Adios F-14 Tomcat

[The_Russian]

The should have had Felix on the tail.

"Felix 11, proceed direct the initial!"

 

[The_Russian]

Does anyone know who flew it?

 

[Mud Eagle]

Ya as much as I love the Hornet... the Tomcat definatley evolved into a fantastic multi-role a/c.

Well, let's not over do it. It was adequate...not really "fantastic"...in the interdiction role. It had some big limitations (comparitively) in terms of LGBs -- the system was not well integrated with the other sensors, and the pod masking profile was more severe than many other fighters.

 

[Huggyu2]

Over the life of the airplane (30+ years) how many air-to-air kills?? Five maybe?

Back around 1994, the US Navy shot down a USAF RF-4 over the Med. Wasn't that a Tomcat that did it (I'm pretty sure it was)?? If not, what was it?
The "baggage" the Navy pilot was carrying made it a great story, but I've killed too many brain cells to remember anything other than it was a great story.
The RF-4 pilot was at Randolph briefly with me, and showed us the gun camera video from the Navy aircraft. He is lucky he got out alive.

 

[LJDRVR]

Don't be so sad fellas, the Iranians are still flying them.

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...&hl=en&lr=&rls=GWYA,GWYA:2005-32,GWYA:en&sa=N

 

[tomgoodman]

First-class cruise

Back around 1994, the US Navy shot down a USAF RF-4 over the Med.

The way I heard the story, the AF crew didn't know what had happened to their aircraft, and the Navy didn't tell them at first....thought an engine blew up or something. They were fished out of the water and placed in VIP quarters on the boat. Couldn't believe how royally the Navy was treating them!

 

[Gorilla]

The way I heard the story, the AF crew didn't know what had happened to their aircraft, and the Navy didn't tell them at first....thought an engine blew up or something. They were fished out of the water and placed in VIP quarters on the boat. Couldn't believe how royally the Navy was treating them!

Not to thread drift, but this is a perfect example of why the U.S. military cannot be a part of any terrorist conspiracy scheme, such as the Pentagon, 9/11, and TWA 800. They couldn't even cover up a simple event like this, even when they controlled every aspect of it. "Well, we lost an AIM-9 warshot on this cruise when it rolled overboard in 10,000' of water. That RF-4? An engine shredded itself. We rescued the crew."

 

[DaveGriffin]

Not to thread drift, but this is a perfect example of why the U.S. military cannot be a part of any terrorist conspiracy scheme, such as the Pentagon, 9/11, and TWA 800. They couldn't even cover up a simple event like this, even when they controlled every aspect of it. "Well, we lost an AIM-9 warshot on this cruise when it rolled overboard in 10,000' of water. That RF-4? An engine shredded itself. We rescued the crew."

Great point Gorilla. This is true of any bureaucracy’s ability to keep a secret. I remember hearing someone talk about all the 'secret alien stuff' out in NV that we will never hear about.

The president can't even get a BJ from an intern without the whole world knowing about. How are they going to keep secrets like alien spaceships?

 

[Hagar17]

I love that salute the doll is giving. Makes Bush look like a Boy Scout!

Note that the salute is left-handed.....

 

[DaveGriffin]

Dave,

I'm curious, why do you feel this is such a great Navy airplane? Most people would say it's probably one of the worst CAS platforms in either OEF/OIF.

McGillicutty,

I never said the F-14 was a good CAS platform. As an observer of Naval Aviation I admire the Tomcat because it did its job well during a time when there the nature of modern air warfare was in transition. It was designed soley to be a fighter, and airplanes designed as single mission fighters are usually really bad CAS platforms.

Just like the F-22.

 

[stonewall]

McGillicutty,

I never said the F-14 was a good CAS platform. As an observer of Naval Aviation I admire the Tomcat because it did its job well during a time when there the nature of modern air warfare was in transition. It was designed soley to be a fighter, and airplanes designed as single mission fighters are usually really bad CAS platforms.

Just like the F-22.

Raptor hasn't even been in combat yet and you already say it sucks at CAS. Worked with the 1FW much?

 

[Ponchus pilot]

I think they are still flying them in IRAN. I think they have been ugrarded with russian parts.
here are a couple of interesting site. Some are from days gone by.

http://www.iiaf.net/aircraft/jetfighters/F14/f14.html

 

[FlyingSkip]

That's kind of amazing if that statistic is correct---they bought 80 of them almost 40 years ago and they can still fly 60 of them 35 years after we stopped providing any kind of support and/or maintenance?! Man, Iranians may be crazy mofos but they sure do have some serious kick-a** A&Ps!!!!

 

[The_Russian]

The IIAF 'Cats are purdy!

 

[AerroMatt]

Skip, they were bought around 30 years ago, not 40. The Tomcat isn't that old.

What surprised me was this statement in that link: "Some of these parts also seem to have been smuggled into Iran by Israel."

Go figure this statement. The Islamic Republic of Iran has been the natural enemy of Israel since its inception in 1979, and continues to be so to this day. Listen to the current president of Iran making speeches about wiping Israel off the map. That's war talk. Might there be corroborating evidence to this statement on Israel smuggling Tomcat parts to Iran?

It would be amazing if Iran has been able to keep 60 of them airborne in recent years. We better think long and hard about Iran's capabilities in addition to their antipathy to us considering current international tensions. These guys are religious fanatics, and they are technically capable. Given the fact that we have troops in combat on both sides of their country must have them very worried, and I am certain they must be putting agents, arms, and money into both Iraq and Afghanistan to bog us down.

This war won't be over soon. Too bad they have some of our best hardware.