Right, TopGun is on the telly, educate me about F14 Tomcats

[Mr Will]

I've always thought these were great looking planes and I have read a little bit about them but I'm always amazed by the knowledge of you chaps so do any of you have any interesting trivia/stories related to them that you'd care to share?

Gratuitous Pic:

[IforB]

The F-14 is only in service in one country today. That is Iran oddly enough.

The max takeoff weight of the F-14 is actually 4 tonnes higher than the B-17 bomber of WW2. (Think Memphis Belle if you don't know what a B 17 is.)

[Eric Mc]

The Tomcat prototype first flew 40 years ago (1970). The prototype was destroyed later in the year when it suffered total hydraulic failure. Both crew ejected safely.

The Tomcat project arose because of the failure of the naval version of the General Dynamics F-111.

[Flanders.]

The wing's move...

[Mr Will]

IforB said:

The F-14 is only in service in one country today. That is Iran oddly enough.

Are they still operational or are they all sat on a runway somewhere waiting for parts that will never come?

[YAD061]

I believe they were the first to have the capability to track multiple targets....fast and deceptively agile for their size. I love em, a thug of a plane

[Eric Mc]

Mr Will said:

IforB said:

The F-14 is only in service in one country today. That is Iran oddly enough.

Are they still operational or are they all sat on a runway somewhere waiting for parts that will never come?

Some are still operational. The Iranians are no dopes. They are very good at working out how to keep things going and substituting alternative components if they can't lay their hands on original items.

[Skywalker]

It is from the Grumman stable.

It was the follow on from the failed F-111 concept for a naval fighter.

Tom Cruise actually took a Cat shot in the back of an F-14 to get 'the shot' for the film.

[ErnestM]

Only aircraft to use the AIM-54.

[Mr Will]

Paddy_N_Murphy said:

Their Brakes are very very good.

"let them fly right by"

Were the brakes actually any good, or was that just in the movie? As good as the Saab Drakens in the posted a while back?

[Mojocvh]

Morphed into the "Bombcat" in the end, which, along with "Rover" (a $2600 avionics mod that allowed the ground forces to see where the RIO had the crosshairs and say "no dude that's us) was a surprisingly effective bomb truck.

I feel the need, the need for speed. Always.

[Eric Mc]

It is now the last of a long line of Grumman "Cats" -

F4F Wildcat
F6F Hellcat
F7F Tigercat
F8F Bearcat
F9F Panther/Cougar
F10F Jaguar
F11F Tiger

[eharding]

The original version of the "Fighter Fling 2004" video, a compilation of a lot of crew-filmed video together with some excellent historic test-flight footage, as the F-14 community realised that the end was in sight.

Most of it is on YouTube in various pieces.

The soundtrack gets a bit shouty-metal in places, but still worth watching to the end.

Far better than Top Gun.

400+MB, and hosted on my account. Please 'Save As'.

http://www.plus7minus5.co.uk/video/misc/FighterFli...

[IforB]

Eric Mc said:

Mr Will said:

IforB said:

The F-14 is only in service in one country today. That is Iran oddly enough.

Are they still operational or are they all sat on a runway somewhere waiting for parts that will never come?

Some are still operational. The Iranians are no dopes. They are very good at working out how to keep things going and substituting alternative components if they can't lay their hands on original items.

As Eric says, they are still operational as far as anyone knows, though the Yanks are chopping up all of their old ones to ensure that spare parts from them don't find their way to Iran, whether that makes any difference I have no idea. I can't imagine the Iranians would have much trouble making new bits for them. According to the font of accurate knowledge (Wikipedia), they have 20 in service still. I have no idea if that is actually accurate though.

[IforB]

Mr Will said:

Paddy_N_Murphy said:

Their Brakes are very very good.

"let them fly right by"

Were the brakes actually any good, or was that just in the movie? As good as the Saab Drakens in the posted a while back?

You can bleed energy more effectively by yanking the aircraft about, rather than just simply deploying speed brakes. Though if you are in a Harrier, then simply turning the nozzles forward works like a charm!

[speedtwelve]

The F14 was once available as a single-seat convertible, as seen here. This is what happens when a non-aircrew Navy Captain on a famil flight panics when the jet goes inverted and decides to use the ejection handle as a handhold!

http://www.vfp62.com/F14_RIO.html

[YAD061]

good job they didn't have the command eject system as fitted to the Tonka otherwise the pilot would have followed and the plane would be have been lost

[aeropilot]

YAD061 said:

fast and deceptively agile for their size. I love em, a thug of a plane

Can't believe it's now almost 13 years since I last saw a F-14 flying

[Eric Mc]

They looked absolutely fabulous in their original liveries. This is an F-14A as originally delivered in 1974.



At the end of the 1970s, all front line US navy aircraft began to tone down their colours to various shades of (very boring) grey.

[YAD061]

aeropilot said:

YAD061 said:

fast and deceptively agile for their size. I love em, a thug of a plane

Can't believe it's now almost 13 years since I last saw a F-14 flying

I remeber seeing the news report of the prototype crashing with an F5 or Talon following