Boy, there are a ton of postings with pictures of F-18’s…whas’sup with 'dat? Can those of us who are mourning the retirement of the F-14 just have our time to cry in our beers? Geeeeeesh. [BH]
Sorry 'bout that Mitch!! I may work on Bugs, but I will miss the 'Cat, too! [;)] Group hug for the Tomcat guys!![:p] - Calvin
Can the Bug carry the AIM-54? There are some thing about the F-14 that the Bug can’t replace.
I feel your pain brother! Although the Hornet is near and dear to my heart, the Tomcat is still awe inspiring. Here’s a few I took while I was on the Ranger. Enjoy.[:)]
Eddie
I’m with you guys, I can’t get enough cats, three tomcats and growing
matt
What’s the point of carrying a BVR missile that will kill at 100 NM when the ROEs usually requied visual ID or at least pretty close in shooting to prevent friendly fire incidents? The AIM 7 and Aim 120 will go as far out as we are likely to need to go and are a heck of a lot cheaper to build and maintain.
Darwin
AIM-54 has been phased out of service. Tomcats started delivering these instead…[:D]
An F-14 actually made a gun run on a Taliban position in Afghanistan in 2001
VF-2 Tomcat Scorecard:
The only folks who still have AIM-54 are the Iranians, and who knows if they work. I half suspect the propellant is darned near inert by now…
I didn’t realize they we’re getting rid of the Bombcats. Great platform!
…range…speed…phoenix…sissy hornets. I was told by a tomcat tech that the super hornets have more rigid airframes than old F-18’s and as a result they are susceptible to early fatigue. Should have just made the Tomcat 21 (F-14E?) Damn Cheney.
They might still have some in working order. They are very good in reverse enginering. For instance: they have adepted land based HAWK missles to be used on F-4’s and F-14’s!!
Some lunatic mounted a Hawk to, well, anything other than it’s normal launcher? I’d love to see a picture of that. That beats the pic I have of an F-15 launching a falcon any day.
F- 14’s and F-18’s are fine but i’d love to see some F-4’s being trapped , now thats a sight also! Turkeys and Bugs , whats the nickname for the F-4’s ?
I’ll miss the Tomcats. Really lethal looking aircraft. The Hornet is cool, but not the same.
Regards, Rick
CFRussell…the Phantom was at times referred to as the “Rhino”.
Hey, CFRussell, BlackWolf has a ton of pics…gim’me your e-mail address, I’ll send you a few I have.
I’m sure the Rhino lovers were crying in their beers in the mid-1970’s just as the Turkey lovers are now. Except in the mid 70’s, the Turkey’d whip the Rhino hands down. The Bug can’t come close to whippin’ the Turkey, no way.
Thanks for the offer MA Cooke . I’ll check out Wolf’s collection and see whats there. I’ve never cried in my beer BUT i will raise one in a toast to the venerable Phantom II ! She sure was a brute and a workhorse for the Navy , Marines and USAF in Nam. CFR [oX)]
Not always so. Our unit at George AFB went to Yuma MCAS in 1987 to be the bad guys in an exercise. We took eight F-4E aircraft. The Navy sent eight F-14A aircraft from NAS Miramar late in the exercise. We flew 4 V 4 in the morning and 4 V 4 in the afternoon. Our F-4E’s had a 7 to 1 kill ratio the first day. The second day we had a 8 to 0 kill ratio and on the last day a 7 to 1 ratio. The difference was all of our pilots had over 3,000 hrs in the F-4 and were all instructor pilots. The Navy crews were going through Top Gun school. Most had less than 500 hrs in the F-14. You take an experienced crew and put them in an old aircraft, let them fly against a less experienced crew in a more capable aircraft, and who is going to win?
At Kadina AB, Okinawa our F-4D unit went TDY to Clark AB PI for an exercise. The 67 th TFS out of Kadina came down with their brand new F-15C’s. They were tearing us up everyday because we were flying fully loaded with bombs. When the F-5 aircraft started flying against the F-15, the agressor aircraft tore them up everyday. The 67 th TFS had all new pilots that did not use the full capability of the F-15. As a result they were getting beat. Sure they could beat an aircraft loaded with full fuel and a full bomb load but against an experienced crew flying the F-5 they lost every time.
My point is, it doesn’t matter how good the aircraft is. Unless you have an experienced pilot that can use the full capability of the aircraft, he doesn’t stand a chance.
Berny:
Thanks for the “correction”, aircrew experience does make all the difference in the world. My comment was more along the lines of “…in equally qualified hands…”.
I’ll paraphrase Hoot Gibson, in an article I read about his Mig-21…“Give any other pilot with similar experience as me an F-4, and give me a Mig-21, and I’ll win hands-down, every time.”