Posted on 09/23/2006 8:40:26 AM PDT by Ready4Freddy
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - The F-14 Tomcat, the dogfighting Cold War fighter jet immortalized in the movie "Top Gun," made its ceremonial final flight Friday in a display that suggested the timing was right for retirement.
Pilot Lt. Cmdr. David Faehnle and radar intercept officer Lt. Cmdr. Robert Gentry gave a final salute from inside their cockpit before aircraft no. 102 taxied down the runway and out of sight at Oceana Naval Air Station.
The plane that actually took off as thousands applauded and whistled, however, was aircraft no. 107, with Lt. Cmdr. Chris Richard at the controls and intercept officer Lt. Mike Petronis in the back seat.
The first jet had mechanical problems — "a common occurrence with the F-14," said Mike Maus, a Navy spokesman. The second jet had been on standby just in case.
Before the flight, Adm. John Nathman, commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command and a former F-14 pilot, said the retiring jet with the moveable, swept-back wings was "sometimes tough to fly" and tough to fix — but it was resilient.
"The legacy of this aircraft is not the 'Top Gun' movie," Nathman said. "The legacy is found in America's commitment to win the Cold War."
Built by what was then Grumman Aircraft Corp., the F-14 joined the Navy fleet in 1972 and originally was intended to defend U.S. aircraft carriers from Soviet bombers carrying long-range cruise missiles.
Its dogfighting capabilities were glamorized in the 1986 film "Top Gun," starring Tom Cruise, but the need for such aerial feats dropped steeply when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
The Navy retooled the F-14 as a ground-attack jet, and it dropped bombs over Bosnia and Kosovo in the late 1990s, and helped support ground troops in Iraq as recently as this year.
The jet's replacement is the F/A-18 Super Hornet attack fighter. The Navy's last 22 F-14 aircraft deployed came home to Oceana in March, but one squadron continued to flying the jets until this month.
Gentry likened retiring the Tomcat to "losing a member of the family."
"It's a bittersweet moment to look and realize that pretty soon you won't be flying that aircraft," he said. "There are few aircraft that elicit such a strong bond between the air crew and the maintainers and the people who build them."
About 3,000 guests — mainly former aviators, mechanics, suppliers and builders — were on hand for the jet's official retirement. The last flying F-14s will go to museums such as the Virginia Aviation Museum in Richmond, which received one last week.
Mike Boehme, the museum's executive director, expects the F-14 to be a big draw. "There's a certain mystique about it," he said.
No, but it, like the F-15, F-16 and F-22, can carry the AMRAAM, aka Slammer, (AIM-120) which has many of the same capabilities, although shorter ranged, and lighter of warhead. However it's also more maneuverable in the "end game". Better, IMHO, against fighter or attack aircraft, and still sufficient against bombers. You have to get a little closer though, probably enough to put in the *theoretical* range of several Russian/Soviet missiles carried by Mig-29s and Su-27s. I'm sure F/A-18 could easily carry Phoenix, although fewer of them.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-09-22-F14-tomcat_x.htm
http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2006/09/remembering_the_3.html
Actually might be easier. They'll all be in the boneyard for a while, then they'll be stripped *for parts* useful on other aircraft, leaving all the F-14 unique stuff just laying around in the desert, only lightly secured.
USN Photo of Day: Forever-Fearsome F-14 Tomcat Fighter Jet's Last Official Launch, Flyby, Landing
Phoenix missiles were pulled from the active inventory even before the Tomcat. MUCH better stuff out there nowadays, especially against fighter aircraft (AIM-120 SLAMMER).
Meant to include you in post #25.
I'm already looking forward to the 'last Iranian F-14 crashes and burns, or is shot down by US forces' thread! ;>)
...and destroy the tooling.
What's the reason for this? Seems you can plunk it down in the desert somewhere and just sit on it.
It seems like it would have been wise to keep enough of the production capabilities to where in a pinch production could have began without having to rebuild all the necessary machinery, molding, etc, to start production again. I don't know why it was done.
We are loosing our in house defense industries and capabilities at an alarming rate. For example only one shipyard remains which can produce even a conventional powered aircraft carrier. The remaining shipbuilder is across the river from the only major east coast carrier repair yard as well. We went from 4 to 1 although I think two of the four never actually produced a carrier.
It seems like it would have been wise to keep enough of the production capabilities to where in a pinch production could have began without having to rebuild all the necessary machinery, molding, etc, to start production again. I don't know why it was done.
Political arrogance and bureaucratic pettiness. It's a way to insure that "their" decision can't be undone or reversed by a change in agency management or political regime. I'm certain if you asked, however, they'd give you all sorts of accounting gibberish and BS logistical cost/benefit arguments.
The same thing was done with the tooling for the SR-71 Blackbird, I believe, and whoever made that decision should have their butt kicked.
I don't know about the SR-71, but IIRC, its was McNamara that ordered the Tomcat tools & jigs destroyed.
...rusts in the hangar for lack of spare parts.
The bird wasn't even in service till 1972 thereabouts. I despise the man but it's another McNamara rumor that is simply urban legend like him ordering the KENNEDY & AMERICA to be conventional steamers instead of nuke power plants. I can prove he didn't do that as well by production dates. AMERICA was planned and keel laid as conventional under Ike's administration. At that point it was too far into production to order such a change of that magnitude.
It was Sec of Def Dick Cheney who ended production of the F-14 Tomcat and requested congress not fund further production. There's many sources to confirm it Cheney +F-14 in any search engine.
LOL never mind just saw the Tomcat patch in your post been a while since I've seen that. I remember we were doing some carrier quals in mid 79 I think maybe late 80 and I was watching a helo carrier off to our starboard about 5 miles or so. I kept seeing planes doing what I thought was fly-bys across the LPH flight deck and disappearing half way across. Then somebody said hey watch the Harriers.. Kinda like the flying fish you didn't want to admit you were seeing what you think you were LOL..
F-14D Tomcat vs. F/18 E/F Super Hornet
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/595147/posts
The Carrier Myth.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/577009/posts
see # 4 & 22
Back in the day (Oct 1963) when I was on active duty, I got a hop from RAF Mildenhall to Rhein-Main AB on a C-124. It was deadheading, with no cargo. I was the only PAX. It was like riding in a flying empty warehouse.
It's not a DEM vs GOP issue either. Bush would be happy to take us to a 10 carrier fleet that Clinton's Sec of Def Les Aspin tried to do. We were headed in that direction before 9/11. Bush was gonna finsh what Poppy and Cheney started. We can't afford not to maintain our carrier fleet of 12 carriers and expect to maintain military superiority and a two hemisphere response and battle capabilities. We are on the edge of a catrostrophy if we come under attack by more than one nation at once. One facility hit and this nation will not be able to produce another carrier period.
Gulf War one cost us our second newest conventional carrier due to missed yard time and denial of Ship Life Extension Program. It did three 6 month deployments in three years time. It could still be in service but it had a major boiler room explosion at pier 12 in March 1994 in Norfolk upon return from the third deployment which should not have been made due to serious readiness issues. It was patched back together for a final deployment after it was towed cold iron into Norfolk Naval Ship Yards. It now rest 15,000 feet below the Atlantic ocean. Yet the carrier class name sake the oldest of the class remains in service?
If the Pentagon is running the nuke carrier program the way it has the conventional program we are in deep trouble. The idea that a nuke carrier can go indefinately is pure horse pucks. The ship won't take the abuse any longer than what a conventional carrier would. There's a whole lot more to it than the reactor involved in keeping a carrier operational.
At this point politically I don't see either political party as being pro-defense at this point in time. Both want a bare bones military running what few troops and equipment into the ground via over deployment and over extension with no substantial plans being made to address those concerns. Both are using the military to balance the budget for non defense programs and tax cuts. Kind of a stupid posture for congress, Potus, and all policy makers to make considering we are at war. They forget National Defense is the number one primary function of government. They also forgot it's it's not broke don't fix it. The F-14 program was in good shape till Cheney got a hold of it. He wasted billions that could have went into R&D for future Tomcat Avionics.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.