By Scott Neuman The final catapult launch of the F-14 Tomcat fighter aircraft aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt on July 28, 2006. The U.S. military retired the plane that year. U.S. Navy/Getty Images hide caption Since the start of the Iran conflict, retired U.S. Navy Cmdr. Ward Carroll has been keeping a close eye on satellite photos and videos that appear to show Israeli airstrikes hitting Iranian F-14 fighter jets, the same type of aircraft that he flew for much of the 1980s and 1990s. Carroll thinks what he is seeing might represent the destruction of the last operational F-14s anywhere in the world. "While I understand the tactical necessity of taking them out … I'm also filled with sadness at their demise," he says of the airplane that defined his military career. It's unclear if Israeli strikes have in fact destroyed the last of Iran's F-14s.…