It was a shame most of the time these were birds were not just exposed to the salty environment but one also the rich in corrosive sulfur exhaust from the Forrestal and Kitty Hawk Class ships.  Maintenance would have been reduced if they spent more time on Nuke boats.

I was on the Stennis when VF-211 lost an F-14A when the tailhook departed the aircraft during an arrested landing.
https://avgeekery.com/watch-nothing-could-stop-this-tomcat-including-the-crew-ejecting/
Junk.

I need to go through my photo's and see if I can dig up a picture of a Tomcat that landed at Ali Al Salem AB, Kuwait, spring of 2004.

I was lucky enough to be in the area with a camera that morning when it landed. We also had an S-3 Viking spend some time on the ramp, USS George Washington (CVN-73).

I wonder if the Tomcat was from the same ship ?

That lucky guy just happened to show up at shift change...

I miss President Reagan, it sure was a great time to be in....

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Took these on the U.S.S. Yorktown down in Charleston, S.C. back in January. I, however, had the *fun* of working on the pigs, periodically.

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I *much* preferred working on these two, however...

Some bathroom videos for you all:

You are now my least favorite fighter pilot on this board, including CMJohnson

This hurts because I know it's true.

Interesting that you bring up the F-111. The Navy's F-111B was actually a superior interceptor to the F-14 in several key aspects (top speed, range, and number of Phoenix missiles). The F-14 tried to be more of a "do it all" fighter like the F-4 while retaining the AWG-9/Phoenix combo and sort of ended up with the worst of both worlds.

https://influenceofhistory.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-f-111b-missed-opportunity-1961-1968.html

It was my favorite as a kid.

The tomcats were never this cool

Loved the looked of the F14.  The F15 is pretty cool too.  F18 and F16 look good too.

Digital flight controls/fly by wire have basically eliminated the need to do complex brute-force aero like the swing wings on the F-14. Modern fighters' control surfaces look like they have Parkinson's as they adjust constantly to maneuver the aircraft based on computer control logic, not direct pilot inputs.

Sensor fusion and advanced avionics in 5th gen aircraft are hugely helpful to situational awareness and are obviating the need for a back-seater on most missions. Heck, even the carrier landing automated systems are getting so good that NAVAIR is changing the aircrew pipeline so student pilots don't have to carrier qual until they reach a RAG.

how easy were they to pick up on radar?

Folks manstruating about the Mooj getting the ANA's crap need to watch this, twice:

Are you serious

I must be one of those weirdos that thinks an F15 looks better than an F14.

Just watched his channel last night.

See that 2nd pic in the op? Yellowtail launching a phoenix. As night shift maintenance chief, my AQ's started working A/C at 3 in the afternoon, trying to get clean sweeps on systems. We met day shift the next morning and still wasn't finished. We ended up launching a phoenix, sparrow and sidewinder that day, all scored good kills.
The 1 time launched for real at Iranian F4, the 1st sparrow come off the A/C, had no motor ignition, fired a second, good ignition, good guide, crew broke lock to avoid flying over Iranian territory. The Co of USS Constellation was screaming in my radio to impound that A/C. "Freelance I want that aircraft impounded" Like where to the hell you going to hide and F-14?
You all live in a fantasy world. All it was is a showboat. As long as you were careful with throttle movement to avoid compressor stall, didn't loose a fan blade, didn't fly ACM with the alpha computer to avoid flap/slat lockout, didn't crack a 400 degree ECS duct and delam the intake wall. I came to work one Monday at Miramar, 14 out of 14 hard down aircraft. Multiple A/C down for flap/slat lockout. About 12 manhours to remove and replace the gearbox, 30 minutes to remove and replace a shearpin in that gearbox. And if you happen to be at Fallon, you were supposed to send the gearbox to Miramar for repair.
Fun for a gearhead but not always condusive to a flight schedule. You think automotive engineers are lost in space? You haven't seen anything until you see Grumman Iron Works.

I read somewhere the phoenix missile system the f14 was build around wasn't all it was cracked up to be. We sold the idea that one f14 could track and kill mulitple enemy a/c at huge distances. The rooskies bought it hook line and sinker. Reality was the missles were unreliable and so was the radar to missle handshake. Suposidly


Heard they were a maint. nightmare too. Swing wings are so many extra moving parts and systems.

One of my favorite F14 videos

This is correct.
It's role was a defender of the fleet, and to intercept enemy aircraft at long range.  
That's it.  To keep aircraft from attacking our Navy's ships.  
That's why no one other than Iran purchased it.  
It wasn't really meant to go toe to toe with another fighter; hence the longer range phoenix system.

They did try to multi-purpose it during Desert Storm, with the ability to drop ordnance, but that came late in the "fighter's" life.

I read a bit different. The AIM-54 was GREAT at shooting down big, lumbering TU-95’s but was ineffective against an adversary that could turn.

What VF squadron were you assigned to?  What model of F-4?  N or S? Saw VF-202 do the final transition from Phantom to Tomcat.  
I also was active as well and know the F-14s from the west coast gave a good account for themselves in exercises.

For better or worse, they were absolutely critical in Iran's war against Iraq in the 80s. The best F-14 pilot is an iranian ace with 11 kills.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jalil_Zandi

Just plant some corn around it.

I never knew Charleston SC was such a rough town.   They parked that A-6 and someone stole the wheels.

Unless it was Charleston WV and they just left it up on blocks in the front yard, because they couldn’t afford a couple new tires.