The F-14 Tomcats should be on the airshow circuit and the F-4 Phantom IIs as well, they were such a pleasure to fly and it's a real shame that future generations won't be able to see those beautiful warbirds flying.
I was a structural design engineer on the f-14 program in mid-1980s. Can’t believe they just left titanium wing box ‘ pivots, one piece windshield canopy casting (a first at the time), the old refueling boom door cover (I redesigned it), and other once considered state of the art structural parts. Kinda wish I had a chunk of it myself.
Let's, you and I go get one of the cockpits. I'm looking for a dead cat to turn into a flight simulator - I'll gladly put you in as well. 1500 hrs flight time in the A & B variants.
Concur. For me, growing up in the late-'50s and throughout the '60s, it's the F-4 Phantom and the F-105 Thunderchief at the pinnacle of my favorite aircraft.
I once read that at the boneyard, where most of these planes go to finally rest, one of the last things they do is to run the engines to drain the lines of any remaining fuel. As any remaining fuel wears out, the engines chug, chug... as if she were gasping for air. Sad stuff for such a beautiful bird.
I flew the Tomcat (A&B models) with VF-102... Diamondbacks, Baby! This is one of those things that just makes you sick in the pit of your stomach. That the old girls were just stripped, dumped, left to rot. I will hate Cheney until the day I die. They were great planes and deserved better. I'm sure my buddy cLyDe would say the same thing about his beloved F4.
They were taken down by maintenance costs because pilots didn't know how to not beat the piss out of them and who can honestly blame them but what the F-14 unique was also one of it's major weaknesses . . . . . it cost more to repair them sometimes than to just build a brand new one
Hi Ramosel, for sure you know probably that Ferrari's logo was the logo of Francesco Baracca, Italian ace of the 1st World War. Once he was downed, Francesco Baracca's mother asked Enzo Ferrari to use the simbol of her son on hes cars. Ferrari accepted and the spirit of Baracca still run today.
These were used as Static Dispays at one time. You can see towards the end of the video the pedestal the F-4 sat on. I know because as a Crane Operator, I have set a few aircraft on pedestals including of few dispays on Kelly in 1998 and the display inside of the Park in Texas City, Texas along skyline drive.
That is a possibility, but the other possibility is that the two Tom's were the missing airframes that two separate smuggling rings were selling to Iran in the early to mid 2000's Officials told of one instance in 2000, where a company called Multicore bought the fighters and parts from the Department of Defense surplus office. The parts were later confiscated because of export control violations and returned to the surplus office the airframes were never recovered. However, another company, allegedly Iranian, bought the same parts in 2005. Those parts actually made it to Iran. Defense officials at the time publicly said that Tehran is said to be in search of several key components for its aging fleet of F-14 “Tomcat” jets, which the United States sold to Iran prior to its 1979 Islamic Revolution. These parts include electronics and hydraulics used to control the wing, guidance and control system, J85 engines, Vulcan 20mm cannon and ammunition drums, and Sparrow medium-range missiles. Members of Congress put pressure on the U.S. military to suspend the selling of F-14 parts. Rep. Christopher Shays called the cases “a huge breakdown, an absolute, huge breakdown.” He said “the military should not sell or give away any F-14 parts. If we no longer need it, it needs to be destroyed-totally destroyed.”
I worked on these aircraft from 1988 to 1996 in the Navy as an electronics tech and worked on them later as a civilian contractor upgrading them. Loved that aircraft! Sure miss those beautiful birds on the flightline.
THIS IS CRIMINAL TO SEE THESE BEAUTIFUL AIRFRAMES LIKE THIS. THE F14 IS MY FAVORITE AIRCRAFT OF ALL TIME AND THE F4 IS SO RESPECTED FOR ITS SERVICE IN THE VIETNAM WAR.
152267 (MSN 994) upgraded to F-4N. SOC Apr 14, 1982. Currently preserved in Dallas, Texas. When it went to the Army Reserve, it was towed to a forest area near Temple, TX. NMNA at Pensacola took charge of all Navy preserved aircraft.
Thanks for the bulk number of F-4, I am trying to keep track of these birds: where they are, how many are scavenged or cannibalised, which of them are stored and so on... F-4 is my life, most beautiful bird ever built. Thanks for the video. It so so sad to see aircraft in such a miserable state...
A truly hearbreaking sight... Two magnificent flying machines now left in the open to rot and decay (any similarity with our human condition would be... well, intentional). Back in their days, they used to roam the skies as the apex birds of prey. The F4 could very possibly have seen the MiGs in Vietnam, while the Tomcats could have faced some Su-22s off the Libyan coasts in the eighties. Who knows? Thanks for sharing with us aviation fans.
Funny to think these were at one time front-line fighters/fighter-bombers which were looked after by large crews and now they are simply piles of junk. Time can be a bastard :)
152267 was an F4B that went through overhaul and repair at NAS North Island back in September 1966 and checking my log book I logged 1.6 hour in the back seat on a test flight.
As an old RF 4 C driver, it causes me a lot of pain to see those, i would love to have one in my back yard,..i still have the seat out of one it had to “jettison” due to excessive holes and fire…..but it brought me back.
Oh, wow. Crazy to think that at one point these were beautiful aircraft, maintained in tip-top shape and gave many pilots the experience of a lifetime.
The throttle levers from either plane could be used by any flightsim enthusiast. The F-14 had full span flaps so I didn't see them. The "sweep wings" are actually F-4 I think. You can see a red, wing mounted speedbrake (the F-14 had a clamshell style speedbrake between the vertical fins). 3:55.
yeah.. also you would nik-pick the whole movie -the planes you will be flying against are smaller faster and more maneovrable : Enters A-4 skyhawks.... -360º radars -Maverick is 100m and cant fire on enemy migs until 100m behind them -A ready5 and CAP planes with 2 sidewinders and 2 Sparrows only -North Korean MIGs over the indian sea -showers -Top Gun Throphy -Top Gun points - -4G maneovers
The A-4 ..specially the version used by Top Gun (it was a lighter version with all air to ground equipment removed and better sidewinder support) while lighter and nimbler than the Tomcat.. was way underpowered.. it was used to simulate the MIG-17 mainly.. the A-4 couldnt handle a sustained turn or climb faster than the F-14 ..but it was excelent to teach students how to use the Tomcat's (or the F-4 before) superior power to weight ratio against nimbler but underpowered enemy fighters.. the F-5E was used to simulate the MIG-19 and MIG-21 and during the 80s some KFIRs were lent by the Israel Air Force wich were excelent to simulate MIG-23s..all these planes had their strenghts and weakness and Top Gun was to teach F-14 pilots how exploit the F-14 capabilities against each type.. However the introduction in the early 80s of the 4th gen fighter was a game changer.. They could do everything right.. it had more maneovrability and better power to weight ratio to sustain turns and climbs.. the navy got some F-16As to simulate the new MIG-29.. some old F-14As were used to simulate SU-27s as well.. However the more F-18s the navy had made the use of several aircraft redundant..as contrary to popular beliebth the F-18 even the early A models had better power to weight ratio (specially when not carrying bombs) than the F-14A..and were as good as the F-16N .. so Top Gun migrated towards a nearly all F-18 fleet .. If you can beat a F-18 or a F-16 you can beat a MIG-29 or a SU-27.. and they dont have weak areas like the A-4/F-5 Now the arrival of the F-35 will be interesting to see how it changes stuff in Top Gun..will they try to train against other F-35s?
I would have absolutely LOVED this as a kid, we would have had a ton of fun on those things. We had 2 1957 chevys in our woods that were abandoned we used to mess with, never found out what happened to them we moved away and that area is all condos now.
I saw something similar back in the early 60's with three planes at NAS Whidbey Island. There were two A-3 Skywarriors and one A-4 Skyhawk piled up in the woods on property that was previously owned by the government. All three planes were scrapped because of structural integrity issues caused by aircraft mishaps. I would play on them when I was a kid. They were removed back in the 70's.
When I was a kid, there was a stripped, but intact A-4 Skyhawk in the city park where I live. It was right around the time Top Gun came to the theater. It was great fun to pretend to fly it. It had no canopy, ejection seat, gauges, stick,, throttle quad. and so on, But we're kids and had no use for them anyway. I loved climbing in through the nozzle and peeking my head out of the intakes. Truth be told, I smoked my first cigarette ever, inside the nacelle. What a time to be young.
That is for sure. I got to sit in one that was being restored, it's a beastly airplane. And I was surprised how high you sit, the sills are down below your bicep and you have great visibility.
Cool but kinda sad, I talk to my old cars and feel like they understand (call me weird) but I bet the pilots spoke to these beauties more than once. A man can grow strongly attached to a machine, just the way it is. They deserve better.
I’ve never flown in either , however own the radio controlled versions they’re beautiful in life sized and R/C. It’s a shame these two beautiful ladies are left to rot away ..
The Stennis deployed 4 times with Tomcats on board, the last time being 2004. These look to be F-14a's which would mean they were from VF-211 which last deployed on the Stennis in 02. The other squadrons had B's and D's while abourd the Stennis. These were prolly retired due to high time on the airframe or they had failed NDI tests on the airframe. I wish there was some better footage to be able to tell exactly which Tomcats they were.
F-14 was a maintenance nightmare. It was a great aircraft that was outdated in the modern air to air arena. Just like other greats like the F4. Time marches on and old drivers will always swear by there old horses I can't blame them one bit.
I believe this F-4 was paint schemed out as a display. Sporting the VMFA-112 Cowboys squadron insignia. But the tail registration 152267 brings it back to actual service with the Navy. Flying with VF-51 "Screamin Eagles" aboard USS Coral Sea.
Those planes cost Uncle Sam approximately $38 million (1998) ($19.2 million in 1977). It first flew on 21 December 1970 and made its first deployment in 1974 with the U.S. Navy aboard USS Enterprise (CVN-65), replacing the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II. The Tomcat was retired by U.S. Navy on 22 September 2006, having been supplanted by the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.
It's a large rectangular piece that extends across the width of the fuselage. It's got a wing pivot mount on each side (check out 0:34). It carries the load of the wing. They were electron beam welded. Pretty exotic construction in the day.
I see. But if it is worth million like the OP claims, I have a hard time believing these planes were sold decommissioned for less than 10K back in the day. Of course, those too the government decided they wanted back...
you do sound right ... but consider this: how does a $2K computer ends up for 50¢ in a government sales store after its era ends? it's people's tax money spent on these toys and when they are garbage, then they are nothing but garbage to the government because as long as people work and pay their mandatory taxes, government has more than enough funds to buy new material again and again and ... i think the question is why weren't these items in this video sold to scrape metal buyers willing to pay a buck or two for them?
Rcbif The Navy wanted to cut up all remaining F-14 airframes in order to keep all the parts from showing up on the black market, and also to keep the Iranians from getting their hands on the parts, as well.
Given the partial STENNIS on the glove area, and the presence of the glove vane surface, my best guess is that this was a VF-211 F-14A, unless this was a former gate guard in which case who knows.
what a kool find.. such powerful and fast jets.. never 'fully' understood why a new generation F-14 wasn't possible.. like the super hornet or silent eagle.. with tarps n lantirn etc she was a beast. Two of my fav frames but there are many sweet designs, harriers and warthogs are awesome with unique abilities also, just alot slower hah
It was not about what was possible. It was. In fact we had concept designs for Tomcat 21, a 21st century composite airframe. When Mr Chaney decided on the F-18 Super Hornet and dumped billions into that design, Grumman killed the next generation design. That's when Grumman merged with Northrop and the rest is history. No matter what comes next the F-14 will always be ahead of its time.
Hi, I use to crew the RF-4C Phantom in the USAF at Shaw AFB, SC between 1975 -1979. I had a 1972 model and was the newest in my flight. It left the base and I didn't see it again for about a year. It came in Cross Country flight as NASA. Thanks for the video, it brought back many memories. Gerald Campbell SGT E-4
@@peterangles793 Yeah, back then E-4 was NCO, but a few years after my separation USAF reduced the rank to Senior Airman. Go figure. I visited Shaw AFB a couple years ago, and now it’s more tan Army base.
I can imagine about a couple million community college engineering students that could learn a ton of useful knowledge just by getting their hands on those elegant frames. Ripped up or not, they're a learning milepost for young Americans. I blame uninspired and complacent bureaucrats for their lack of vision. Where are those located?
Government hires contractor to haul planes to a suitable scrap yard. Contractor offers low bid and simply dumps cargo into a river or open field. It's a win-win. Contractor makes a profit, taxpayers get their expensive junk disposed of as cheaply as possible. Woodland critters get to frolic in an F14.
@ErikJohnston : I fully expected this to be 'clickbait', since everyone knows that all the U.S. F-14s that exist are either shredded, or just static displays. What an incredible find ! I am an artist building a full scale F-14 vertical stabilizer out of cardboard. It takes up my entire living room wall ! I couldn't help but notice the tail you came across. If it is allowed, it would make a great display for some lucky aviation guy. Thanks for posting !
Hello Friend I know were there are 3 in Ga and they are all in a wooded area very cool to go look at also 2 at WRAFB in Ga in the Muslim . buy yes 3 in the edge of the woods in Bibb Co not know to most people and also 1 f15. I have no idea why thy are inn the woods at the farm??
In the early days of scraping the F14, there were no chopping it up, parts were being sold without government approval. These could have been from private company hired to scrap some. The 14 replaced the F 4, so maybe the 4 was first to be contract out and same group took the 14 to same location later...looks like the plane was taken apart and hauled to this location and then just laid out .
holy crap, the trees growing up through the fuselage make them look like extinct TRANSFORMERS. and yes, why the hell are they there, cause they've been there for a while...?
I think the species of tree is what is called a tallow tree. They grow to 2 inch dia in first year, 4 inch a year later. In 3 years, 8 inches. That is why they look large. The plague of east Tx and sw Louisiana.
0:16 *THAT'S TRULY DISGUSTING to see the condition that this aircraft is in* ... trees growing through opened areas..... OMG..... *sickening* . I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one that has this type of "visceral reaction" to seeing these jet "carcasses" in this condition.
In my opinion F-14 is still the best fighter in the world, it's definitely my favourite one. Too bad that the costs were too high, otherwise they could still serve the nation! In its era, the Tomcat was without any doubt the best fighter. That's why the UK, Israel, France,The Netherlands, Turkey and some other European countries wanted to buy this bird but the congress didn't allow it. It was only sold to Iran (a US ally) to prevent any Soviet invasion. They should make a new generation of F-14. That would be amazing.
I wish someone had come along before the Navy was notified about them, bracken everything apart, labeled the parts and created 3-D models of all the parts. If someone came out with a civilian version of the F-14 made from the knowledge, I'd get rich, get my pilot's license and buy one.
Nope the F14 would get absolutely slaughtered today. The F15 was introduced less than 16 months after the F14. The F16 introduced 4 years after the F14. There's a reason why the 15 and 16 are still in production while the 14 has been retired over a decade.
As an aviation writer and aviation historian images like this make me cringe. This is a crime against history. These aircraft should have been preserved in a museum for everyone to be admired. When will we stop destroying our heritage?
Oh bullshit. There are so many F-4's and F-14 around, they aren't worth the effort to mess with. You go ahead, feel free to put up some cash to get those trash cans fixed up.
First emotion is anger then sadness. How do we allow our aviation to end up like this? All that aside…I will pay big money for that refueling probe. What an awesome piece for my bar. I’d take and pay for literally any part off that tomcat
A lot of issues killed the F-14. One of them was the maintenance to flight hour ratio.....it was getting to the point the aircraft were in maintenance several hours for every hour they were out carving up the sky. This is what happens to old equipment...it wears out. So, the F-14 was retired....one of the reasons was it was getting too expensive to maintain, and there was little alternative to the Navy.
F14. The greatest fighter ever made. I say that based on the accomplishments over 40 years. It was built to win wars. Kosovo, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya. This fighter proved itself against anyone who dared to mess with it. The only fighter where over 90% of the enemy fighters turned around and ran for life as soon as US Navy F14s engaged them.
30 to 50 years before it? LOL I never knew the F-16N Viper with the J-79 engine or the MIG-27 and MIG-29 were designed 50 years before the F-14. It might be a surprise, but both of these are very relevant to the F-14. Want to try again, clown? Think before you spew nonsense. The level of ignorance is off the charts It is not even funny. There are tons of Grumman seminars (By Mike Cimenera) and Top Gun pilots where they illustrate how it was designed from the ground up as an air-to-air superiority fighter. It had capabilities where it did extremely well in BVR, but it was first and foremost air superiority fighter. Also, 99% of its role as part of the Top Gun program was to dog fight all the other types of fighters.The BVR capabilities were rarely ever used by Navy. It was used as an air superiority fighter and later near the end of the career, a strike fighter for air-to-ground missions with the F-14 version D. Yeah, it is antiquated by today's standards, but before 2006, there were very few fighters in the 40 years prior that could put up a fight against an F14 being piloted by a legend like Dale "Snort' Snodgrass.
He is a clown to say F14 was not a fighter. that is the stupidest and most ignorant thing I have ever heard as far as aviation goes when it served mostly as a close range Navy fighter primarily for 40 years and its phenomenal BVR capabilities were rarely ever used. In the wake of the Vietnam war, Navy wanted an air superiority dog fighter that could also do extremely well in beyond visual range with the AMRAM and AWG9. The variable geometry wing was designed to give it the maximum manoeuvrability across a wide speed range while giving the lowest wing loading possible to make the F-14 add energy in vertical climbs. The Phoenix was never used in war settings by the Navy. Only Iran used Phoenix in some capacity. Only its dog fighting capabilities in its 40 years. It never lost a dog fight against any fighter including the MIG-29 or MIG-27. By 1987, the Navy was running out of fighters that could play the aggressor against the F-14 with well trained students so Navy ordered 30 F-16N Vipers that served as the aggressor between 1988 and 1993 in order to train F-14 fighter pilots on how to defeat the most modern, small agile fighters. Iran had a 160:1 kill ratio with it. Heck, the F-14 even took down F-15s with mock gun kills during the 1978 AIMVAL/ACEVAL USAF/US Navy joint evaluations to the point where Japan nearly cancelled its F15 orders. There are HUD videos available to the public by the Navy of F-14 moving in for gun kills on F-18 super hornet, F-16, F-15 and German MIG-29 in mock exercises. The F-14 went through extensive upgrades in the 90s including full glass cockpit and LANTRN pods and even when it was retired in 2006, the F-14D had the most powerful engines to date ever put into a fighter that made 60,000 lbsf thrust. It could do vertical unrestricted climbs up to Mach 0.9.
7 лет назад+1
Uhh, The F14 was classified as a fighter interceptor and tactical Recce for many years. Read up on fleet defense and how Iran employed so effectively against Iraq.
Hey, be kind to Sideslip. I don't normally get into these things but I'm always interested to talk to an expert. As far as I know the F-16N didn't mount the J79. Because the US wouldn't allow export of the F-100 engine in the F-16A, there was an export program called the F-16/79 that was put out by General Dynamics as an alternative to countries looking to replace the F-5's they had with the F-5G and later F-20 Tigershark. The F-16N was a stripped down version of the F-16A offered to the Navy for DACT training. They pulled out some of the mission avionics to lower purchase and maintenance cost. The F-14 was classified as a Fleet Air Defense Fighter which is slightly different from Air Superiority. It was meant to operate as the outer ring of a CVBG air defense plan with the idea being that it would engage the Bear and Backfire bombers before they could acquire and launch on the CVBG with the giant anti ship missiles they carried. It was used in this capacity for the first half of it's life because the range and capability of the AWG-9 radar extended the coverage range of that which was provided by the Hawkeye. It spent hundreds of thousands of flight hours searching and tracking targets well beyond visual range. Just because it didn't prosecute those targets doesn't mean it wasn't filling that role. If you want to look at sheer kill ratio, nothing even approaches the F-15 which has killed far more targets. Also, the TF-30 engine made for an unreliable aircraft which is documented for being responsible for the deaths of more pilots than the aircraft ever shot down. Both the F-14B and the F-14D were used as strike platforms after the A-6E was retired. I was as much of a Tomcat fanboy as anybody but the numbers are why the F-14 was ended. When Grumman closed down the production line the parts availability dried up. Toward the end of it's life the Tomcat maintainers were having to pretty much make all the parts they needed from scratch. Also the Tomcat had a lot of maintenance items that required AIMD to handle them and couldn't be done on the flight line. A Tomcat squadron had 225 people with less in it as opposed to 180 in a Hornet squadron for this very reason. Ask any maintainer and they will tell you they loved the Tomcat more than anything but it was also a complete bastard to maintain. With all that being said, there will never be a plane that was more fun to watch beat up the pattern than the Tomcat.
All that stuff is gone now. The Navy came down and had everything removed. Use to be a lot of comments about where these were but it looks like they have been removed now. You wouldn't believe how close they were to a bunch of houses.
This is one of the finest flying machine of all time, it was a symbol of the aerodynamics know-how by all smart people in 60s I'm sad to see it get abandoned like this.. 😢 T O M C A T
This looks like the aircraft I have also seen abandoned in a vacant lot in Temple Texas. Find 16th street and drive north until it dead ends, walk about 120 yards northward on the trail worn in the grass and weeds.
The F-14 Tomcats should be on the airshow circuit and the F-4 Phantom IIs as well, they were such a pleasure to fly and it's a real shame that future generations won't be able to see those beautiful warbirds flying.
@@alman5568 Better than the new overpriced pieces of junk we have today
@@alman5568 Hope u know the F14 was way ahead of it's time with AIM 54 that not even majority of aircrafts today can carry
@@alman5568 Oh man the tomcat boos are fumin :D great aircraft on paper but is a devil to the maintenance crew and pilots
@@v0id683 Someone who finally knows what they’re talking about.
Nah US could think about this before they scrap all the Navy's F14
I was a structural design engineer on the f-14 program in mid-1980s. Can’t believe they just left titanium wing box ‘ pivots, one piece windshield canopy casting (a first at the time), the old refueling boom door cover (I redesigned it), and other once considered state of the art structural parts. Kinda wish I had a chunk of it myself.
Then Make It Happen Sir : )
Let's, you and I go get one of the cockpits. I'm looking for a dead cat to turn into a flight simulator - I'll gladly put you in as well. 1500 hrs flight time in the A & B variants.
I'll bring my tools and brother's impact wrench.
It’s the military. Waste fraud and abuse. High turnover for positions equals lack of accountability even with the best intentions.
Hi, you made good job, this plane is absolutly beautiful, very elegant. Have you blueprints to share ?
In my opinion, F4 Phantoms were one of the most beautiful aircrafts ever made!
I 100% concur sir. She's a beauty.
Concur. For me, growing up in the late-'50s and throughout the '60s, it's the F-4 Phantom and the F-105 Thunderchief at the pinnacle of my favorite aircraft.
as a kid making models, I loved the F4 and knew everything about it
Not a fan of the F4s airframe but it’s a damn awesome plane
Still are for sure.
This titanium wing attachement pivot on the F14 is massive.Beautiful piece of engineering.
shame thats the same beautiful piece that killed the plane.
chinese smelter feed those are now... 🙄
As a former F4-E and F-111A/F maintainer it very sad to see these Aircraft broken and forgotten! So many of us used up our youth maintaining them!
I once read that at the boneyard, where most of these planes go to finally rest, one of the last things they do is to run the engines to drain the lines of any remaining fuel. As any remaining fuel wears out, the engines chug, chug... as if she were gasping for air. Sad stuff for such a beautiful bird.
I flew the Tomcat (A&B models) with VF-102... Diamondbacks, Baby! This is one of those things that just makes you sick in the pit of your stomach. That the old girls were just stripped, dumped, left to rot. I will hate Cheney until the day I die. They were great planes and deserved better. I'm sure my buddy cLyDe would say the same thing about his beloved F4.
ramosel I hear yah! He's a dick! That Cheney guy!
In history, two great planes (SR-71 and F-14) were taken down by the most evil of devices... red pen of the SECDEF. McNamara and Cheney...
They were taken down by maintenance costs because pilots didn't know how to not beat the piss out of them and who can honestly blame them but what the F-14 unique was also one of it's major weaknesses . . . . . it cost more to repair them sometimes than to just build a brand new one
Hi Ramosel, for sure you know probably that Ferrari's logo was the logo of Francesco Baracca, Italian ace of the 1st World War. Once he was downed, Francesco Baracca's mother asked Enzo Ferrari to use the simbol of her son on hes cars. Ferrari accepted and the spirit of Baracca still run today.
Yep, I've read much about the Cavallino Rampante,
These were used as Static Dispays at one time. You can see towards the end of the video the pedestal the F-4 sat on. I know because as a Crane Operator, I have set a few aircraft on pedestals including of few dispays on Kelly in 1998 and the display inside of the Park in Texas City, Texas along skyline drive.
My guess they were taken down to put up a BLM , or maybe a Rainbow Flag in their place !
That is a possibility, but the other possibility is that the two Tom's were the missing airframes that two separate smuggling rings were selling to Iran in the early to mid 2000's Officials told of one instance in 2000, where a company called Multicore bought the fighters and parts from the Department of Defense surplus office. The parts were later confiscated because of export control violations and returned to the surplus office the airframes were never recovered. However, another company, allegedly Iranian, bought the same parts in 2005. Those parts actually made it to Iran. Defense officials at the time publicly said that Tehran is said to be in search of several key components for its aging fleet of F-14 “Tomcat” jets, which the United States sold to Iran prior to its 1979 Islamic Revolution. These parts include electronics and hydraulics used to control the wing, guidance and control system, J85 engines, Vulcan 20mm cannon and ammunition drums, and Sparrow medium-range missiles. Members of Congress put pressure on the U.S. military to suspend the selling of F-14 parts. Rep. Christopher Shays called the cases “a huge breakdown, an absolute, huge breakdown.” He said “the military should not sell or give away any F-14 parts. If we no longer need it, it needs to be destroyed-totally destroyed.”
If they were mine, I would turn them into home cockpit simulators so that the legacy of these beautiful machines could live on in spirit
Or to preserve them.
Tamre'
That was literally my first thought
My thoughts exactly, but in their current condition, I'd rather see them recycled into something useful.
Simply amazing....thanks so much for posting. People talk about how"ugly " the F-4s were,but to me they were beautiful aircraft
When you say people talking about ugly I believe you meant to say the A-10 as it was not called the Warthog for nothing.
I always thought the f-4’s looked pretty badass myself.
@@whiskyweasal89 agreed… other than the F-14, the F4 is the next best looking aircraft.
I worked on these aircraft from 1988 to 1996 in the Navy as an electronics tech and worked on them later as a civilian contractor upgrading them. Loved that aircraft! Sure miss those beautiful birds on the flightline.
THIS IS CRIMINAL TO SEE THESE BEAUTIFUL AIRFRAMES LIKE THIS. THE F14 IS MY FAVORITE AIRCRAFT OF ALL TIME AND THE F4 IS SO RESPECTED FOR ITS SERVICE IN THE VIETNAM WAR.
Deal with it
@@thecommentator3732I am going to steal your washing machine
@@thecommentator3732 im gonna sell your kidney on the albanian black market
@@alexx8968 Go cry about it,Kid.
@@Squiddicus2 Is that a threat?
Because i use my hands to wash my clothes
Incredible....and such a shame. I was a back seater in one of these mighty warbirds. It breaks my heart of see these birds like this.
William Collins Thank you for your service!!!!
me too, im still crying... i dont know how say.... damn to Dick Cheney damn..........
What does Dick Cheney have to do with it?
Dick Cheney pushed for big cuts to the Navy and USAF.
Unlike the F-4 shooting gallery in the desert as target drones?
152267 (MSN 994) upgraded to F-4N. SOC Apr 14, 1982. Currently preserved in Dallas, Texas. When it went to
the Army Reserve, it was towed to a forest area near Temple, TX. NMNA at Pensacola took charge of all
Navy preserved aircraft.
So what happened to the F-14A in this video? How did it get there and why? Also, are these birds still there in the field now?
Thanks for the bulk number of F-4, I am trying to keep track of these birds: where they are, how many are scavenged or cannibalised, which of them are stored and so on... F-4 is my life, most beautiful bird ever built. Thanks for the video. It so so sad to see aircraft in such a miserable state...
A truly hearbreaking sight... Two magnificent flying machines now left in the open to rot and decay (any similarity with our human condition would be... well, intentional). Back in their days, they used to roam the skies as the apex birds of prey. The F4 could very possibly have seen the MiGs in Vietnam, while the Tomcats could have faced some Su-22s off the Libyan coasts in the eighties. Who knows? Thanks for sharing with us aviation fans.
2:21, the pilot who flew that plane used HUSTLER for a call sign. Love it.
even when trashed, the F14's still look awesome
Funny to think these were at one time front-line fighters/fighter-bombers which were looked after by large crews and now they are simply piles of junk. Time can be a bastard :)
Zooms in on wing pivot point: dang I wonder if they know that’s a crap ton of titanium
The F14 wing skin is titanium along with the box beam, $$$$$.
Spotted a couple other Ti parts as well.
Decent scrap value on that...
152267 was an F4B that went through overhaul and repair at NAS North Island back in September 1966 and checking my log book I logged 1.6 hour in the back seat on a test flight.
amazing. you should feel bad.
It use to be on display in Dallas at onetime.
Now that is cool trivia. thanks for sharing.
Thank you for showing this. Good example of nothing lasts forever no matter how sophisticated it is
As an old RF 4 C driver, it causes me a lot of pain to see those, i would love to have one in my back yard,..i still have the seat out of one it had to “jettison” due to excessive holes and fire…..but it brought me back.
Oh, wow. Crazy to think that at one point these were beautiful aircraft, maintained in tip-top shape and gave many pilots the experience of a lifetime.
Sounds like my ex girlfriends!!! Lol
The throttle levers from either plane could be used by any flightsim enthusiast. The F-14 had full span flaps so I didn't see them. The "sweep wings" are actually F-4 I think. You can see a red, wing mounted speedbrake (the F-14 had a clamshell style speedbrake between the vertical fins). 3:55.
Maybe that's where Maverick's Tomcat went after the flatspin. LOL
Megalodon64 haha
That's hilarious, except, ocean. Boo.
Was Tom cruise with it?
yeah.. also you would nik-pick the whole movie
-the planes you will be flying against are smaller faster and more maneovrable : Enters A-4 skyhawks....
-360º radars
-Maverick is 100m and cant fire on enemy migs until 100m behind them
-A ready5 and CAP planes with 2 sidewinders and 2 Sparrows only
-North Korean MIGs over the indian sea
-showers
-Top Gun Throphy
-Top Gun points
- -4G maneovers
The A-4 ..specially the version used by Top Gun (it was a lighter version with all air to ground equipment removed and better sidewinder support) while lighter and nimbler than the Tomcat.. was way underpowered.. it was used to simulate the MIG-17 mainly.. the A-4 couldnt handle a sustained turn or climb faster than the F-14 ..but it was excelent to teach students how to use the Tomcat's (or the F-4 before) superior power to weight ratio against nimbler but underpowered enemy fighters.. the F-5E was used to simulate the MIG-19 and MIG-21 and during the 80s some KFIRs were lent by the Israel Air Force wich were excelent to simulate MIG-23s..all these planes had their strenghts and weakness and Top Gun was to teach F-14 pilots how exploit the F-14 capabilities against each type..
However the introduction in the early 80s of the 4th gen fighter was a game changer.. They could do everything right.. it had more maneovrability and better power to weight ratio to sustain turns and climbs.. the navy got some F-16As to simulate the new MIG-29.. some old F-14As were used to simulate SU-27s as well..
However the more F-18s the navy had made the use of several aircraft redundant..as contrary to popular beliebth the F-18 even the early A models had better power to weight ratio (specially when not carrying bombs) than the F-14A..and were as good as the F-16N .. so Top Gun migrated towards a nearly all F-18 fleet ..
If you can beat a F-18 or a F-16 you can beat a MIG-29 or a SU-27.. and they dont have weak areas like the A-4/F-5
Now the arrival of the F-35 will be interesting to see how it changes stuff in Top Gun..will they try to train against other F-35s?
I would have absolutely LOVED this as a kid, we would have had a ton of fun on those things. We had 2 1957 chevys in our woods that were abandoned we used to mess with, never found out what happened to them we moved away and that area is all condos now.
How? The AMARG F-14 examples were carefully disposed of to ensure no spares made their way to Iran!
Hello black market parts
These were stripped And the spars as well as the hinge boxes cut before they were sold as scrap
I'd get out there with a flatbed and a sawz-all and salvage those cockpits. Would make nice simulator cockpits or display pieces when cleaned up.
The first Jet I got to touch in 89 was a F-4. Changed my life. RIP. AV-8B Puke.
I saw something similar back in the early 60's with three planes at NAS Whidbey Island. There were two A-3 Skywarriors and one A-4 Skyhawk piled up in the woods on property that was previously owned by the government. All three planes were scrapped because of structural integrity issues caused by aircraft mishaps. I would play on them when I was a kid. They were removed back in the 70's.
When I was a kid, there was a stripped, but intact A-4 Skyhawk in the city park where I live. It was right around the time Top Gun came to the theater. It was great fun to pretend to fly it. It had no canopy, ejection seat, gauges, stick,, throttle quad. and so on, But we're kids and had no use for them anyway. I loved climbing in through the nozzle and peeking my head out of the intakes. Truth be told, I smoked my first cigarette ever, inside the nacelle. What a time to be young.
You don't realize how big a Tomcat is until you stand next to one.
That is for sure. I got to sit in one that was being restored, it's a beastly airplane. And I was surprised how high you sit, the sills are down below your bicep and you have great visibility.
I stood next to the one at Grissom and couldn't believe it was a fighter. It'as big as a schoolbus.
It kills me to see two of the most magnificent aircraft of all time just sitting like that. I've worked on both and God I want to cry..
crazy that they were abandoned in a field. I worked on F-14's for 12 years... I'd love to see this.
Too bad someone couldn't 3-D scan all the parts after breaking everything down and labeling them, eh?
Surprised someone has not picked them up for scrape metal
I’d love to see a restoration from start to finish on both of these. I wonder what a project like that would cost?
pointless
My 2 favorite planes of all times, side by side.... in a miserable condition.... This is heartbreaking for me :/
Heartbreaking to see these wonderful machines end up degraded in this way.....
I was wondering where I misplaced those. I will send you a self addressed shipping label so you can send them my way. Thanks,
rcbif
Cool but kinda sad, I talk to my old cars and feel like they understand (call me weird) but I bet the pilots spoke to these beauties more than once. A man can grow strongly attached to a machine, just the way it is. They deserve better.
It's sad to see such a great aircraft end up in such a condition
They can't keep them all
I’ve never flown in either , however own the radio controlled versions they’re beautiful in life sized and R/C.
It’s a shame these two beautiful ladies are left to rot away ..
The F4 was always my favorite. How can you not like a plane called Phantom ?! It would be really spooky to walk around here at night.
This hearts. These beautiful birds should be in airshows or in a museum setting
The Stennis deployed 4 times with Tomcats on board, the last time being 2004. These look to be F-14a's which would mean they were from VF-211 which last deployed on the Stennis in 02. The other squadrons had B's and D's while abourd the Stennis. These were prolly retired due to high time on the airframe or they had failed NDI tests on the airframe. I wish there was some better footage to be able to tell exactly which Tomcats they were.
The F14 was super loud and super cool to watch fly overs.
F-14 was a maintenance nightmare. It was a great aircraft that was outdated in the modern air to air arena. Just like other greats like the F4. Time marches on and old drivers will always swear by there old horses I can't blame them one bit.
I believe this F-4 was paint schemed out as a display. Sporting the VMFA-112 Cowboys squadron insignia. But the tail registration 152267 brings it back to actual service with the Navy. Flying with VF-51 "Screamin Eagles" aboard USS Coral Sea.
Those planes cost Uncle Sam approximately $38 million (1998) ($19.2 million in 1977). It first flew on 21 December 1970 and made its first deployment in 1974 with the U.S. Navy aboard USS Enterprise (CVN-65), replacing the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II. The Tomcat was retired by U.S. Navy on 22 September 2006, having been supplanted by the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.
Military industrial complex.
Those titanium wing boxes alone were worth millions of dollars per plane. Wow
What part/area is considered the wing box?
It's a large rectangular piece that extends across the width of the fuselage. It's got a wing pivot mount on each side (check out 0:34). It carries the load of the wing. They were electron beam welded. Pretty exotic construction in the day.
I see. But if it is worth million like the OP claims, I have a hard time believing these planes were sold decommissioned for less than 10K back in the day. Of course, those too the government decided they wanted back...
you do sound right ... but consider this: how does a $2K computer ends up for 50¢ in a government sales store after its era ends?
it's people's tax money spent on these toys and when they are garbage, then they are nothing but garbage to the government because as long as people work and pay their mandatory taxes, government has more than enough funds to buy new material again and again and ...
i think the question is why weren't these items in this video sold to scrape metal buyers willing to pay a buck or two for them?
Rcbif The Navy wanted to cut up all remaining F-14 airframes in order to keep all the parts from showing up on the black market, and also to keep the Iranians from getting their hands on the parts, as well.
Given the partial STENNIS on the glove area, and the presence of the glove vane surface, my best guess is that this was a VF-211 F-14A, unless this was a former gate guard in which case who knows.
This makes me cry to see these planes in that condition
This is what happens to so many military AC. At least there are some left in museums. The F14 is quite an interesting plane.
what a kool find.. such powerful and fast jets.. never 'fully' understood why a new generation F-14 wasn't possible.. like the super hornet or silent eagle.. with tarps n lantirn etc she was a beast. Two of my fav frames but there are many sweet designs, harriers and warthogs are awesome with unique abilities also, just alot slower hah
It was not about what was possible. It was. In fact we had concept designs for Tomcat 21, a 21st century composite airframe. When Mr Chaney decided on the F-18 Super Hornet and dumped billions into that design, Grumman killed the next generation design. That's when Grumman merged with Northrop and the rest is history. No matter what comes next the F-14 will always be ahead of its time.
Grumman decided to focus on building trucks
Grumman decided to focus on building trucks
Variable geometry aircraft are a maintenance nightmare and the navy was trying to cut costs.
Money and politics. But mostly money
Hi, I use to crew the RF-4C Phantom in the USAF at Shaw AFB, SC between 1975 -1979. I had a 1972 model and was the newest in my flight. It left the base and I didn't see it again for about a year. It came in Cross Country flight as NASA. Thanks for the video, it brought back many memories. Gerald Campbell SGT E-4
@@peterangles793 Yeah, back then E-4 was NCO, but a few years after my separation USAF reduced the rank to Senior Airman. Go figure. I visited Shaw AFB a couple years ago, and now it’s more tan Army base.
@@peterangles793 oh by the way, we’re you stationed at Shaw?
This should be made into a museum. I’d go. I’d pay 5 bucks to walk around it. The titanium on that frame…omg, that’s good man!
Man so sad to see this beast abandoned. Also there's probably still a lot of valuable metal you can sell off from that aircraft
Well that's some Super Cool outdoor Furniture Right there 👍
I am surprised the Tomcat fuselages are there. If I recall correctly the wing box for F-14 is made of majority titanium and a significant structure.
Those wing boxes are why we'll never see one fly again.
A couple of good weekend restoration projects there. Should go back together pretty quick.
I can imagine about a couple million community college engineering students that could learn a ton of useful knowledge just by getting their hands on those elegant frames. Ripped up or not, they're a learning milepost for young Americans. I blame uninspired and complacent bureaucrats for their lack of vision. Where are those located?
Apparently Temple, Tx. I'm not too far from Temple I should swing by and check them out lol.
It's kind of surreal to think of F-14s abandoned, my mind finds it hard to think of them as being out of date.
Government hires contractor to haul planes to a suitable scrap yard. Contractor offers low bid and simply dumps cargo into a river or open field. It's a win-win. Contractor makes a profit, taxpayers get their expensive junk disposed of as cheaply as possible.
Woodland critters get to frolic in an F14.
Surely a huge piece of 7075 alloy would be worth more to scrap than dump...
I was a maintainer for both F-4S and F-14A in VF-202, and VF-201. This is very disheartening.
@ErikJohnston : I fully expected this to be 'clickbait', since everyone knows that all the U.S. F-14s that exist are either shredded, or just static displays.
What an incredible find !
I am an artist building a full scale F-14 vertical stabilizer out of cardboard. It takes up my entire living room wall !
I couldn't help but notice the tail you came across. If it is allowed, it would make a great display for some lucky aviation guy. Thanks for posting !
Froggy Haha, no I'm not really into that click bait stuff. Just watch my other videos.
Hello Friend I know were there are 3 in Ga and they are all in a wooded area very cool to go look at also 2 at WRAFB in Ga in the Muslim .
buy yes 3 in the edge of the woods in Bibb Co not know to most people and also 1 f15. I have no idea why thy are inn the woods at the farm??
Bones Pappy grid to location
The ones in this video are in Temple Texas. A short walk from a bunch of homes.
In the early days of scraping the F14, there were no chopping it up, parts were being sold without government approval. These could have been from private company hired to scrap some. The 14 replaced the F 4, so maybe the 4 was first to be contract out and same group took the 14 to same location later...looks like the plane was taken apart and hauled to this location and then just laid out .
holy crap, the trees growing up through the fuselage make them look like extinct TRANSFORMERS.
and yes, why the hell are they there, cause they've been there for a while...?
I think the species of tree is what is called a tallow tree. They grow to 2 inch dia in first year, 4 inch a year later. In 3 years, 8 inches. That is why they look large. The plague of east Tx and sw Louisiana.
0:16 *THAT'S TRULY DISGUSTING to see the condition that this aircraft is in* ... trees growing through opened areas..... OMG..... *sickening* . I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one that has this type of "visceral reaction" to seeing these jet "carcasses" in this condition.
In my opinion F-14 is still the best fighter in the world, it's definitely my favourite one. Too bad that the costs were too high, otherwise they could still serve the nation! In its era, the Tomcat was without any doubt the best fighter. That's why the UK, Israel, France,The Netherlands, Turkey and some other European countries wanted to buy this bird but the congress didn't allow it. It was only sold to Iran (a US ally) to prevent any Soviet invasion.
They should make a new generation of F-14. That would be amazing.
I wish someone had come along before the Navy was notified about them, bracken everything apart, labeled the parts and created 3-D models of all the parts. If someone came out with a civilian version of the F-14 made from the knowledge, I'd get rich, get my pilot's license and buy one.
Nope the F14 would get absolutely slaughtered today. The F15 was introduced less than 16 months after the F14. The F16 introduced 4 years after the F14. There's a reason why the 15 and 16 are still in production while the 14 has been retired over a decade.
Travis Thacker the F14 was slower with less than half the combat radius and ferry than the F15.
The Northrop YF-23 could have replaced the F-14. Maybe a larger version of the Super Hornet
@Da Koynul your the guy with a Camaro who just got pasted by a Ferrari. Stop hating f14 mopped the floor on f4s
Erik, I love that this video came up as "recommended for you"! Now subscribed!.
I'd love a piece of the wedge from the F-14. There's a chance my father manufactured it.
Such sophisticated machines... in ruins.
Sad sight to see once beautiful aircraft rotting away
Dont worry, im sure it was cannibalized before the airframe was placed there.
135th Darksword I know right
Obviously it can't be airworthy anymore, but I would still buy it!
At Temple Iron and metal. Can still see it in Google maps. On the other side of the tracks.
Imagine taking that and restoring it that would be awesome
how could you abandon the f14? the tomcat man. so sad
cause it's super safe to fly an airframe that endures this kind of abuse forever
So as the F8 II
Used to be a yard like this at Lakehurst NAS. They had a track to test on for a long time. Some went almost hysterically wrong
As an aviation writer and aviation historian images like this make me cringe.
This is a crime against history.
These aircraft should have been preserved in a museum for everyone to be admired.
When will we stop destroying our heritage?
EagleOneM , are you crying?
It's a crime against nature that they're dumped there in that woodland. That's some heavy duty littering.
pjc 73 You should see all the stuff the navy dumped into the pacific ocean because it was cheaper to then to ship them back to the states after WW2
Oh bullshit. There are so many F-4's and F-14 around, they aren't worth the effort to mess with. You go ahead, feel free to put up some cash to get those trash cans fixed up.
EagleOneM Fine as long as you don't use my tax dollars to support your museum.
It’s really sad, see these birds dieing this way.
They deserve more.
This makes me wonder why I try and do my part and recycle aluminum cans
First emotion is anger then sadness. How do we allow our aviation to end up like this? All that aside…I will pay big money for that refueling probe. What an awesome piece for my bar. I’d take and pay for literally any part off that tomcat
Someone should make a go fund me page so people could donate so they could restore the F-14 then bring it to airshows
I dont think they can be restored. Plenty of nice ones at the boneyard in AZ.
And the government would never allow one of these to be sold to a civilian. Search civilian buys a military jet on RUclips. It’s very hard.
@@fixedgearfever69 in fact there is a f14D that still untouched ... ready to roar
Thats not how it works lmao
@@contraststriker8198 Ready to roar??
Lmao the cockpit of the F-14D was removed lol
A lot of issues killed the F-14. One of them was the maintenance to flight hour ratio.....it was getting to the point the aircraft were in maintenance several hours for every hour they were out carving up the sky. This is what happens to old equipment...it wears out. So, the F-14 was retired....one of the reasons was it was getting too expensive to maintain, and there was little alternative to the Navy.
lack of upgrades rebuilding and dick chaney killed this aircraft.
F14. The greatest fighter ever made. I say that based on the accomplishments over 40 years. It was built to win wars. Kosovo, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya. This fighter proved itself against anyone who dared to mess with it. The only fighter where over 90% of the enemy fighters turned around and ran for life as soon as US Navy F14s engaged them.
Yep, reigned supreme over fighters designed 30-50 years before it. LOL
Also, the F14 wasn't a fighter, but an interceptor..
30 to 50 years before it? LOL I never knew the F-16N Viper with the J-79 engine or the MIG-27 and MIG-29 were designed 50 years before the F-14. It might be a surprise, but both of these are very relevant to the F-14. Want to try again, clown? Think before you spew nonsense. The level of ignorance is off the charts It is not even funny. There are tons of Grumman seminars (By Mike Cimenera) and Top Gun pilots where they illustrate how it was designed from the ground up as an air-to-air superiority fighter. It had capabilities where it did extremely well in BVR, but it was first and foremost air superiority fighter. Also, 99% of its role as part of the Top Gun program was to dog fight all the other types of fighters.The BVR capabilities were rarely ever used by Navy. It was used as an air superiority fighter and later near the end of the career, a strike fighter for air-to-ground missions with the F-14 version D. Yeah, it is antiquated by today's standards, but before 2006, there were very few fighters in the 40 years prior that could put up a fight against an F14 being piloted by a legend like Dale "Snort' Snodgrass.
He is a clown to say F14 was not a fighter. that is the stupidest and most ignorant thing I have ever heard as far as aviation goes when it served mostly as a close range Navy fighter primarily for 40 years and its phenomenal BVR capabilities were rarely ever used. In the wake of the Vietnam war, Navy wanted an air superiority dog fighter that could also do extremely well in beyond visual range with the AMRAM and AWG9. The variable geometry wing was designed to give it the maximum manoeuvrability across a wide speed range while giving the lowest wing loading possible to make the F-14 add energy in vertical climbs. The Phoenix was never used in war settings by the Navy. Only Iran used Phoenix in some capacity. Only its dog fighting capabilities in its 40 years. It never lost a dog fight against any fighter including the MIG-29 or MIG-27. By 1987, the Navy was running out of fighters that could play the aggressor against the F-14 with well trained students so Navy ordered 30 F-16N Vipers that served as the aggressor between 1988 and 1993 in order to train F-14 fighter pilots on how to defeat the most modern, small agile fighters. Iran had a 160:1 kill ratio with it. Heck, the F-14 even took down F-15s with mock gun kills during the 1978 AIMVAL/ACEVAL USAF/US Navy joint evaluations to the point where Japan nearly cancelled its F15 orders. There are HUD videos available to the public by the Navy of F-14 moving in for gun kills on F-18 super hornet, F-16, F-15 and German MIG-29 in mock exercises. The F-14 went through extensive upgrades in the 90s including full glass cockpit and LANTRN pods and even when it was retired in 2006, the F-14D had the most powerful engines to date ever put into a fighter that made 60,000 lbsf thrust. It could do vertical unrestricted climbs up to Mach 0.9.
Uhh, The F14 was classified as a fighter interceptor and tactical Recce for many years. Read up on fleet defense and how Iran employed so effectively against Iraq.
Hey, be kind to Sideslip.
I don't normally get into these things but I'm always interested to talk to an expert. As far as I know the F-16N didn't mount the J79. Because the US wouldn't allow export of the F-100 engine in the F-16A, there was an export program called the F-16/79 that was put out by General Dynamics as an alternative to countries looking to replace the F-5's they had with the F-5G and later F-20 Tigershark. The F-16N was a stripped down version of the F-16A offered to the Navy for DACT training. They pulled out some of the mission avionics to lower purchase and maintenance cost.
The F-14 was classified as a Fleet Air Defense Fighter which is slightly different from Air Superiority. It was meant to operate as the outer ring of a CVBG air defense plan with the idea being that it would engage the Bear and Backfire bombers before they could acquire and launch on the CVBG with the giant anti ship missiles they carried. It was used in this capacity for the first half of it's life because the range and capability of the AWG-9 radar extended the coverage range of that which was provided by the Hawkeye. It spent hundreds of thousands of flight hours searching and tracking targets well beyond visual range. Just because it didn't prosecute those targets doesn't mean it wasn't filling that role. If you want to look at sheer kill ratio, nothing even approaches the F-15 which has killed far more targets. Also, the TF-30 engine made for an unreliable aircraft which is documented for being responsible for the deaths of more pilots than the aircraft ever shot down. Both the F-14B and the F-14D were used as strike platforms after the A-6E was retired.
I was as much of a Tomcat fanboy as anybody but the numbers are why the F-14 was ended. When Grumman closed down the production line the parts availability dried up. Toward the end of it's life the Tomcat maintainers were having to pretty much make all the parts they needed from scratch. Also the Tomcat had a lot of maintenance items that required AIMD to handle them and couldn't be done on the flight line. A Tomcat squadron had 225 people with less in it as opposed to 180 in a Hornet squadron for this very reason. Ask any maintainer and they will tell you they loved the Tomcat more than anything but it was also a complete bastard to maintain.
With all that being said, there will never be a plane that was more fun to watch beat up the pattern than the Tomcat.
So sweet a jet just sits in over grown field I always forget how big those jets are over 50'
You get me ONE square foot of that metal and I can turn that easily into $20,000 in my profession.
I'd honestly buy some F-14 scrap as souvenirs or something
This is just a pain to watch. Seeing these beautiful aircraft in such disrepair is heartbreaking…
This video really saddened me! Two legendary birds abandoned in such horrible conditions...What a shame!
They are beautiful, even in their current condition.
I'd turn them into flight sim cabins lol
Hell yeah! Get my DCS running in there.
I was just gonna type that, im big in the DCS world and always wanted to build one .
I just got DCS. Haven’t bought anything yet but I have flown the p-51. I always blow the motor.
If I had the money, I would slowly buy a bunch of F-14 parts from different places to eventually have a fully operational F-14.
Sad to see these like this but I'd love to know the story behind them being there.
Seeing these images just breaks my heart. They should have been preserved for airshow purposes.
Where would to money come from tp Operate them for Air Shows.
Theres also an a6 intruder there too!!
All that stuff is gone now. The Navy came down and had everything removed. Use to be a lot of comments about where these were but it looks like they have been removed now. You wouldn't believe how close they were to a bunch of houses.
One of the truckers I work with was a Tomcat driver when he was a kid. This would upset him, surely.
This is one of the finest flying machine of all time, it was a symbol of the aerodynamics know-how by all smart people in 60s
I'm sad to see it get abandoned like this.. 😢
T O M C A T
This looks like the aircraft I have also seen abandoned in a vacant lot in Temple Texas. Find 16th street and drive north until it dead ends, walk about 120 yards northward on the trail worn in the grass and weeds.
They are near a metal scrap yard no big secret if you ask my opinion
Beautiful artwork !