US Navy retires 37 yr old F-14 Tomcat
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Most civilians know the Tomcat simply as the plane flown by Tom Cruise in the 1986 movie “Top Gun,” which was partly filmed at Miramar Naval Air Station (now a Marine Corps base). But many veterans see it as an icon of the Navy's greatest capabilities.....
Adios Tomcat!
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Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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What a sad thing it is to lose the Tomcat.
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I'm a tomcat fan, and I'm sad to see it go... Totally devastated when they cancelled the super tomcat. I knew it was time for it to go... sigh.
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legendary plane that being replace by subpar hornet...sad......
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yes the superbugs.... loads of em on Kittyhawk.. :/
disappointed that Tomcats weren't in service anymore... -
Me miss the swept wings for Tomcats, so iconic... Still remember that it's one of the best air superiority interceptor with radar jamming capabilities back in the 80s...
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Yeah...it should have been Super Tomcat instead of Super Hornet
F-14 would go down in history as one of the most beautiful fighter ever.
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All good things must come to an end. Though the Tomcat is beautiful and powerful, we shouldn't forget it takes many more manhours to turn it around compared to the Super Hornet. For flight operations, maintenance's time and costs are more important factors than Tomcat sentimentality.
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Just wondering,is the F14 axed, possibly due to their iconic AIM-54 Phoenix Missile being made obselete?
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the tomcat is not much older than F15... and now that it has retired...but our "new" F15 has yet to arrive...
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seems that the F14D program has limited operational capability compared to the F-18C! and as we have known the US Navy has gone tomultirole aircraft capability over the dedicated interceptor like where F14 was originally design.
Even with the F14D< the ground attack capability is not even close to the current F18c or the F15E in the USAF aresenal. The Navy did consider a programme to uprade the F14D and prolong its life but the upgrade cost would be astronimical and will be cheaper for them to go get SUper hornets!
SO sad to see them go! .. anywya! me heading to Oceana NAS comming Sep for the F14 farewell show ! Hope to see the Last of the tomcats! VF-31 tomcatters!..
DaveC! -
I still think the Navy made a mistake by opting for the Super Hornet instead of a Super Tomcat.
If they can upgrade the Hornet and the Eagle to meet their multi-mission capability needs, have to wonder why they couldn't do that with the Tomcat as well? New engines, new avionics, new electronic gear, even simplify mantainence like they did with the Hornet, etc.
Wonder if it has to do with the fact that Grumman isn't a big aircraft manufacturer anymore, and Boeing would rather push their "own" design.
It just seems silly that the Navy gave up a superior plane for one that is slower and less manourverable.
Of course cost was probably another issue. -
So what planes are they fielding in on the carriers to replace the F14s.Originally posted by Båseline:Most civilians know the Tomcat simply as the plane flown by Tom Cruise in the 1986 movie “Top Gun,” which was partly filmed at Miramar Naval Air Station (now a Marine Corps base). But many veterans see it as an icon of the Navy's greatest capabilities..... Adios Tomcat! -
The FA18E Super Hornets lor...Originally posted by de_middle:So what planes are they fielding in on the carriers to replace the F14s.
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is both E and F modelOriginally posted by dork3d:The FA18E Super Hornets lor... 
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Sigh.... there goes a living legend of a plane.
Rest well, kitty.