Wings of the Fleet – Celebrating the U.S. Navy’s 250-year legacy

An F-14A overflies the USS Kitty Hawk. The Navy’s iconic Cold War aircraft was Grumman’s big, swing-wing Mach 2 Tomcat. Flown by a pilot and radar intercept officer, the F-14 served the U.S. Navy from 1974 to 2006 while the only foreign user, Iran, retains the type today. (Photo by Katsuhiko Tokunaga/Check Six)

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The Continental Congress established the United States Navy on October 13, 1775, authorizing two ships modified as privateers. It was an extremely modest beginning for what became the world’s dominant sea power. Some 136 years later, in 1911 the United States Navy entered the air age, borne upon wood and fabric wings and the spiritual lift of hope and optimism. That March, Congress appropriated the grandiose amount of $25,000 (about $835,000 today) for development of...

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