Squadron Homecoming Marks End of Era for Tomcats

United States Navy ^ | 10 March 2006 | Journalist 1st Class Stefanie Holzeisen-Mullen

[A.A. Cunningham]

LaBranche has come a long way since his days of sleeping on midcrew at Cherry Point back in 1983-1984.

060310-N-0685C-001 Atlantic Ocean (March 10, 2006) - Aircraft assigned Carrier Air Wing Eight (CVW-8) are staged on the flight deck aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) in preparation for departure to their homeports. Roosevelt and CVW-8 are completing a scheduled deployment in support of maritime security operations and the global war on terrorism. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate Airman Javier Capella (RELEASED)

Return will end era

And so they fly off today, with VF-213 taking a short break, then beginning training on the Super Hornets. It falls to VF-31 to fly the Tomcat for the final time, staying on ready status into August, then beginning on the Super Hornet in September. The VF-31 pilots will even get a final cruise, to England for a show-and-tell a couple of weeks in April.

With the final flights, a process begins that's sad for pilot and maintenance worker alike: disposing of the Tomcat. Some will go to Davis-Monathan Air Force Base in Arizona, military aviation's bone yard. Others will become museum pieces. And still others will become razor blades.

And an era will end.

excerpt Daily Press

[Cecily]

[GrandEagle]

Truly the end of an era.
Farewell to a trustworthy warrior.

GE

[brainstem223]

The F18 isnt that much newer of a design, a 20 year old from 1985, just lighter and cheaper...

[rhombus]

Thanks to a great weapon system, mission accomplished.

[Polybius]

Thanks to a great weapon system, mission accomplished.

Watch it! The Democrats will later accuse you of having claimed that you ended and won a war.

[edgrimly78]

Have the Tomcat and Hornet ever been put up against each other in a mock dogfight? If so, which one was the better machine?

[rhombus]

Watch it! The Democrats will later accuse you of having claimed that you ended and won a war.

Bring it on. :-)

[Spruce]

Can Super-Hornet carry the Pheonix? Does this not degrade the defence of a carrier battle group?

[TemplarAkolyte]

The AIM-54 Phoenix was already retired in Sept'04. The Hornet/SuperHornet was never adapted to carry the weapon.

Currently the AIM-120 can fill the gap with an albiet shorter range of ~110km vs the Phoenix's 184km range.

Minus the maintenance headache of the Tomcat, the SuperHornet is a dog when it compares to the Tomcat.

[Coldwater Creek]

The sound of freedom!!!!!!!!!

[JimRed]

Have the Tomcat and Hornet ever been put up against each other in a mock dogfight? If so, which one was the better machine?

Wasn't the Tomcat a platform for the Phoenix, which could take you out from a hundred plus mile standoff distance?

[APRPEH]

[Terabitten]

Sad ping.

[rlmorel]

Sniff. I will SO miss those beautiful birds. Of all the Cats, I loved the Tomcat the best, with the Hellcat a close second.

God, Grumman sure knew how to make fighter aircraft.

Salute to the Tomcat, those who designed, built, maintained and flew it.

[GrandEagle]

If so, which one was the better machine?
Better is a very relative term when used to describe fighter/bomber aircraft.
It all depends on what role the aircraft is to be used, aircraft "up time", and ease of maintenance.
Te beauty of the Tomcat is that it was darn good at anything you wanted to do with it.
I don't know that much about the hornet. They came out after my time was up.
Looking from a purely combat standpoint, you would have to find a pilot that has flown several combat missions, in different combat roles, in both aircraft.

I'm a bit partial to the F-14 myself. I doubt if the Hornet can lock on, track, fire upon, and kill as many aircraft simultaneously as the Tomcat - but I don't know for sure.

I was in the USAF. A great deal of my time was with the 33rd TFW where we flew the F-15. I never even worked on the F-14, but have spent many an hour "discussing", sometimes rather violently (in a friendly sore of way), the advantages that the F-15 has over the F-14 with my Navy friends.

Cordially,
GE

[rlmorel]

Although, I must admit, from a maintenance standpoint, I hear it is no contest. I don't know the exact numbers, but it is something like four times as many man hours for each flight hour to keep the Tomcat in the air (seem to remember 20 hrs. vs. 5 hrs for the Tomcat and Hornet respectively.)

[A.A. Cunningham]

Nearly 10 year difference in age. First F/A-18 flight in November of '78. Hornets achieved fleet IOC with VMFA-314 in 1983. F-14 first flew in December of '70. Tomcat fleet IOC in '73.

[brainstem223]

Shows to go ya that the Navy is in great need of a new carrier based warplane. Both are long in the tooth...

[brainstem223]

The Bearcat that came a bit late for The Big One was the best of the prop driven Grummans.