R.I.P. F-14 Tomcat

over on the F-14 forum , there are pics of the last 10 tomcats getting ready to be cut-up,,the best dam navy fighter




R.I.P. Tomcats Forever

 

Absolutely moronic to end these aircraft.
Meaning F-14, F- 15 and soon to be F-16 to pursue the F-35 et all money pit to fight a foe which no longer exists.
The B-52 still flies to cover the same mission it was designed all these years later.
Once terrorists exceed Mach one with stealth we need to upgrade. Know your enemy.
All else is EGO and pocket lining.

 

David- That is not why we replace aircraft. The F-14 was a third generation fighter, like the F-111s I flew, and its basic systems were becoming almost impossible to service at a reasonable cost. The aircraft had been shifted from a long-range interceptor to a PGM interdictor role as time went on. Now the aircraft is unsupportable affordably and the F/A-18E/F is assuming both its roles. We have learned a lot about aerodynamics since the day of the swing-wing F-111/Mig-23/27/Su-20/22/24/Tornado/F-14 and no longer need to sweep wings for aerodynamic efficiency at low and supersonic speeds.

Ego and pocket lining are easy to say by someone who has never gone into combat against technically superior aircraft, as we have done in the past. We want an unfair advantage in any air combat scenario. Hopefully we can keep one in the future, despite the best efforts of Gates, Congress, and other short sighted groups and individuals.

Incidentally, the B-52 does not still perform the same mission for which it was designed. It is now only survivable in a stand-off role against any adversary who has any surface to air capability.

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

The B-52 is a bomb truck that can only launch standoff weapons or fly into wide open airspace. Stealth planes are the ones that make it possible for flying trucks like the B-52 to do their job. The F-117 flew into the most heavily defended air space in the world in the opening night of the first gulf war without getting a single scratch, helping to make it possible for our F-18s et al to go in and do their work with as little risk as possible.

Of course, the F-35 is still a disaster.

 

Great movie about the Tomcat. Fighter Fling 2004.

Available from 1989 on.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqyI04WDZlQ&feature=PlayList&p=1A4D996B09A0F265&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=8

 

I recall reading that a reason the F-14 was taken out of service was to eliminate the possibility of Iran obtaining important spare parts for all the Tomcats we sold them decades ago.

 

Link please?

 

F-14's are cool but the F-16 will always be the sexiest fighter to me.....

 

1:19 is simply awe inspiring. No other jet comes close to the coolness of the F-14. Sadly I doubt any ever will.

 

Correct - only a handful I believe are being used for museum display but a good portion of those being cut up are out in AZ. One of the planes was out for display for a recent airshow and I think it'll be kept but the rest were going to the cutters. :/

 

My father retired from the Navy in 1988; his last command was CO of the Ships Parts Control Center in Mechanicsburg, PA. Although the main purpose of SPCC was/is the primary computer inventory control point for every nut and bolt in the USN, the base still had thousands of acres of warehouse capability. One warehouse still had the F-14 parts paid for by the Shah and held there since '79. Don't know if they're still there or not. . . . .

 

Same here!
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I was at Davis-Monthan in Tucson last month and I saw them being cut up. Such a shame, however we also destroyed P-51s and F4Us in the past so its just the circle of life.

 

The F-14D is still a viable multi-role fighter. It is cost prohibitive, to maintain a small force, of a few F-14D squadrons. It has already been mentioned, that it is an expensive aircraft to maintain. In addition with any Navy combat aircraft, you have issues such as corrosion and fatigue from operating off, of the boat.

 

IMO Its a matter of priorities.
In a perfect world yes we would have aircraft and systems that kick everyones but. And we do.
The Defense budget is however limited so we have to look at where the real threats are.
What gives us the biggest bang for the buck in present and realistically foreseeable foes.
Who are our enemies ?
Spend the money to defeat THEM not for replacing proven aircraft for some theoretical future situation.

 

While I wish they would at least keep them in places fr the public to see them , operationally it's real easy to see the cost savings. A Tomcat was taking about 60 hours maint , per 1 hour of flight compared with 18 on a F/A 18.
I think they are the coolest , with the Phantom a close second.

 

In my dreams, in my world I would have kept the B-58, but it was dropped QUICK when it simply was going to cost far too much to maintain.

And anyone that had followed me here knows I have always had a love affair with the 'century series' fighters, along with a few others like the B-57, T-33, A-4, F-8U, and so on. I loved all those planes, luckily I got to see all of them fly, at least once or twice, at air shows in the late-60's and 70's.

F-14?

Hell, the F-4 was pretty damned good also, don't forget about that one!

 

Speaking of razorblades, what's the status of the SR-71 fleet? They still in Lancaster?

 

go to F-14 tomcat association,great guys,iran still flys their F-14's

 

The F-4 had a glide ratio of a rock, and the fuel system simliar to a toilet reservior, limiting inverted flight, vertical climbs.

The F-16 is built like a disposable aircraft. Really well engineered, minimalistic for airframe design, can take a lot of G's, but if it get'*****, it's done. Single engine isn't desirable for combat operations.

The coolest fighter I have seen was the almost black looking Navy Blue XF-14 at Luke AFB. It made all the F-15's and 16's we had look like toys.

Jim

 

Yes, the F-14 will be dearly missed. But hey guys, we'll always have Top Gun!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C5_-VWU6ks&feature=related
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David- You miss the big picture on aircraft buys. What continues to happen is we spend all the upfront money to develop a capability and then Congressional liberals and the administrations pick at and reduce the numbers of aircraft just as we are beginning to see the benefits of a production program. 132 B-2s becomes 22, 759 F-22s become less than 200, etc. So all the big RDT&E funds are spent and divided by a much smaller number of aircraft. The manufacturer has to charge more per aircraft because they and their suppliers never get to an efficient production rate. Those aircraft also become more expensive to operate because we are unable to take advantage of economies of scale on engines, spare parts, etc. It literally becomes almost a waste of money if the production run is hugely curtailed, as it has been for nearly all our late model combat aircraft. If we knew what was going to happen with the F-22, we would have probably been better off with another 600 F-15Es and 1000 F-16C/Ds, all of which could have been paid for with the money spent on the F-22.

Your comments on prioity and current enemies parrots those of Gates, who I believe is shortsighted. The defense budget is the highest it has been since Viet-Nam in the late 60s and early 70s.


Taz
Terry phillips

 

Terry,

Good point.

Now the aircraft are falling apart, with no end in sight. The cost for mechanically upkeep, has gone up, as the aircraft become older. The procurement holiday from the Clinton years, is going to cost the USAF.

The F-35 ? It will be delayed a few years, before IOC. It probably would have been better to buy the F-15SE, with add on stealth features, AESA radar, and zero hours on the airframe. At least open a bridge, until the F-35 appears in large numbers.

 

RIP F-14

I was lucky enough to teach an F-14 pilot to hang-glide. We became friends and he took me to the real simulator in Virginia Beach. I got an hour in the simulator. I landed it on my first try.

 

The website that hosted the attached pic, claimed this is the end of the line. A pic of the last F-14D operational sortie, just before it shut down it's engines at NAS Pensacola. VF-213 Black Lions.
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