On the day 60 years after the first ever take-off from a ship (by Eugene Ely), I was born in a small town called Süchteln, Germany. Süchteln is located near by two major Royal Air Force airbases, Wildenrath (click here for a satellite photo) and Brüggen (click here for a satellite photo). One was a McDonnell Douglas Phantom FGR.2 airbase (Nos. 19 and 92 Squadron), the other one is a major Panavia Tornado airbase respectively. My interest in aviation started with my first model kits and my first airshows. From the age of 15 onwards I went to airshows in Germany, Belgium, France, the UK and the Netherlands, gathering a lot of information, experience and more and more slides & photos. My special enthusiasm for the F-14 Tomcat arose when I saw the movie "The Final Countdown", featuring VF-84 F-14s and the carrier USS Nimitz. Today I gather anything about the Navy and especially about the Tomcat. Also, I am a member of the The Tailhook Association.

After school I went for my inevitable tour of duty with the German Army. I spent my time with an artillery batallion that was part of a NATO Composite Force. During that time I was lucky enough to participate in an exercise in northern Norway. It was more like a holiday than an exercise to me ;-) My job was to assist staff-officers in the analysis and interpretation of battle-field situations and to maintain and drive a lovely vehicle called "Unimog" which was older than myself!

• Thesis 1: Structural stability analysis of the window section of the EXTRA 400 business aircraft
• Thesis 2: Fatigue testing stitched composite materials foraircraft structures.

• Diploma Thesis: Structural stability under shear stress of an aircraft fuselage shell.

What I do when I am not busy studying? Well, I spend a lot of time with my girl-friend. During our holidays we love to mountain-walk and go skiing or simply relax on the beach. Also, I do some sports (badminton, rarely squash and jogging) and love to ride bicycle in Aachen and its countryside.

So what do you think? Let me know about any critics, add-ons or just if you are looking for photos or if you have some fine Tomcat photos for me. Please feel free to use my guestbook or send me an e-mail!

Why I created this extensive F-14 website: First I just liked the idea of having a website. I had no idea of HMTL, and I was just good in graphics. So I learned HTML and designed my website. It grew and grew and for some time I even thought of writing a book, illustrate it with my graphics and add a lot of my photos. But I know many F-14 and aviation books. A book is always something static, and the F-14 is not. So I decided that I a book is nice, but a living Reference Work is much better. So this website continues to live on.