May 10, 2006 Final Tomcat Fly In

one of the best fighters ever,sad its gone

 

Still operating in Iran.

 

The January/February issue of "Jets" magazine has two good articles on the Iranian Tomcats.

 

Cool video! Thanks for the link!

 

I read (somewhere) that it averaged about 40 hours of maintenance per hour of flight time for the Tomcat.

The F/A-18 is just a fraction of that.

 

Some famous F-14 sayings:

The aircraft: When your out of Tomcats, then your out of fighters baby!

The pilots: Women want us, men want to be us!

 

A buddy used to be a Tomcat driver. Switched to Hornets after the retirement.

After the switch, I asked him which he preferred. Keep in mind that we were sitting in a lounge in Austin.

"Man, the Hornet is okay, but you can't get laid in it."
"What, the ladies don't like Hornets?"
"No, you physically can't get laid in it. I used to bang girls all the time in the starboard jet intake. Throw a couple of blankets and pillows up there, totally smooth bottom. The port side had some instruments on the bottom, so it was a no go."
"And you can't do that in a Hornet?"
"No, the intakes are too small. Most of the guys now just take girls into the void space between decks. You can only access that with the aircraft elevator, though, so it is hard to be sneaky."
"...."
"You have to remember that we're rock stars on ship. Finding willing, hot women is easy. Finding the place is hard. I miss that aircraft."

 

Always, Baby!
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Isn't the Iranian Air Force the coolest in the world? They run American, Russian and French machinery all together and it's amazing that they are able to maintain their "classics":

http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/5/5/2/2258255.jpg

 

About 15 years ago, I participated in the "Race at the Base" at NAS Oceana. We were asked to participate in a drag race with a Greenwood Corvette and two Tomcats from VFA-31. One of the crew guys gave us a walk-around, but I never got a flight. Always liked the aesthetic qualities of the F14. It just looked right. But, the maintenance of the wing mechanisms had to be a nightmare.

CW

 

I'm glad I saw it perform at my local airshow in the 80's. It was an excellent treat to see it the day after watching Top Gun in the theatres, way back in 86.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJV_bo6oJrM

 

Here is the the highest time F-14 pilot Capt Dale Snodgrass talking about the Tomcat.

I think I read in full afterburner (zone 5) that the Tomcat burns 300 gallons per min.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n0EdP64hEE&feature=player_embedded#t=0

 

Hmm, 300 G's/min. How about an electric alternative; perhaps the Tesla Model F14-S.

 

Low level on TF-30s in max AB was ~120,000 lbs/hr. At mach 2.5 or so, that went down to around 28,000 lbs/hr as ram air effect and less drag improved efficiency. Moot point since time at mach 2.5 was limited because of airframe heating.