Posted on 10/01/2005 12:06:14 AM PDT by mcgiver38
End of an Era, the F-14 tomcat makes its final public appearance.
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (NNS) -- The venerable F-14 Tomcat took a final bow with a boom at its last air show Sept. 16-18 at Naval Air Station Oceana, Va.
The classic Northrup Grumman fighter jet that rose to prominence in the 1986 hit film "Top Gun" and has worn U.S. Navy colors since its first test flight in 1970 attracted a legion of fans from around the world at its public goodbye.
“It’s basically a bittersweet day for us,” said Lt. Cortney Kinna, an F-14 naval flight officer from Amarillo, Texas. "It was our favorite airplane. I just think it's the sexiest looking airplane out there. It's unique, big, powerful and loud."
Geert Meuris, who lives near Antwerp, Belgium, said he crossed the Atlantic Ocean to see the swing-wing, twin-engine jet fighter shake the skies in a four-ship formation and during a solo tactical demonstration.
“We don't see them very often in Europe,” he said as he stood near the flight line at the fighter's home base. “This is the last chance for us. It’s beautiful.”
Aviators who flew in the Tomcat said it stands alone.
“It had a little bit of a heritage feeling to it," said Lt. Mario Duarte, an F/A-18 Super Hornet pilot who previously flew the F-14 off carrier decks. “It is a cool thing to say that you've done. Everybody associates it with the movie Top Gun, and it's big and it looks great sitting on the ground.”
“The biggest thing about it is the F-14 has such a great identity,” said Lt. Joe Ruzicka, a naval flight officer from Crandall, Texas, who flew in the Tomcat's last public solo demonstration. "People have such a love and affection for it.”
Air crew with Fighter Squadron (VF) 32, the Swordsmen, and VF-101, the Grim Reapers, showed off the jet's capabilities before hundreds of thousands in attendance at the three-day show.
Lt. Jack Tangredi, a naval aviator with the Grim Reapers, put the plane through its paces during one of its solo displays.
“It was awesome,” said Tangredi, a native of Wallingford, Conn. “For me personally, it doesn’t get any better than that. The pinnacle of my aviation carrier.”
Radar intercept officers (RIO) said they will particularly miss the concentrated teamwork needed between the pilot and “backseater” to let the F-14 do its job. Unlike the F/A-18 Super Hornet, one said, pilots do not have the same cockpit controls in the front seat to operate the radar and fire all weapon systems.
“The Tomcat is a RIO's airplane,” said Lt. Tim Henry, a Gettysburg, Pa., native who took his last F-14 flight during the airshow. “It’s sad. I caught myself looking around the cockpit.”
Retired Capt. Phil Grandfield, of Virginia Beach, said he favored the Tomcat over the F-4 Phantom and the F/A-18 Hornet in his 26 years of flying Navy jets.
“I’m most proud of having flown the F-14,” said Grandfield, who has more than 2,000 flight hours in the aircraft and made his 1,000th carrier arrested landing in the jet. “It’s a unique airplane. It’s respected around the world.”
Even so, every F-14 air crew member without hesitation said they are ready to transition to the more modern and nimble Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet, the Tomcat's replacement.
Now in the midst of its last cruise with VF-31, the Tomcatters, and VF-213, the Black Lions, aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), the Navy will retire the aging Tomcat from service next year.
Tried to post a picture, don't do it often enough.
Bump this......to the Top.
I'm not ConUs and have a bit of trouble with .mil addresses.
Sad day ping.
[sigh] Say it ain't so. Beautiful planes.
Sure, all good things must end... but damn...
it sucks. congress killed the plane. money went to mcdonnell douglas instead. pure stupid pork politics. i could scream.
Because its that or find another job.
The Tomcat has never lost an air to air combat sim to an F18.
It was too big for the deck space, and required two to fly it. F18 was smaller and required 1 pilot. But the fist thing the Navy did was increase the size of the F18 and go to a two seat version.
what a painting ! no?....
Heh. Great painting.
I had the unique honor of having my CG Cutter buzzed by a pair of F-14's moving supersonic somewhere off the coast of San Diego some years ago. It was magnificent.
I'll never forget it. They came at us at pretty much wavetop level. They were tight together and both had to tip up slightly about a half mile out just to clear our antennas in time.
I know they were supersonic. That part is impossible to miss.
The whole thing only lasted seconds. The lookout spotted them just in time shout down the voicetube "Aircraft appro..." BAM BAM. ...and they were gone. I remember feeling grateful that they were on our side.
:-)
It seems the only Tomcats flying will be those with Iranian colors. Oh, and I just loved the proposals for the QuickStrike, the SuperTomCat 21 and the AttackSuperTomCat 21, variants that were supposed to make the TomCat have a new lease of life (and make it even mroe lethal than it already ways). The AttackSuperTomcat21 -AST21- would have been basically bad-@$$. With twice the range of the F-14D, and note the F-14D has far greater range than any Hornet or SuperHornet that ever flew -and with capabilities that would have been second only to the F-22 in A2A, and unsurpassed by any fighter in the air2mud role. Obviously they cancelled since the TomCat had to die (had the SuperTomcat 21 come out several things would have happened ....for one there would have been no need for a SuperHornet, and secondly the JSF project would have gone the way of the A12 project. Thus it was a political stinky-poo and had to be cancelled).
Here is a drawing of the then-proposed ST21 SuperTomcat:
And here is an article questioning the prudence of replacing the TomCat with the SuperHornet. This is a rather interesting article:
http://www.flightjournal.com/articles/f14f18/f14f18_1.asp
Thanks, the Aardvarks!!! of VF-114!! my roomates were in that squadron. In fact I have a 8X10 of that very picture. And look at that Phoenix, my job! I fixed the AWG-9 for 6 years and taught it for another 3. Great job.
There was nothing like that, I saw it many times, could never believe how you could just make it out and BAM BAM! it was gone, many times sucking water up to the plane. What a sexy plane! And the saddest thing is we dont have anything today that can compete with its standoff capability. Sad, just sad.
BUMP!
http://iiaf.net/archive/aircraft/images/F14AtaxiKhatamiAFB_jpg.jpg
http://iiaf.net/archive/aircraft/images/f14sweptwing2_jpg.jpg
http://iiaf.net/archive/aircraft/images/iiaff14s_jpg.jpg
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