TomCatDriver [2011-09-09 19:30:47 +0000 UTC]

Hidden by Commenter

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TomCatDriver In reply to i8l90 [2011-09-10 13:36:20 +0000 UTC]

"blush..."

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i8l90 In reply to TomCatDriver [2011-09-10 14:01:53 +0000 UTC]

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TomCatDriver In reply to i8l90 [2011-09-10 14:37:26 +0000 UTC]

cat,s just a big,fat softie deep down...

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i8l90 In reply to TomCatDriver [2011-09-10 14:47:49 +0000 UTC]

Hidden by Commenter

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TomCatDriver In reply to i8l90 [2011-09-10 14:52:10 +0000 UTC]

XD!

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i8l90 In reply to TomCatDriver [2011-09-10 14:53:30 +0000 UTC]

Hidden by Commenter

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TomCatDriver In reply to i8l90 [2011-09-10 21:36:26 +0000 UTC]

under normal circumstances,yes...

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i8l90 In reply to TomCatDriver [2011-09-10 22:42:59 +0000 UTC]

Hidden by Commenter

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TomCatDriver In reply to i8l90 [2011-09-11 21:11:09 +0000 UTC]

only if.....

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i8l90 In reply to TomCatDriver [2011-09-11 21:41:42 +0000 UTC]

Hidden by Commenter

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TomCatDriver In reply to i8l90 [2011-09-12 12:20:44 +0000 UTC]

purrrrrr......

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SudsySutherland [2007-09-02 00:58:51 +0000 UTC]

So, you were one of the first Tomcat Drivers?

Hmm.... I was one of the last folks on the ground to work with the last operational deployment of F-14's in Iraq from AUG05-FEB06...

We worked with the last of the Tomcat Drivers!

Nice diorama. Its always fun to do something that means something more than just a model...

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TomCatDriver In reply to SudsySutherland [2007-09-02 05:33:33 +0000 UTC]

not quite THE first,more like middle-of-the-road.{i,m not THAT old!} first ones were operational in 1973,i was in 7th grade then.

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SudsySutherland In reply to TomCatDriver [2007-09-03 16:43:39 +0000 UTC]

Ah! I see... I guess you read about the Tomcat as a kid and said, "I'll fly one of them!". I saw Desert Storm on the news as a kid and said something similar.... Then it was off to the Air Force in 2000, seen the Middle East a couple times too many! Got my wish!

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TomCatDriver In reply to SudsySutherland [2007-09-04 08:08:35 +0000 UTC]

actually,it was in the Summer of 1976,i built my first 2 models of the Tomcat,Airfix 1/72 and Mania 1/100,which was the start of an enchantment that has lasted to this day!

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SudsySutherland In reply to TomCatDriver [2007-09-04 19:26:42 +0000 UTC]

Nice! I think my third model kit was an EMT/Ertl 1:72 scale F-14. I was only in third grade, so you can guess the mess I made with those... I wasn't any good till I hit sixth grade, and took all the sage advice from Fine Scale Modeler magazine seriously!

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TomCatDriver In reply to SudsySutherland [2007-09-05 08:05:09 +0000 UTC]

try a Tamiya 1/32 Tomcat sometime....if you dare!{Big Box,Big Bucks!}

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SudsySutherland In reply to TomCatDriver [2007-09-05 18:02:09 +0000 UTC]

Tempting... Low budget though! Kid, dog, and wife eat through cash! Not to mention me...

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TomCatDriver In reply to SudsySutherland [2007-09-06 08:40:33 +0000 UTC]

been there/done that. accqusition of wealth/material possessions just takes time and work!

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SudsySutherland In reply to TomCatDriver [2007-09-06 21:42:49 +0000 UTC]

Yup! Took me seven years to get from being 18 with nothing to now purchasing a home and enjoying life with my family! Wouldn't trade that for all the cash in the world!

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TomCatDriver In reply to SudsySutherland [2007-09-06 22:07:54 +0000 UTC]

but then again,cash is what makes it all happen!{the more we make,the more we seem to spend...!}

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Robert-Scott-Pfau [2007-06-05 00:04:42 +0000 UTC]

sob...

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