Tribute Livery for the VF-102 and the F-14B Tomcat
On May 1st 1952, the Navy created a Fighter Squadron designated as the VF-102 Diamondbacks. For over 65 years the Diamondbacks have conducted forward carrier operations in theaters around the globe. In 1981 they transitioned fr om the F-4D Phantom, to the F-14A Tomcat, marking a new Era for the Diamondbacks.
For their first deployment in the new airframe, they were assigned to the USS America as part of CVW-1 where they were given the tail code "AB". The 102 deployed with CVW-1 until 1996 when the US Navy decomissioned the America. Afterwards the 102 were assigned to CVN-73 and the USS George Washington.
For over 25 years the Tomcat ruled the skies as the United States premier fleet defence aircraft. While the 14 certainly earned its reputation as a long range air to air fighter, in 1992 an ever changing Navy expanded the Tomcat's role to include upgraded sensors and weaponry for ground strikes. This eventually earned her the title of "bombcat". In Fact, the VF-102 flew over 5,000 combat hours in operation Enduring Freedom dropping thousands of pounds of munitions. At the end of the operation in 2002 the VF-102 had accrued more combat hours than any other F-14 squadron for that conflict.
After the VF-102's final deployment in the Arabian Sea, the squadron moved to NAS Lemore in California to begin transitioning to the F/A-18F. When training completed the squadron was renamed the VFA-102 and they assigned to Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Japan wh ere they changed their tail code to "NF".
On September 22, 2006 The Navy officially retired the F14 from service, just after the VF-102's 50th anniversary. Sadly, while the VFA-102 F/A-18's received this beautiful anniversary livery, no F-14s ever did. This livery is my tribute to the 102, and to the truly amazing Grumman F14 Tomcat. Nearly every part of this livery was done by hand, including the Bunos and Numbering. I also added both the AB and NF tail codes to pay tribute to long and rich service history of this Squadron. It took an incredible amount of time and effort, and I truly hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed creating it.
-Sparrow
