Uss Lexington Tank Tops

The retired USS Lexington resides on the bayfront for Corpus Christi, Texas. Today it plays the role of an excellent museum.

According to David F. Brown’s book Tomcat Alley: A Photographic Roll Call of the Grumman F-14 Tomcat, 160694 was assigned to VF-51 during the making of the movie and received full Top Gun movie markings. The aircraft featured the fictious VF-1 badge, which was actually the insignia for VAW-110, an E-2C Hawkeye squadron based at Naval Air Station (NAS) Miramar. During the movie Top Gun, this Tomcat displayed Lt. Mitchell’s name and callsign plus that of his new RIO, Ltjg. Sam “Merlin” Wells. It was also equipped as a camera ship and shot many of the dramatic air-to-air ACM footage. This Tomcat was stricken on Sep. 26, 1994.

An elegant tribute to a pioneering ship of the US Navy and legend of the Battle of Coral Sea.