One of the last five F-14A Tomcats taxis into Tucson's Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center. The Navy plane made famous in the moving "Top Gun" was retired from military service in September 2004 and flown to its final desert resting place.
Posted on 07/03/2007 4:24:12 PM PDT by IonImplantGuru
One of the last five F-14A Tomcats taxis into Tucson's Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center. The Navy plane made famous in the moving "Top Gun" was retired from military service in September 2004 and flown to its final desert resting place.
Iran had a large fleet of Tomcats and I'm sure they would love to get the parts to make those planes flyable again.
Did you have to show the picture of the F-14 being destroyed? It was an incredible platform. Wish some had been saved and hope the Iranians don`t have any that still fly.
Am I the only one who feels a bit sick when I see those beautiful birds being destroyed?
It is not like they have run out of room to store them.
A decade ago the Navy’s A-6’s were all made into octopuses’ gardens.
I.e. “artificial reefs.”
Yes, it's sad, but it is rational. The planes are old, and the technology is way behind the times. They were great for their time, but the technology has advanced, and so must naval aviation.
One nice thing if one works around TUS (Tucson Int'l) is that the guys in the tower regularly invite incoming 'last flight' birds to come on over for a low-level pass in review, after which the planes head over to D-M (about 5 miles NE) to their last landing.
If a plane is going into storage, the pilot and whoever is along for the ride will usually sign the fuselage under a 'goodbye' note ... but if AMARG is just going to grind up the bird right away, even that little grace note seems a bit futile.
If the cost to destroy them is more than the salvage income from the scrap metal, why don’t then simply remove engines, weapons and avionics (and any other spooky stuff) and give them to VFW and Legion posts, etc.
We have a B-52 (a Dog model, I believe) on display at Orlando International. She looks great.
Nice pic!
I agree that it's sad to see it, and it is certainly possible to mothball planes in the desert almost indefinitely. They seal all the openings with latex, replace the guel with oil to coat and protect engine parts, and then just park it. In the past, planes from AMARC have been restored to service in a matter of weeks.
But in order to make the Tomcat a feasible reserve plane, the Navy would have to keep a roster of aviators qualified to fly it. If the reserves were still using the -14, that wouldn't be too difficult. But maintaining enough planes to train new aviators and give existing aviators enough hours-in-type to stay sharp would be a waste of money.
Not to mention the waste of time and personnel to keep pilots current on a machine that is not in the active inventory. My understanding -- and others will correct me if I'm wrong -- is that pilots and aviators are assigned to a particular airframe, and that they spend all their training time on that one plane to stay as sharp as possible. Keeping pilots on the-14 means keeping them out of action, and we don't have a lot of folks to spare jut now.
I guess my dream of someday owning an old decommissioned fighter jet is growing dimmer.
A friend of mine had a MiG21, but he sold it.
What a waste. A sad, unnecessary waste. There must be a pylon to sit on or a gate to guard or a museum that has some space for everyone of the remaining F-14s. The PTB are supposedly worried that Iran is going to get some spare parts? C’mon, Iran could get new Sukhois and MiGs easier than replacement parts for their remaining F-14s. Cutting them up is a historical waste.
Clearly, for front line purposes this is so. Yet, the F-14 is still the equal of most other nations we might face and keeping a healthy number in reserve, maintained for reserve, would be prudent.
We should have a reserve and training program to enable us to quickly train personnel. Having a resever component could easily prove needed and prudent in years to come. Once they are shredded, you have no option.
RIP Tomcats, you didn’t get the respect you deserved. It's America's loss.
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