Forgotten Vets

^^^ This. The Tomcat was just dead sexy. I've never seen an image of the F-14 where I said, "Meh... it's okay lookin'." It looks great from any angle, but especially, as GX mentioned, from the front. The acronym that comes to mind is BAMF. And it didn't just look the part, it was very capable of BEING the part.

I remember my first steps on what would be my home for the next 5 years aboard the USS Eisenhower (CVN-69). I was lucky enough to experience a trap via the C-2 Greyhound (we actually had a bolter, followed by a trap, which made things even more exciting, especially for the guys who had already puked in their cranials). Exiting the rear of that aircraft and being escorted to the hatch on the island was probably the most confusing, sensor-overloaded experience of my life, short perhaps of being born. There was so much noise, movement, people, smells... it was absolutely crazy. I remember the first thing that I thought of after getting inside... that I could not WAIT to get to the hangar deck and get close to a Tomcat.

I spent the next 5 years dancing on the flight deck with those gorgeous beasts. It was and forever will be my very favorite aircraft, civilian or otherwise.
 
@ GX, yeah I hear ya on the nostalgia. I had a similar experience in the late '80's visiting Miramar with my folks. The Tomcat was about the coolest thing I had ever seen, and of course TOP GUN was a pretty recent breakthrough in my life :) I remember watching them pretty much all day long. We too were staying in MB. Things came pretty full circle when 20+ years later, I was flying jets from Miramar myself, and working out of the same hangar that I remembered standing in front of as a little kid. Sadly I missed the Tomcat boat by a few years, but to be quite honest, most of the guys I know who flew them as JOs pretty much never looked back when they transitioned to the Hornet. That said, I'd love to have the speed and fuel that they had.
 
///AMG The biggest gripe that I heard about the Tomcat was coming into work to fly, and stepping to a down jet. That's never good for anyone, and I know it would irk me. Outside of the reliability issues, what else have you heard?

How does Mach 2 change anything for you in today's air combat arena? Or is it just that Mach 2 is cooler?
 
I can't get enough of this video....

Have to post it. AND. It's got the squatting Tomcat. And Vargas' first stroke.

 
GX said:
Outside of the reliability issues, what else have you heard?
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I think the issue is simply that the Tomcat wasn't that great of an all-around fighter -- certainly not as great as the fanboys would have people believe.

It was a GREAT 1970s interceptor (different than a 'fighter' mind you...) and the AWG-9 was a phenomenal radar in it's day. Add in the Phoenix, and it was superb for fleet defense against the predicted waves of Soviet bombers during the Cold War.

Unfortunately, that movie in the 1980s made the general public think the airplane was something that it wasn't.

It was G limited....not that great of a turn rate....not that great in terms of energy-maneuverability...not that great avionics (especially when they started hanging pods on it and trying to make it 'multirole')...by the 1990s it was well outclassed by other peer operational fighters. The A+ and D model upgrades did a lot for it, but ultimately it was too little too late (although I got my ass kicked by an F-14D during the East Coast Strike Fighter Shootout one year....).

Fantastic in it's intended role in its day, but certainly not all of the accolades people have tried to heap on it over the years.
 
Hacker15e said:
Unfortunately, that movie in the 1980s made the general public think the airplane was something that it wasn't.
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I think I wisened up to this the first time I finally got near one on the hangar deck. I was completely shocked at how utterly huge it was. I had no idea it was that big. Even several years later after having seen them and been around them every day, every once in a while it would hit me just how large the airframe was. I knew what its speed capabilities were, and I knew fairly well what kind of payload it could carry... but I had my doubts as to its ability to really maneuver all that well, especially if it was loaded down with attachments. Nearly 80,000 lbs. of aircraft just isn't going to turn on a dime.

That said... still a gorgeous bird.
 
Hacker15e You have Tomcat envy. :D

I don't think that there are a lot of misgivings about the Tomcat. This was a beauty contest. She wins. If it was a "who'll make the best housewife" contest, she loses. If I had to take a knife into a phone booth, I'll take a Falcon. For CAS, I'll take 1 A-10 overhead vs 5 Falcons. Nobody's going to say the Hog is the best looking of the bunch except MikeD.

64 feet long, with a 63' wingspan is a lot of lady to sled into the fight. Talking to the old guys who flew the Tomcat, they were wholly committed to being able to effectively employ that weapon system, and wring everything out of them that they could. I like that they love their airplane as much as I do.

I like your Eagle/Chicken, don't get me wrong. But when it comes to one aircraft that strikes me the deepest, on a purely emotional level, it's the Tomcat.

If it were more reliable, and cost effective to fly, I'm sure that with modern upgrades, it would still be a front line fighter, more capable than the Rhino. I loathe that airplane, though, so I'm biased.
 
///AMG said:
@ GX, yeah I hear ya on the nostalgia. I had a similar experience in the late '80's visiting Miramar with my folks.
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I can still remember Miramar with an RF-8G Crusader squadron, VFP-63, along with a couple of reserve F-4S VF squadrons; mixed in with the Tomcat VF and Haweye VAW squadrons.
 
I've been out of the USN loop for a while... are they still running EA-6B's, or is it really just a flight deck full of '18s and E-2s any more?
 
SteveCostello said:
But seriously... not to derail the thread too much, but why is it that we have at least a few mothballed versions of nearly every combat jet we've ever used, EXCEPT the Tomcat? Because Iran? I have a hard time believing that we could not have controlled the supply stream to the point we could not ensure no spares ended up over there.
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Why ensure no spares end up in Iran?

I think we should've sold them the Tomcats we retired. Its not like it's a 5th gen fighter, we would know their full capabilities, and we'd make some money in return from them rather than just scrap value. Should've sold the fleet to Iran, IMO.
 
GX said:
///AMG The biggest gripe that I heard about the Tomcat was coming into work to fly, and stepping to a down jet. That's never good for anyone, and I know it would irk me. Outside of the reliability issues, what else have you heard?

How does Mach 2 change anything for you in today's air combat arena? Or is it just that Mach 2 is cooler?
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Say "stepping" again and you revoke your Navy heritage. Seriously though, it has been described to me in ways that mostly mirror what Hacker said. Big radar that was good for intercepting Bears, but basically no game against anyone in the WVR arena. This comes from dudes that flew the big motor lightweight F-14B's. I can't add legitimacy to their claims since I never flew one, but that is what has been explained over beers to me. Old airshow circuit F-14A dudes flew in a different life than we do.

And yes Mach 2 just sounds cool
 
Hacker15e said:
There are still a few Prowlers around, but they are rapidly being replaced by 18Gs.
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My airwing made the first shipboard operational deployment with a Growler squadron last year. They are beginning to move into the airwing world, but the vast majority have been and remain expeditionary. I think that will, like you say, be changing pretty quickly here though on the Navy side.
 
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