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Modern (1975-today): USA
Modern aircraft of the United States.
Bye Bye Tomcat
Matt890
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Connecticut, United States
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Posted: Saturday, December 17, 2005 - 12:42 AM UTC
In a cupple of days the USAF is going to retire the F-14 Tomcat (as seen in Top Gun). It will fly its last mission over iraq and then be replaced. Does any one know what will replace it? sorry this has nothing to do with modeling
Glenn330
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New Jersey, United States
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Posted: Saturday, December 17, 2005 - 01:18 AM UTC
I heard that the F-15 is being replaced with the F-22. The plane has been in the works for some time now. I haven't heard anything about the F-14 being replaced.
Sabot
Joined: December 18, 2001
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Posted: Saturday, December 17, 2005 - 01:30 AM UTC

Quoted Text

In a cupple of days the USAF is going to retire the F-14 Tomcat (as seen in Top Gun). It will fly its last mission over iraq and then be replaced. Does any one know what will replace it? sorry this has nothing to do with modeling

I thought the US Navy used the F-14 and the USAF used the F-15 Eagle (among others).
PolarBear
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Västra Götaland, Sweden
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Posted: Saturday, December 17, 2005 - 01:53 AM UTC
Another classic from the 70's has done it's share of the work.

The Swedish Saab 37 Viggen flew for the last time on November 25th 2005, after 34 years of duty.


(Pictures from the last flight)

Here's a toast for some beautiful birds!

Skål!!!

Ps. Are the Iranians still flying their F-14s?
MrCrewchief
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Gelderland, Netherlands
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Posted: Saturday, December 17, 2005 - 01:55 AM UTC
The Tomcat will be replaced by the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet in the US Navy.
The USAF has never used this great looking jet.
The squadrons who used the Tomcat will get a new name, the VF-.. will be replaced by VFA-.., so the Hornets will be used for both airdefence and ground attack.

Dennis
woltersk
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Utah, United States
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Posted: Saturday, December 17, 2005 - 02:01 AM UTC
Looks like the F-14 will be flying with the US Navy until sometime in 2007.

It is being replaced by the F-18E/F Super Hornet.

Not sure about Iraq. The plane will be phased out and that may be one of the theaters to lose it first.

The last F-14 flight school class graduated in 2003.

Hope this helps.
JPTRR
Staff MemberManaging Editor
RAILROAD MODELING
#051
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Tennessee, United States
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Posted: Saturday, December 17, 2005 - 04:36 AM UTC
Flight Journal's supplement titled "Modern Jets" (or something like that) reports the last cruise is deployed. F-14 will retire at the end of this deployment in June or July 2006.

The Tom's crews' final patch shows the iconic tomcat leaning on a F-18, motto "F-18 by mandate, Tomcat by choice."

The Boeing (doesn't that just gag ya?) VFA( e-i-e-i-oh!) -18 is morphing into a tanker, replacing S-3, EW platform (bye-bye Prowler), and others to the extent that NavAir is becoming nothing but F-18 and Helos.

F-14 is too expensive and labor-intensive. Say what you want about the benefits of the Phoenix for fleet defense, but USN has decided that other weapons systems can replace it.

Is this a good move? I dunno. The "Bombcat" is claimed to be the weapon of choice over F-18 for Air-Ground and Air-Air, but according to my USN aeronautical engineer friend, that is probabaly just the trait of crews loving their airframe. He works with a Super Hornet flight test member who has 1,000+ hours in F-14. He quotes the test pilot as saying F-18 is best as one pilot can fly & fight the system, whereas F-14 needs one guy just to keep the nose pointed in the right direction.

Despite that, all good things must come to an end, and F-14 will live on as one of the greats of military aviation.
JPTRR
Staff MemberManaging Editor
RAILROAD MODELING
#051
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Tennessee, United States
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Posted: Saturday, December 17, 2005 - 04:38 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Ps. Are the Iranians still flying their F-14s?



Yes. They have even modified HAWK SAMs into F-14 AAMs.
JPTRR
Staff MemberManaging Editor
RAILROAD MODELING
#051
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Tennessee, United States
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Posted: Saturday, December 17, 2005 - 04:51 AM UTC

Quoted Text

I thought the US Navy used the F-14 and the USAF used the F-15 Eagle (among others).



Rob,

Correct. F-14 & F-18 are USN. USAF uses F-15, F-16 & F-22. For awhile USN used F-16 as aggressors, don't know if they still do, but last year USNR F-18 aggressors from Georgia came by there.

Attack birds are A-10 for Uncle Blue and FA-18 for USN. I think USAF/USN/USMC all retired their F-4s by the early 90s. USN retired all A-6 (except Prowler) and A-7 in the 90s.

Right now the only USAF warplanes are A-10, Bone, B-2, B-52, C-130 gunship, F-15, F-16, F-22 and F-117 USAF Fact Sheet
Matt890
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Connecticut, United States
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Posted: Saturday, December 17, 2005 - 08:39 AM UTC
hey sorry i ment the Us navy not the USAF but yeah i just read that it is the f-18 cool. Althought the tomcat was used as a ground target and strafing plane in operation iraqi freedom
3442
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Quebec, Canada
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Posted: Saturday, December 17, 2005 - 08:50 AM UTC
well this will be a good opertunity to get a deal on a 1:1 f-14

Frank
USArmy2534
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Indiana, United States
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Posted: Saturday, December 17, 2005 - 10:51 AM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text

Ps. Are the Iranians still flying their F-14s?



Yes. They have even modified HAWK SAMs into F-14 AAMs.



Confirmed. And here is the best part. After we retire our Tomcats, Iran will be the only flying Tomcat operator...AND THEY HAVE AN ARMS EMBARGO AGAINST THEM!!! They can't buy parts from us; They have to buy them through the black market. It sucks but the Tomcat must go, it is its time, and

As for Hornet only, wait for JSF. The US - and Western world for that matter - is going through its uniformity and modularity phase (it could be a long phase though), so expect this across the board for new projects throughout the service (Stryker, FCS (Future Combat System), JSF, "digital" camo, etc).

Happy Holidays
Jeff
Thunderthud
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New York, United States
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Posted: Saturday, December 17, 2005 - 11:21 AM UTC
A salute to a grand ole bird! i know many people who have built and worked on them as i'm from Long Island.very close to Bethpage,"the Grumman Iron Works".I also got a chance to see the A -10 being built here! Long Island is very proud of it's birds of prey! A salute also to the Viggen. another awsome product of the cold war!
Littorio
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England - South East, United Kingdom
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Posted: Saturday, December 17, 2005 - 03:43 PM UTC
Farewell to the grand old ladies. Salute

I always thought that there were four great looking aircraft from the 70's to today... maybe not best but in my opinon the best looking.

F-14 tomcat
Sepecat Jaguar
Saab Gripen
Sukhoi Su-27 'Flanker'

Now two of those the F-14 and Jaguar are to retire, a sad day for me.
I think I can fill the need to model.... now where did I put that cat....

Ciao
Luciano
viper29_ca
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New Brunswick, Canada
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Posted: Saturday, December 17, 2005 - 08:15 PM UTC
The new aircraft that is replacing pretty much everything in the US Navy, is the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.

Do not get this mistaken for the F/A-18A/B/C/D Hornet, as it is not the same aircraft whatso ever.

For the most part, the US Navy's A-6s and A-7s were replaced by the A model of the Hornet, once development of other systems were completed, these were replaced by the C model of the Hornet.

Now with the E model Super Hornet coming on line, most of these C model Hornets are being replaced, some long before all of the Tomcats are replaced.

Now I know the Tomcat is a 2 seater, but the Super Hornet that is replacing some Tomcat squardrens are also 2 seaters in the F model Super Honet. I guess the Navy still figures that for fleet defence, 2 sets of eyes are still better than one.

As was said earlier, the E/F Superhornet will be taking the place of the S-3, and KA-6B tankers, as well as the EA-6B EWW aircraft. The new EF/A-18F will be called the Growler, and I actually think that Italeri has a kit out of it already.

Personally I think the Tomcat could and should soldier on for a few more years...but its true that its maintenance cost is about 5 -10 fold that of the new Superhornets. Does that make the Superhornets that much better??? No I don't think so, but in reality, the Tomcat was designed for one to two tasks.

Defend the carrier fleet in an attack from Soviet bombers and cruise missiles, and to provide air cover for the Carrier's attack aircraft. It was only later on when the Soviet Union collapsed that the F-14 was being used for other missions, (although it could have been used for those missions all along).

One other thing is that a Carrier will actually be able to carry more aircraft with the Tomcat gone, all models of the Hornet and SuperHornet have the wing fold on them, which gives them a much smaller foot print on a carrier deck and in its hangar deck, which will actually allow the carrier to house more aircraft.

I don't like the loss of the F-14 any better than anyone else...it is probably tops to me as a favorite aircraft.

As far as the new follow on to the Superhornet, the JSF....I wouldn't be holding my breath any time soon about getting those into service in any branch of the military.....and it wouldn't suprise me in the least if the whole plane gets cancelled. And if not...its going to be 2020 before the Navy even starts using them.
Matt890
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Connecticut, United States
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Posted: Monday, January 30, 2006 - 06:58 AM UTC
Dont mean to bring up an old topic here, but I heard that the tomcat was gonna be around till 2007 or somethin like that.
cardinal
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Visayas, Philippines
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Posted: Monday, January 30, 2006 - 07:54 AM UTC
So they are retiring the Tomcats. Will they be sent to Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona?
AJLaFleche
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Massachusetts, United States
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Posted: Monday, January 30, 2006 - 09:11 AM UTC
I can still remember the first time I saw a Tomcat IRL about 1980 at Barnes ANG base in Westfield MA . It looked too tall and gangly to be practical, at least on the gorund. I saw one bust a hole in the cloud cover at an airshow at Otis AFB on Cape Cod a couple years later. In 1988 or so, I got an official van enclosed, no photos please, of NAS Miramar where I got to see more Tomcats than you could shake the proverdial stick at in interesting transitions from high vis to lo-vis. One of the most interesting Tomcat photos I have is a Grumman Cats flight at an airshow at the Pratt & Whitney plnat in East Hartford CT ca 1990. A Wildcat, Hellcat, Bearcat, Tigercat and Tomcat did several flyovers ending in a "Missing Man" display with the F-14 as the missing man.
Hoss
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Georgia, United States
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Posted: Monday, January 30, 2006 - 09:18 AM UTC
It is hard to believe but the Tomcat has been around since the 1970's....that's thirty years folks. It is a shame that the USN will become an F/A-18 "only" aviation force for all of us who like the variety. Sure the JSF is slated for USN/USMC service but when? It is a program that will face tough scrutiny as it continues towards force introduction. We already see how the bean counters are hamstringing the USAF's efforts to field a sizable force of Raptors - currently slated for around 180 total, down from the more than 300 the air force desired. Of course, the Raptor is a force multiplier in that during mock dog-fights a single Raptor is successfully wasting multiple Eagles with the greatest of ease......

Still going to be hard to swallow with all the old guard standing down all over the world.

Hoss
USArmy2534
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Indiana, United States
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Posted: Monday, January 30, 2006 - 11:18 AM UTC

Quoted Text

So they are retiring the Tomcats. Will they be sent to Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona?



Yeah they are there now (in fact I've seen them personally, many still with squadron markings on them). Also, I have current satellite photos from Google Earth. If you want, PM me with your email address and I can send them to you. The Tomcats will be kept there in storage for a long time.

As for the Tomcat, it was taking about 60 man hours of maintenance per 1 flight hour! This is due to a lack of parts stemming from budget cuts in the early-mid '90s. Most Tomcat crews see the planes as leaving in their prime but know it is for the better. The new E/F variants of the F/A-18 are something like 20 man hours per 1 flight hour! Add in the large commonality of parts between the A-D and E/F variants and maintenance and costs are dramatically cut.

Jeff
JPTRR
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RAILROAD MODELING
#051
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Tennessee, United States
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Posted: Monday, January 30, 2006 - 05:28 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Most Tomcat crews see the planes as leaving in their prime but know it is for the better. The new E/F variants of the F/A-18 are something like 20 man hours per 1 flight hour! Add in the large commonality of parts between the A-D and E/F variants and maintenance and costs are dramatically cut.



As a F-18 Super Hornet testpilot with some 1,000 F-14 hours told my friend, as incredible as Tomcat is, the pilot needs all of his attention to keep it pointed in the right direction and two crewmembers to fight; F-18 is made to fight single-seat.

Someday we will have a replacement that makes F-18 seem maintaince-intensive, in the air and on the ground (assuming we are willing to pony up the $$$).
gaborka
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Borsod-Abauj-Zemblen, Hungary
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Posted: Tuesday, January 31, 2006 - 01:14 AM UTC
Are the US-retired F-14s perhaps meant to be sold or rent to other countries? (Like mothballed F-16s offered for leasing to East European countries?)
CRS
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California, United States
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Posted: Tuesday, January 31, 2006 - 01:28 AM UTC


This is probably the Fate of these "Great Birds". This one is on the tarmac at Chino, CA waiting for "restoration" and placement in the museum.

They actually have one other there with one engine still in running condition. Modern jets usually come to the Museums minus engines.
NebLWeffah
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Alberta, Canada
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Posted: Tuesday, January 31, 2006 - 01:46 AM UTC
I'm from the frozen north in Canada and I've had the pleasure only once of seeing a Tomcat in flight. It was at an airshow up here a few years ago and the thing that struck me most about the 'fly-around' performance was the last pass over the field. It was a near-mach 1 'beauty-pass' with the wings swung back. It came in low and fast from the east and when it was over crowd-center, it swooped straight up and just kept going, and going and going..... fast and vertical into the blue sky until it was out of sight.... wow, what an airplane!! You could hear the pilots whooping and yahoo'ing over the PA system broadcasting the radio chatter.....VERY cool!!! I guess I was lucky to have seen it.
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