With the final farewell flights of the F-14 Tomcat now less than a month away, it is a good time to look at the end of the era. Author Erik Hildebrandt has had a close association with the F-14 has has spent the last two years photographing and documenting the last years of the Tomcat.

While you might think that this is nothing more than a photo book, it is more than that and portrays the Tomcat during its final cruises, including those in support of the Iraq War. The book covers the final six squadrons on their last cruises and operations during 2004 to 2006.

The photographs are superlative in all respects, being both exciting and moody. The book is, unfortunately for Tomcat fans, full of 'lasts'. Last war cruise, last day of operations, last Fallon det, last airshow, and last flight to the boneyard amongst many of its sections. There are also pieces interspersed throughout that provide a bit of insight into the units and the men and women who flew the plane. This also includes small sections on the replacement, the F-18E/F Hornet.

It is nice when a photographer designs a book. For one thing, the layout provides maximum space for the superlative photographs. It enables the images to be large and to have none of them fall into the 'trench' between pages.

This is a book that all fans of the Tomcat must have, it is as simple as that. Most highly recommended.

August 2006

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