F-14 Tomcat Flashback

[kham]

That would have been embarrassing. I havent watched the movie in years, gotta check that out.

Yeah, you just said something a lot of the smart, ie -- expert Fighter Pilots write and talk about ; Young Guys need to be taught to not just honk on the stick of their 9-G killing machine until their eyeballs bleed Energy State, is the key thing. Forget that, And as Mugs put it, somebody's gonna be walking home. But it wasn't him

[nachtjaeger]

How were the airframes on the Tomcats (before they got guillotined into scrap, that is)? Did they have enough life left to be worth refitting them with upgraded engines and avionics?

[kham]

AFAIK, the D-Model Toms were all in perfect shape, already having had digital avionics upgrades and all the whistles to near F-15 Beagle standards. And they already had the big F-110 engines

[Duncan Edwards]

The F-14D could have flown for a long time to come but it's mission changed. The navy no longer required the services of a monster interceptor to deal with Soviet bomber fleets and cruise missiles. What they were after was more air-to-ground capability and a smaller crew. The Hornet fit that bill and got really popular when the budgets declined. Awesome aircraft for it's mission but it flew itself into obsolescence.

[kham]

I think if you start digging into it Dunc, you only get mad. For the Toms were already doing the Strike mission, and pretty well too. The proposed varients for the 'Super-Tomcat 21" would have filled the role that the super-geniuses had already killed with the A-6 and not replaced. Advanced Nav/Attack systems, Supercruise capability with F110-229 engines up to 1.3 Mach, thrust-vectoring nozzles and perhaps using radar from the canceled A-12. But. Those Mobile 57mm Guns dont pay for themselves at 400 million a crack.....

[gvsqsre1]

no question the F-14 Tomcat and F-15 Eagle are great aircraft. But let's not forget the most important thing in any fighter, the pilot! Those pilots who flew those aircraft were the best in the world, that's why American navy and airforce are so great(best in the world)! On more thing, the flight deck of an aircraft carrier is a very dangerous place! If you had no business on the flight deck, you simply did not go there, my naval friends tell me.