TheFlyingTurkey
Fetus Worshiper
I wonder if I could pick up an old F-14 for a few bucks and use it to commute! Heck, with 2 seats I could split the gas bill and carpool, err planepool!
F14 Tomcat makes its last combat trap
- Thread starter HorizonCRJ
- Start date
H46Bubba
Well-Known Member
Sad Day Looms on the Horizon
Man, I'll hate to see her go. Even before Top Gun, she had a piece of my heart, from the first time I saw her fly. When I lived by Miramar as a kid we rode our bikes on base to the flight line(Navy Brat) to watch all the happenings. Watching them come in for the break with the wings swept back and then sweeping forward on the down wind. When I got ino Sea Cadets, our sposor was VF-124. We learned how to be plane captains, how to do the various maintenance functions and ordanance loading. Oh man I was in heaven! Then to see the F-14 at sea, close up when I was in the Navy, was an even greater experience. On a work up we went out on the Theodore Roosevelt to do an ammo upload to the Eisenhower. We got the honor of flying SAR for VF-101 students to get their carrier quals. The HS guys didn't come out with us, so the us as HC got to. On a day I wasn't flying, the Air Boss let us go out and get up and close during flight quarters. OH man was it loud, even with a cranial on, and the heat was just massive. You could feel the power coming out of those twin afterburners in your chest. An experience I will never forget till I die. I'm sorry to all you F-18 lovers, but it will never, not even the superhornet, compare or replace the F-14 and its versatility.
Man, I'll hate to see her go. Even before Top Gun, she had a piece of my heart, from the first time I saw her fly. When I lived by Miramar as a kid we rode our bikes on base to the flight line(Navy Brat) to watch all the happenings. Watching them come in for the break with the wings swept back and then sweeping forward on the down wind. When I got ino Sea Cadets, our sposor was VF-124. We learned how to be plane captains, how to do the various maintenance functions and ordanance loading. Oh man I was in heaven! Then to see the F-14 at sea, close up when I was in the Navy, was an even greater experience. On a work up we went out on the Theodore Roosevelt to do an ammo upload to the Eisenhower. We got the honor of flying SAR for VF-101 students to get their carrier quals. The HS guys didn't come out with us, so the us as HC got to. On a day I wasn't flying, the Air Boss let us go out and get up and close during flight quarters. OH man was it loud, even with a cranial on, and the heat was just massive. You could feel the power coming out of those twin afterburners in your chest. An experience I will never forget till I die. I'm sorry to all you F-18 lovers, but it will never, not even the superhornet, compare or replace the F-14 and its versatility.
FlyChicaga
Vintage Restoration
The F-14 was always my favorite. I was a huge Top Gun freak, like most here in my age group probably were. That airplane just had it all to me. It won't be surpassed by any of the modern stuff. I remember sitting on the beach with my folks in Virginia Beach watching the F-14s roar overhead on their way out to sea to do whatever, an I was in awe. We ended up taking a tour of NAS Oceana, which is still one of my coolest memories. Seeing the F-14s takeoff and land, and the guys on their way out to the flight line. Sometimes I wish I would have stuck with NROTC, even with all the BS associated with it.
Luckily got to sit in the F-14 and F-4 once at Aviation Challenge in Huntsville, AL (Space Camp). That was a cool experience! I wonder if that program is still around.
Luckily got to sit in the F-14 and F-4 once at Aviation Challenge in Huntsville, AL (Space Camp). That was a cool experience! I wonder if that program is still around.