I was a Grumman rep on the F-14 for 11 years and I can tell you for a fact it had nothing to do with worn out airframes or high maintenance costs or who had the better plane. It had everything to do with Boeing/McDonnell Douglas having more political clout than Grumman did. Deepest pockets always win. Boeing did it again with the new Air Force tanker contract. I guarantee the tanker will cost twice as much as Boeing's bid and will take twice as long to deliver. The US tax payer's screwed again.
Damn the F/A-18 is a great jet but in my heart flying the Tomcat was the best thing that could ever happen to a human being! Miss those days! VF-31 Baby! hoooarah!
Grumman had all the fixes for the F-14 to bring the maintenance down to the level of the hornet. Chenney got his payoffs from LM and McD in order to force the Hornet on the USN while denying the F-14 the ugrades it should have gotten over a 17 year period. The D should have been sitting on our decks in 81', he pushed that back 10 years while getting the Hornet on the decks. The hornet can do about a third of what the F-14 brought to the fleet and gives it 50% less defensive coverage.
Some footage on deck seems to be from R.Scott and typically Top Gun style - one of the best cut in the business. Great humor with the pilot flying himself while on the ground, this is freaking hilarious. There is another F-14 vid from Captain Lagos, also one of th ebest vid out there. Just the resolution s*cks but still the best.
I was an AT on a Grumman platform 2004-2009 and we had allot of former Tomcat maintainers that just LOVED the F-14! We had to move to NAS Oceana while our Runaway and Taxiways were being redone and it was AWESOME to see the Tomcat Squadrons come home for the last time! It was a DAMM Shame that the 42sd Administration Screwed Over Grumman and the NAVY and CANCELLED the Upgrade Program for the F-14D Plus we could currently have a Tomcat that is a Gen 4.5 just like the F-15EX and F-16 Viper that will be flying till the late 2030s or perhaps beyond! I think the F/A-18 D/E/F/G are lesser aircraft than the Tomcat because it cannot carry the payload, fuel or have the speed of the F-14 and the F-35 seems to be following the parameters as the F/A-18! If the Navy had invested the money on the Tomcat upgrade and follow up airframe that Grumman was talking about with Vector Thrust, Glass Cockpit and internal weapon bay for Stealth that also keep the Speed and increased Range and added SUPER Cruise without Afterburner we would have currently a Fleet Defender that would keep the Carriers well away from any possible harm unlike what we have today! I still have a F-14D A New Breed Patch that I got at an Airshow back in 1985 or 86 but I never put it on a jacket It was always on a board on my wall.
Iranian pilots did a great job with their F-14s during the Iran/Iraq War (1980 - 1988) scoring 160 aerial victories against Iraqi aircraft with the loss of only 3 Tomcats. One of the highest scoring aces was Jalil Zandi (1951 - 2001) credited with 11 victories making him the most successful F-14 pilot of the Iranian Air Force.
someone believed that a hornet with its sting is mightier than a tomcat with claws and teeth. absurd and dangerously idiotic of him. Tomcat rules, hornet; just use a pest repelant.
"too expensive to maintain?" check how expensive is the f-35 to maintain and that argument about the f-14 goes frow the window, it was politcs plain and simple
"A rumor says that the Iraqi fighter pilots preferred to reverse course and head for a save place when they were detected by a powerful F-14 radar." That was because they had already met the F-14 sold to Iran. The IIAF Tomcats shot down about 150 Iraqi planes...
True. It prevented far more dogfights because it was the most feared and respected fighter of its time. The one's it engaged in, were all won by the F-14. It was undefeated.
@R398 I agree about it being taken out of service. It did still have potential because of the latest model, the F-14D Super Tomcat. But I think the reason it's gone is because of a couple of things. 1 it's swing wing design is difficult to maintain while at sea. If it was an airforce plane it would a different story. And 2 the Super Hornet. Just like the Hornet will be replaced by the F-35
The reason the F-14 was retired is because the cost to maintain it. I don't remember the exact numbers but it was like for every hour of flight it took 10 hours of maintenance to keep it in the air. Also, the airframes, being Navy planes, take much more punishment than Air Force jets because of all the hard carrier landings.
@f39eagle2 It was more than an interceptor, it was foremost an air superiority fighter that was designed from the outset for dogfighting. Misinformed authors of books published in the UK have a habit of classifying it an interceptor. It may be large, but never judge a book by its cover.
Would this beast be quieter than the nasty things out of RAF Lakenheath? Those nasty machines make too much noise, And just to confirm - it is RAF Lakenheath! It is still UK!
I can't believe that part about them using full after burner on a tight turn like that, it must have been edited to look as if afterburner is fully lit on that turn, it would G lock the crew.
Nope, they did it all the time. Looks great doing night-time airshows. I was an Aviation Ordnanceman in a tomcat squadron back in the early 90's. Awesome A/C.
and the f-35 is going to be cheaper? i'm tired of the argument that it was expensive to maintain, that had nothing to do for dick cheyne to cut the tomcat for the hornet political games that was that made the f-14 retired becuz dick cheyne ego was more important them the USA security
AIM-54 is the reason the F-14 or Project 303 was developed, it's the only jet that can carry all six of them and its the only AA that can hit incoming missiles as far as 100miles. The Soviet Union is the sworn enemy of the F14,now that its gone so is the reason for its retirement. Yes there's more money on its replacement though not as good as the Tomcat. The existence of AIM-54 violates the rules of war in Geneva convention. That maybe the other reason...long live the Tomcat.
what? geneva convention? what are you smoking dude, that was nothing to do whit hes retirement, like i said before it was politics and who have more money to give to politics to vouch for them
@f39eagle2 It was more than an interceptor, it was foremost an air superiority fighter that was designed from the outset for dogfighting. Misinformed authors of books published in the UK have a habit of classifying it an interceptor. It may be large, but never judge a book by its cover.
Tomcat forever will be the greatest fighter jet of all time!
Such auch beautyful Plane. The last great Fighter. Never forgotten...
I was a Grumman rep on the F-14 for 11 years and I can tell you for a fact it had nothing to do with worn out airframes or high maintenance costs or who had the better plane. It had everything to do with Boeing/McDonnell Douglas having more political clout than Grumman did. Deepest pockets always win. Boeing did it again with the new Air Force tanker contract. I guarantee the tanker will cost twice as much as Boeing's bid and will take twice as long to deliver. The US tax payer's screwed again.
I swear I watch this clip at least twice a day.
Damn the F/A-18 is a great jet but in my heart flying the Tomcat was the best thing that could ever happen to a human being! Miss those days!
VF-31 Baby! hoooarah!
Can you imagine how awesome a new Tomcat would be
Cat still flaying in our hearts....Any time baby!
Watching f14s never gets old
Grumman had all the fixes for the F-14 to bring the maintenance down to the level of the hornet. Chenney got his payoffs from LM and McD in order to force the Hornet on the USN while denying the F-14 the ugrades it should have gotten over a 17 year period. The D should have been sitting on our decks in 81', he pushed that back 10 years while getting the Hornet on the decks. The hornet can do about a third of what the F-14 brought to the fleet and gives it 50% less defensive coverage.
DANG RIT BROTHER..ESP THE "D"......................
What's made us maintenance guys...Love our Job... VF-2 78"
Some footage on deck seems to be from R.Scott and typically Top Gun style - one of the best cut in the business. Great humor with the pilot flying himself while on the ground, this is freaking hilarious. There is another F-14 vid from Captain Lagos, also one of th ebest vid out there. Just the resolution s*cks but still the best.
Tomcat's Forever!!! \m/
This is brilliant should be more of it
Great song and great plane ♥️
It certainly seems that way! :)
amazing, any time baby, forever!
Its really weird cause I'm working on a F-18 video with the same exact music hahaha. Awesome video none the less.
TOMCAT, ANYTIME BABY....
This is one of my squadron I commanded in the U.S.NAVy
I was an AT on a Grumman platform 2004-2009 and we had allot of former Tomcat maintainers that just LOVED the F-14! We had to move to NAS Oceana while our Runaway and Taxiways were being redone and it was AWESOME to see the Tomcat Squadrons come home for the last time! It was a DAMM Shame that the 42sd Administration Screwed Over Grumman and the NAVY and CANCELLED the Upgrade Program for the F-14D Plus we could currently have a Tomcat that is a Gen 4.5 just like the F-15EX and F-16 Viper that will be flying till the late 2030s or perhaps beyond! I think the F/A-18 D/E/F/G are lesser aircraft than the Tomcat because it cannot carry the payload, fuel or have the speed of the F-14 and the F-35 seems to be following the parameters as the F/A-18!
If the Navy had invested the money on the Tomcat upgrade and follow up airframe that Grumman was talking about with Vector Thrust, Glass Cockpit and internal weapon bay for Stealth that also keep the Speed and increased Range and added SUPER Cruise without Afterburner we would have currently a Fleet Defender that would keep the Carriers well away from any possible harm unlike what we have today!
I still have a F-14D A New Breed Patch that I got at an Airshow back in 1985 or 86 but I never put it on a jacket It was always on a board on my wall.
Awesome man!
excellent!!!!!!!!!
Iranian pilots did a great job with their F-14s during the Iran/Iraq War (1980 - 1988) scoring 160 aerial victories against Iraqi aircraft with the loss of only 3 Tomcats. One of the highest scoring aces was Jalil Zandi (1951 - 2001) credited with 11 victories making him the most successful F-14 pilot of the Iranian Air Force.
someone believed that a hornet with its sting is mightier than a tomcat with claws and teeth. absurd and dangerously idiotic of him. Tomcat rules, hornet; just use a pest repelant.
But it is
@@peterw3544 Modern AESA radars outclass the Tomcat's in every sense of the word.
Pffft......
Awesome!!!!!!!!
This video “rocks“ :-)
IT RULES
VF-74 and Phantoms baby!!!!!!!!!!!
"too expensive to maintain?" check how expensive is the f-35 to maintain and that argument about the f-14 goes frow the window, it was politcs plain and simple
if only we had this at the beginning of vietnam. the MiGs would hhave been crushed into cat food...lol get it tomCAT CAT food.
Topcat!
Where you becam the fantastic videos ??
great
"A rumor says that the Iraqi fighter pilots preferred to reverse course and head for a save place when they were detected by a powerful F-14 radar."
That was because they had already met the F-14 sold to Iran. The IIAF Tomcats shot down about 150 Iraqi planes...
True. It prevented far more dogfights because it was the most feared and respected fighter of its time. The one's it engaged in, were all won by the F-14. It was undefeated.
KLRGT500KR Not true about it being undefeated. 3 were lost to Iraqi aircraft. 1 to a Mirage F1 and 2 to MiG-23s.
regard to all tomcats squadron from rider 217
@R398 I agree about it being taken out of service. It did still have potential because of the latest model, the F-14D Super Tomcat. But I think the reason it's gone is because of a couple of things. 1 it's swing wing design is difficult to maintain while at sea. If it was an airforce plane it would a different story. And 2 the Super Hornet. Just like the Hornet will be replaced by the F-35
Song-"Stop the Rock" by Apollo 440
It's from the VF-213 Last Cruise Video..
2:29 year 1990. May be
That shot at 1:14 is from another vid that I'm trying to find anyone know what it's called? awesome tribute by the way
What’s happened to the full screen of this video ??! ???
The reason the F-14 was retired is because the cost to maintain it. I don't remember the exact numbers but it was like for every hour of flight it took 10 hours of maintenance to keep it in the air. Also, the airframes, being Navy planes, take much more punishment than Air Force jets because of all the hard carrier landings.
@f39eagle2 It was more than an interceptor, it was foremost an air superiority fighter that was designed from the outset for dogfighting. Misinformed authors of books published in the UK have a habit of classifying it an interceptor. It may be large, but never judge a book by its cover.
fuckin gooood
Aweet I like it 5*
seems like i got de paranoia..
Would this beast be quieter than the nasty things out of RAF Lakenheath? Those nasty machines make too much noise, And just to confirm - it is RAF Lakenheath! It is still UK!
GETA SMART)))))
Great video, but who are those two drummers?
I can't believe that part about them using full after burner on a tight turn like that, it must have been edited to look as if afterburner is fully lit on that turn, it would G lock the crew.
Nope, they did it all the time. Looks great doing night-time airshows. I was an Aviation Ordnanceman in a tomcat squadron back in the early 90's. Awesome A/C.
1:15 he pretended to be flying and came the flight deck crew member and screwed the video :v
two hornet guys have watched this video
See to bits off top gun opening credits
шортли )0 мы в баю
АДОБ))
пирамида))
WHY DID the USN stop flying a PURE AIR SUPERIORITY fighter?
อย่าใช้ฉันเป็นข้ออ้างเลยเรารู้จักกันมาปีกว่าแล้วเราไม่ได้เกี่ยวข้องกันถึงเวลาความจริงจะชัดเจนไม่มีใครสามารถเอากระดาษเปล่าไปขึ้นเงินได้
and the f-35 is going to be cheaper? i'm tired of the argument that it was expensive to maintain, that had nothing to do for dick cheyne to cut the tomcat for the hornet political games that was that made the f-14 retired becuz dick cheyne ego was more important them the USA security
คือมันเก็บความลับได้เยอะๆคนชอบเรื่องซุบซิบนินทาโดยเฉพาะเรท xก็อยากสอบถามนั่นจริงไหมมีอีกไหมมีคลิปลับภาพรับไหมอะไรประมาณนี้
love it but not that clear
LOVE STORY LEARN FROM HISTORY MADE RRSPECT WE ARE THE WE ARE THE CHILDRENS
AIM-54 is the reason the F-14 or Project 303 was developed, it's the only jet that can carry all six of them and its the only AA that can hit incoming missiles as far as 100miles. The Soviet Union is the sworn enemy of the F14,now that its gone so is the reason for its retirement. Yes there's more money on its replacement though not as good as the Tomcat. The existence of AIM-54 violates the rules of war in Geneva convention. That maybe the other reason...long live the Tomcat.
what? geneva convention? what are you smoking dude, that was nothing to do whit hes retirement, like i said before it was politics and who have more money to give to politics to vouch for them
пилитт)) читай ПДФ
คือเราต้องมองปัญหาแบบนี้ตั้งโจทย์เป็นแบบนี้ผมเป็นที่ปรึกษามันอาจจะไม่ถูกต้องแต่ ผมว่ามันไม่ผิด คือเราคิดว่าจะเอาดินแดนให้ผู้ปกครองไปปกครองประชาชนประชาชนเจ็บทั้งทางขึ้นทางลง ถ้าเราคิดว่าจะเอาดินแดนมอบเครื่องคืนให้ประชาชนหมายถึงสิทธิเสรีภาพในการประกอบอาชีพเดินทางการได้รับเกียรติทางสังคมประเทศที่พัฒนาแล้วอย่างนี้ประชาชนชอบ
@f39eagle2 It was more than an interceptor, it was foremost an air superiority fighter that was designed from the outset for dogfighting. Misinformed authors of books published in the UK have a habit of classifying it an interceptor. It may be large, but never judge a book by its cover.