Maverick and Iceman would be hanging their Raybanned heads in shame. One of the US navy's F-14 Tomcats - as immortalised in Top Gun - has just taken four years to cross the Atlantic. Still, perhaps that's not such a bad time considering the plane was minus its engine, wings, fuselage and pilot.
Yesterday, the Irish government's air accident investigation unit said an F-14 tailfin washed up on a beach in West Cork would be returned to its rightful owners. The fin, which still has its rudder attached, is though to have fallen off a Tomcat that crashed in the Gulf of Mexico during a routine training flight in 2002. The two-man crew ejected safely but the tailfin was determined to carry on the journey. Aviation experts believe last summer's hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico may have wrenched the debris from the aircraft and cast it into the Atlantic ocean.
A spokesman for the Irish transport department said yesterday the fin would be taken to a hangar in Co Meath for a full investigation, but the Irish government said it had already received confirmation from the US navy that the tail was part of the Tomcat that crashed four years ago.

All I can say is

this just goes to show that the F-14 is a tough plane to beat...loses what one would consider most everything and keeps on truckin on its own