After several visits to the National Naval Aviation Museum at the Naval Air Station (NAS) in Pensacola, Florida, it was a real pleasure to finally visit the USS Lexington aircraft carrier earlier this month in Corpus Christi, Texas. Feeling the wind rushing across the flight deck gives you a small taste of how it might feel at sea. It is quite a marvel to think of the skill it must take to land an aircraft on a flight deck during a mission. Controlling the plane to the flight path of the deck and hitting the trap to stop the plane must take control and skill that few people have.

This F14A Tomcat is on loan from the National Naval Aviation Museum, as were several others on board the Lexington.