rnurmin Posted September 22, 2006 Posted September 22, 2006 Sad to see them go. They are the best plane of the 20th century TOMCAT RETIRES Quote
Veritas Posted September 22, 2006 Posted September 22, 2006 So the day has come. There'll never be another jet as iconic as that one IMO. Quote
HoveringCheesecake Posted September 22, 2006 Posted September 22, 2006 A sad day. It is such an iconic plane. Quote
F-ZeroOne Posted September 22, 2006 Posted September 22, 2006 It isn't what you've got, its how you swing it... So long, F-14... Quote
KiriK Posted September 22, 2006 Posted September 22, 2006 "highway to the danger zoonnnnne!!!!! " Quote
David Hingtgen Posted September 22, 2006 Posted September 22, 2006 The neater the plane, the neater the shockwave it makes: Quote
rnurmin Posted September 23, 2006 Author Posted September 23, 2006 David: Wow, cool pics. Are those shockwave the result of breaking the speed of light? Quote
Apollo Leader Posted September 23, 2006 Posted September 23, 2006 David: Wow, cool pics. Are those shockwave the result of breaking the speed of light? Don't you mean speed of sound? Otherwise I knew the F-14 was fast, but I didn't know it was that fast! I ordered some stuff through the Tomcat Sunset site today... the Paypal payment went through, but I have yet to get a comfirmation and there is nothing in my account when I log in indicating that I have an order on hand, so be careful when using the site. Quote
drifand Posted September 23, 2006 Posted September 23, 2006 Wan't it Lockheed's legendary engineer 'Kelly' Johnson who said something like, "If you design a plane that looks good, it will fly good."? The F-14 will always be remembered as one of the best looking planes that ever flew. Quote
JB0 Posted September 23, 2006 Posted September 23, 2006 (edited) Wan't it Lockheed's legendary engineer 'Kelly' Johnson who said something like, "If you design a plane that looks good, it will fly good."? Yah. I believe it was directed to his successor. He was trying to talk him out of pursuing the stealth technology ultimately used in the F-117. Johnson may've been a living legend, but he wasn't infallible. Edited September 23, 2006 by JB0 Quote
thegunny Posted September 23, 2006 Posted September 23, 2006 I remember when I first started my apprenticeship in the airforce a Tomcat & an Eagle flew a mock combat over our base and although there was no "offical winner" from where we were standing the Tomcat appeared to have the edge. It made Top Gun look like a bunch of trainee pilots on their first simulator run Quote
Retracting Head Ter Ter Posted September 23, 2006 Posted September 23, 2006 Wan't it Lockheed's legendary engineer 'Kelly' Johnson who said something like, "If you design a plane that looks good, it will fly good."? Which is why I think an F-23 would kick the F-22's butt! Quote
GRAND CANNON Posted September 23, 2006 Posted September 23, 2006 Which is why I think an F-23 would kick the F-22's butt! Roger that! Quote
HoveringCheesecake Posted September 23, 2006 Posted September 23, 2006 JSF kicking the Raptor's butt? Hah! Don't make me laugh, guys. Quote
Dobber Posted September 23, 2006 Posted September 23, 2006 I remember when I first started my apprenticeship in the airforce a Tomcat & an Eagle flew a mock combat over our base and although there was no "offical winner" from where we were standing the Tomcat appeared to have the edge. It made Top Gun look like a bunch of trainee pilots on their first simulator run I'm pretty sure something similar happened in Iran. A Tomcat and an Eagle each had their own flight demo time and the Tomcat just blew their socks off compaired to what the eagle showed them. That, however could also have just been who was flying the airplane though. Anyway, I was incredibly sad yesterday because of the F-14's "retirement" damn you Cheney!!! Well, fairwell beautiful. You will truely be missed. To the F-14 Tomcat, the Coolest of the Coldwar fighters! Chris Quote
Retracting Head Ter Ter Posted September 23, 2006 Posted September 23, 2006 I'm pretty sure something similar happened in Iran. A Tomcat and an Eagle each had their own flight demo time and the Tomcat just blew their socks off compaired to what the eagle showed them. That, however could also have just been who was flying the airplane though. Hard to believe though. back then it would have been F-14A vs F-15A and the Tomcat would have a significant thrust/weight ratio disadvantage. Quote
Lightning Posted September 23, 2006 Posted September 23, 2006 JSF kicking the Raptor's butt? Hah! Don't make me laugh, guys. wrong plane dude. The JSF is the F-35, not the YF-23... F-35: YF-23: Quote
David Hingtgen Posted September 23, 2006 Posted September 23, 2006 Thrust/weight isn't everything. Otherwise the F-4 would have easily beaten every MiG in Vietnam. And the F-8 wouldn't have whipped the F-4 in every mock combat that took place. From what I've read about the infamous F-14 vs F-15 fight to get the Iranian order (which really wasn't, they wanted exactly what the F-14 excelled at and had researched the decision for years---watching the F-15 fly was more of a formality to not tick off the USAF), it was mainly "who was willing to push the envelope harder". Quote
HoveringCheesecake Posted September 24, 2006 Posted September 24, 2006 (edited) wrong plane dude. The JSF is the F-35, not the YF-23... F-35: YF-23: Oh crap. I knew that. That's what happens when you get 3 hours of sleep after partying. Edited September 24, 2006 by meh_cd Quote
David Hingtgen Posted September 24, 2006 Posted September 24, 2006 Ironically, the JSF should be the F-24, if not for a few secretaries and generals having no clue for how planes are nor should be named... http://www.designation-systems.net/usmilav...s.html#_MDS_F35 X-35 does NOT lead to F-35. X-15 isn't the F-15, X-20 isn't F-20, X-29 sure isn't going to be the F-29... (Of course, the X-35 shouldn't even really have been the X-35 anyways, the X-32 and -35 should have been the YF-24 and YF-25, thus the JSF should really, actually, truly be the F-25) Quote
HoveringCheesecake Posted September 24, 2006 Posted September 24, 2006 Has the YF-23 been shelved permanently? I haven't kept up on modern aircraft in a while. And how many units are active with the F-22 now? Quote
Maxtype Posted September 24, 2006 Posted September 24, 2006 A sad day. It is such an iconic plane. Pound for pound has there ever been a plane that EXCELLED at every role it was given the way the Tomcat has? And,have you heard that Iran has been able to get all kinds of parts to stand-up their F-14 fleet while ours was standing down!Check out Combat Aircraft Magazine Volume 6,# 6, page 20. Anyway,the Tomcat has been my favorite plane since I was a kid-she'll be sorely missed. Quote
dizman Posted September 24, 2006 Posted September 24, 2006 Has the YF-23 been shelved permanently? I haven't kept up on modern aircraft in a while. And how many units are active with the F-22 now? As far as I know (my knowledge doesn't really go that far) I've heard that someone was gonna reincarnate the yf-23 as a bomber sorta deal.......or was that the f-22........ guess im not really too sure . Quote
David Hingtgen Posted September 24, 2006 Posted September 24, 2006 YF-23 #2 is still "missing"--nobody's seen it since they took it away from the museum where it'd been for years. News/rumor was always the FB-23 bomber program, but basically--someone should have heard SOMETHING by now. Which makes me think it's more likely being used for tests at Area 51 or something... (which does not imply aliens or anything, it's just a fact that Area 51 does do a lot of secret testing, even if it's rather "benign") F-22: 2 operational squadrons at Langley currently I think. There's more in the test squadrons than operational at the moment I'd guess. Quote
Retracting Head Ter Ter Posted September 24, 2006 Posted September 24, 2006 Thrust/weight isn't everything. Otherwise the F-4 would have easily beaten every MiG in Vietnam. And the F-8 wouldn't have whipped the F-4 in every mock combat that took place. From what I've read about the infamous F-14 vs F-15 fight to get the Iranian order (which really wasn't, they wanted exactly what the F-14 excelled at and had researched the decision for years---watching the F-15 fly was more of a formality to not tick off the USAF), it was mainly "who was willing to push the envelope harder". I read Cooper's book on that bit too. What I meant was that with the thrust/weight advantage and given that the Eagle's design and technology isn't exactly 2nd rate when compared to the Tomcat, it would be hard to believe that an F-15A got whipped badly in a knife fight by an F-14A in an 'unstacked' test with equal willing pilots. Quote
David Hingtgen Posted September 24, 2006 Posted September 24, 2006 AFAIK it wasn't anything like a dogfight--they flew at separate times. They basically put on airshow demos. F-14 had the better show. From what I've read from F-15 pilots, they have no challenge from an F-14 in a knife fight. (Of course, they're pretty biased and may embellish a bit--or a lot) Quote
Dobber Posted September 24, 2006 Posted September 24, 2006 I seem to remember a while ago we talked about encounters between eagles and tomcats and the eagles alays had the advantage, meaning the odds were stacked in their favor more fuel excetra, and that the Tomcat and the Eagle were never really pitted against each other on equal footing. That being said the Tomcat still had the eagle in some situations. This was also using the old PW A models too. The D model would more than likely give an eagle serious competition even in the Air Forces un fair fightes. David you would probably know best. Chris Quote
Spider-X Posted September 24, 2006 Posted September 24, 2006 Hey Guyz, As an admirer of the F-14A/B/D Tomcat, I found it appropiate to say goodbye to our most respected Fighter... By posting some pictures of the F-14 to keep the memories burned in our memory... So as one of the first, I'll be posting some of my fav images of the F-14: Quote
CoryHolmes Posted September 24, 2006 Posted September 24, 2006 stand-up their F-14 fleet... standing down Can they roll over and play dead, too? call the ball! *shrug* Okay. Here, Ball! Come on, Ball! Quote
Retracting Head Ter Ter Posted September 24, 2006 Posted September 24, 2006 Pound for pound has there ever been a plane that EXCELLED at every role it was given the way the Tomcat has? Think we have to go back to 1944 with the P-47. Quote
Maxtype Posted September 25, 2006 Posted September 25, 2006 Think we have to go back to 1944 with the P-47. You got that right.P-47's were put to pasture before their time,also.Of course,that left Air Force pilots during the Korean War quite vulnerable doing ground-attack in P-51D's.One 12.7mm round the Mustang's inline engine and you were going down.If they had P-47's the same level of damage would only cause oil leakage from 1 or more shot-away engine cylinders and she'd get you home.Of course,I'm not saying the Super Bugs that much inferior to the F-14. Quote
Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0 Posted September 25, 2006 Posted September 25, 2006 AFAIK it wasn't anything like a dogfight--they flew at separate times. They basically put on airshow demos. F-14 had the better show. From what I've read from F-15 pilots, they have no challenge from an F-14 in a knife fight. (Of course, they're pretty biased and may embellish a bit--or a lot) According to Paul Gilchrist's book it was an airshow demo. The F-15A did have the better t/w ratio and the Tomcat crew knew it. To compensate, the Tomcat crew let the engines run to burn off some fuel and decrease the weight of the aircraft while the eagle did its demo. This would give the Tomcat a better t/w ratio then to take off with a high fuel load. This enabled the crew to pull off more impressive manuevers due to the lighter wait, that and flying low while doing the manuevers was impressive to the Shah(whom I read as most of you have, already had his mind set on the F-14 to begin with). I've heard Snodgrass does good knife fights with the F-14, using dissimlar engine settings(in order to increase roll rate per side of plane). Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.