I remember this Tomcat being the subject of many Twitter rumors regarding "Top Gun: Maverick." One of the big rumors was that it was an Iranian Tomcat that would be used as the enemy jet, but they based this on the finflash. Lots of people were like, I've never seen that logo before, it must be that logo of an enemy air force.
Well, that logo happens to be the SECDEF Phoenix logo, an award for maintenance excellence:
From the SECDEF website:
The Secretary of Defense Field-level Maintenance Awards are symbolized by the legendary Phoenix, a mythological bird which lived for some five centuries, died, was consumed by flames, and then reborn from its own ashes. Periodically, so states the myth, the Phoenix would again and again be reborn. This unique ability of the legendary Phoenix to rejuvenate and renew itself characterizes the role of weapon systems and maintenance in the DOD. The winner of the Phoenix Award, recognized as the best of the best field-level maintenance units, will be selected from the six field-level award winners.
Here's a sample winner:
And another (You know of course I had to sneak this one in):
It was just interesting to see what kinds of speculation came up on social media about the oo and ah sightings of "Top Gun: Maverick" production.
v6,
boNes