Posted: 8/17/2006 4:16:43 AM EDT
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This presentation speaks for itself. I find it very sad. I spent many long months at sea with Tomcats and Hawkeyes out on the CAP stations, protecting my ship from potential enemies. A beautiful plane, finally headed to the boneyard.  Tomcat Sunset |
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That's sad. I remember reading "Mig pilot" (About Mr Belenko flying his FoxBat into Japan) back in the '80's and HIM (Belenko) talking about the US fighters the Sov's worried about most. The F-15's and '16's were worrisom enough but I remember him (Form the book) describing their feelings about the Tomcat and it's ability to target 6+ planes at the same time with the Pheonix as "Beyond belief".  Kept the F**kers honest for them years oh yeah 
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Buh bye Tomcat. You defended our skies and projected our power overseas. You allowed us to sleep safely at night, warmed by the hearth. You made it possible for us to continue our everyday lives while you held the enemy in check. Fare thee well old warrior. You will be missed and will have a place of honor among those who preceded you. 
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Man, that was really cool. I was on board the JFK with VF31 back in the early 80's. I was in an A-7 squadron, VA105, and use to love to just "hang out" around the Tomcats. I thought that those had to be the point of the spear for our Armed Forces. I've been "baked" by many a Tomcat cat shot. Those baby's are HOT when they go off the flight deck! Makes me feel old.... |
Yeah, because Carter ordered the tooling cut up so the ROOSKIES couldnt get the planes and no replacement parts could be had so they had to be fabricated for each bird. |
What an idiot. To me, Carter's presidency marks the beginning of the MSM. Carter was a nobody with no traction in the primaries what-so-ever. That is, until the MSM fell in love with his liberalness, promoted him in the news, and paraded him around to all the TVs in voter's homes. He was the MSN first big stooge. |
I file the tomcat fiasco under the same category as the Chauchat LMG. We have a 1918 BAR. ZOMG, we cant let this amazingly effective weapon fall into the hands of the enemy!! DONT GIVE IT TO OUR TROOPS. Give them the French LMG instead, its good, right? Instead of that it was, ZOMG, we cant let this amazingly effective weapon fall into the hands of the enemy!! We'll destroy the means of production and upkeep, yeah, that will teach them! Now mind you we sold a wing to Iran and the russians proally reverse-engineered every part on the thing to keep em flying for the iranians. Talk about a a cut off nose to spite face moment. What a dumbass Edited for clarity of thought |
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In 1970, I attended an airshow in Norfolk. The Tomcat was in the final development stages. They did a comparative flyoff between the Tomcat and a Flying Brick, aka the F-4 Phantom, at the time the Fleet's first line fighter-interceptor-bomber. Both aircraft were clean with full crews. The 'Cat was all over the Phantom in ACM and in initial climb. Plus...it was so damn beautiful! I then deployed a couple of years later with Phantoms and we did some Bear intercepts with them. They were great planes...but the next deployment was all Tomcats. Ivan's level of respect went way up once the 'Cats with their AWG-9 radars and Phoenix missiles showed up on outer CAP stations along the threat axis. It made Ivan's Fleet attack problem much more difficult. In theory, our CAP, consisting of the E-2C Hawkeye and a couple of Tomcats were to start knocking down the enemy bombers before they achieved a launch position. Never had to try it though... 
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And you would be wrong. If Carter had the tooling destroyed, then how did they manage to make new airframed D's in the late 80's? If you're looking to blame anyone, blame the current Vice President and the Hornet mafia. |
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Why wont you people get over the fact that the aircraft is old, outdated and the threat and type of platform is was made for is not longer there/ needed. I have thousand's of hours in Herc's, when and if they decide to cut it from service, you wont see me crying and looking to blame people for it. It aint needed, it served it's time. Time to move on. You guys take getting dumped by your girlfriends pretty hard?  |
^ What he said. |
Never gotten dumped. Of course that's because I've never had a girlfriend. I doubt it has anything to do with my shrine to retired Warbirds that I tend to roughly 4-6hrs per day. Definately not enough time in between crying for any 'women' or whatever they are called. ^The above is a joke. |
Sorry if I'm riding the short bus tonight, but can someone explain this tooling destroying business to me? Do it in a kind of huked on fonixs way, because what I think I'm understanding simply does not compute. Seriously. -K |
Are you saying that the Herc's aren't needed??? Seriously. I'm curious. CMOS |
Well, you've got it right. Destroying the tooling is something that no rational or sensible person would allow to happen, at least while the aircraft was still in front line service. It's a lot easier to design improved parts if you can go back to the original design and tooling and see how it will all fit together. It's very possible that the act of destroying the tooling resulted in many good upgrades and replacements never being designed or built. In a fair world, Carter would have served prison time for what he did to this country. Clinton, too. CJ |
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All the chiefs and other wrenches I know are not sorry to see the 'ol Cat go...very labor intensive bird for the flight hours gleaned in return, and a cast-iron bitch to work on. The pilots that have transitioned to the Superbug say it's a shit-hot ride, well worthy of following in the Tomcat's footsteps and more. If it's okay with everyone, I think I'll listen to the guys that fix and fly 'em. SG. |
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Given that the Tomcat is a labor-intensive plane to fly, I wonder if there will ever be any QF-14 drones made out of them. I would also wonder about the feasibility of a private organization, like the Collings Foundation, (which operates an F-4 Phantom) being able to support and keep one Tomcat in safe flyable condition, when no weapons systems of any sort have to be maintained? If you reduced the required maintenance on a Tomcat to just life support, safety systems, and essential flight systems, how much less maintenance would it require? CJ |
joke Something said or done to evoke laughter or amusement, especially an amusing story with a punch line. A mischievous trick; a prank. An amusing or ludicrous incident or situation. |
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A couple thoughts on the video. I thought that it was interesting that the last flight was a pair of lowly Lieutenants, and not ADM whoever and CAPT someone. Since the introduction of the F-14B, "Bombcat" they aren't purely fighters anymore are they. (the video narrator erroniously said they are.) Since the F/A-18's can defend themselves, well, sorta I guess the Tomcat isn't needed. They say 17 hours of maintenance for 1 hour of flight..... That is pure horsehockey. In the squadrons I served with, a two minute task got tallied as 90 min. Everybody did it, and everybody knows it. Those statistics are from bad data. (It was reasoned to me that since every squadron overbooked their time, if we tallied what we actually did, then we would lose manpower.) Pointy nose, go fast-do nuthin support for the real spearhead of the attack. (RIP)  |