F-14 Tomcat

I always saw this thing as kind of an "air-slug". Other than being a high maintanence platform for the Pheonix missile, a great deal of its popularity to the US public was due to its heroic exposure in a movie.

After 6 years in the Navy i can say to all the haters ya'll jave no idea what you're talking about. I've seen those birds out do F-18's when they got permission to go all out, partly due to it's mass, yes it's heavy and u can use it to you're advantage. I was on the USS Kitty Hawk from 1999-2002, when we would do exercises against the air force, it was a complete beating. Tomcats, went after eagles, hornets after falcons. And if u look back a few years about the incident with the kitty hawk and russian aircraft, not sure if it's still classified but the hornets were a joke and the tomcat PUT THE FEAR OF GOD INTO THEM. Yes it's old, yes she leaks like a civ on the flight deck until she gets super sonic. A tomcat going from dirty moc carrier landing to mach 1.45 in under a min is damn impressive, it's shock wave will lift shake and suck the air out of an aircraft carrier. A hornet does a puny pop. Tomcat can track 24 targets at once and engage 6 at once, the Aim-54 has a range of... Read more

An aircraft from the past that would be absolutely no match against new generation fighter aircrafts. It never was a great aircraft in its time, it isn't now either. It was a good aircraft for its job and an OK aircraft overall.

"then came back around and turned in about 1/4 the distance of the F-14" I wouldn't judge overall performance of an aircraft based on an airshow performance. The F-15 and F-14 minimum turning radiuses aren't hugely different. The F-14B/D has a 360 degree minimum turn radius of about 1300 feet. That would mean the F-15 turned 360 degrees with a radius of 330 feet (if it was 1/4th the Tomcat's)...which isn't possible. Due to the age of most F-14 airframes (the last one being built 14 years ago) the pilots are limited to a lot less of what the F-14 is actually capable of. For example, back in the day Tomcat crews were allowed 7.5g, as opposed to 6.5g these days for safe operation. Anyway, I agree, the Air Force is great, but so is the Navy.

Beautiful, effective aircraft. I must admit it is somewhat outdated, but it sure had a great run.

Fantasic bird that did it's job damn well, high maintenace costs are the main reason for it going.

I also saw the official Navy F-14 demonstration at an air show demonstrating its slow flight and climb out and turning. The Navy announcer explained the next demo and bragged about how the F-14 was the best. Just after the F-14 demo there was supposed to be a lunch break in the airshow. During the break, an Air Guard F-15, not on the program, got permission to fly home shortly thereafter and out performed everything the F-14 did with ease. It took off in a fraction of the distance, did a tight turn, and landed almost stopped before landing, it then lifted off using primarily thrust and flew along the runway in slow flight. Its slow flight was almost stopped hanging on thrust and then climbed straight up like a rocket using its excess thrust to weight ratio climbing faster straight up the the F-14 that did not have the power to accelerate at such an angle, then came back around and turned in about 1/4 the distance of the F-14 before accelerating away at max burner. The demonstrati... Read more

Old fassion aircraft. It's like a grandfather now. We respect what is was in the past.. but can't find a good place for it here.

The finest CAP fighter. It had the Phoenix missile which could take out roughly 7 planes at once from 50 miles away. However, it is beginning to be obsolete compared to our new line of Joint Strike and F/A-18 Fighters.

Getting a bit long in the tooth as airframe designs go, but still unmatched in the role of CAP and fighter-bomber. A superb design even 30+ years after prototyping.

Not bad, showing it's age will probably be phased out and replaced by new line F-18s.

An old legend. It's being decommisioned but it sure had a great run.