[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?

[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?

[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

[A.A. Cunningham]

All the time at Top Gun and it depends on who was flying. I'm sure it happened in the fleet as well. In the hands of good pilots A-4s, F-5s, F-16Ns, F/A-18s could defeat the Tomcat.