Historic Fighter Jet Takes A 2,700-Mile Drive Through America's Heartland

The United States Navy once operated an iconic twin-engine, two-seat, variable-sweep-wing fighter known as the F-14 Tomcat. If that sounds familiar, it's because it's the same plane that Tom Cruise immortalized in the film "Top Gun." The Navy ultimately retired the 4th-generation F-14 in favor of the F/A-18 Hornet, destroying most of them to ensure none of their spare parts found their way to Iran, which had purchased a sizable number before the Iranian Revolution ended relations between the U.S. and Iran.

Fortunately, some F-14s survived and are on display in museums around the United States, where people can see the legendary fighter jet. One aircraft in particular began a long trek from one museum to another, traveling 2,700 miles to get from the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida, which had two F-14s, to the Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft Museum in Pueblo, Colorado.

The task of moving the F-14 fell to Worldwide Aircraft Recovery. Due to the plane's size, the drive between the two cities, which would normally be 1,300 miles by car, covered more than twice the distance.

Unfortunately, flying the F-14 wasn't an option, which is why it had to travel by road. That wasn't a problem for Worldwide Aircraft Recovery, which specializes in recovering aircraft and transporting them. The F-14 measures 22 feet wide without its wings, significantly wider than the nine to 12 feet of a typical roadway lane. 

Because some states denied Worldwide Aircraft Recovery's request to operate on their roads, the trip required the plane to travel through Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, and Kansas, before finally reaching Colorado. The trip took two weeks, with night driving occurring only in Florida, Alabama, and Nebraska. Most of the transit was conducted during daytime, with some states requiring police escorts as the truck carried the F-14 on their roads. Normally, the 1,335-mile drive would take you from Florida through Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and New Mexico, so you can see how circuitous the drive was.

Receiving a T-14 Tomcat is a great addition to the Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft Museum, as the U.S. destroyed most of its F-14s, making complete aircraft remarkably rare in the country. After the aircraft arrived, museum staff began the arduous task of reassembly, and once completed, it will find a home inside the museum, where it will be displayed for the public.