"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote:
| "Brett" wrote in message
| ...
|
| You really should define "grossly overweight" since "the
replacement",
| the F-14 ended up with a similar maximum weight and similar engines.
The
| Navy's primary concern with weight in the 1960's would have been
| elevator loading, arrested landing and catapult launch. Yet the
F-111B
| replacement aircraft based on weight and engines had similar issues
and
| it was accepted.
|
|
| Every source I've seen shows significantly higher weight and less
power for
| the F-111B compared to the F-14A. From "The American Fighter" by Enzo
| Angelucci with Peter Bowers:
|
| F-111B empty weight of 46,000 lbs and a gross weight of 72, 421 lbs,
and
| TF30-P-1 engines rated at 11,500 lbs s.t. and 18,500 lbs AB.
|
| F-14A empty weight of 40,070 lbs and a gross weight of 66,200 lbs, and
| TF30-P-412A engines rated at 12,500 lbs s.t. and 20,900 lbs AB.
|
| What source shows similar figures for these aircraft?

Putnam's Grumman Aircraft since 1929 gives the F-14A max weight at
74,300 and several sources quote the F-14A Standard Aircraft
Characteristics dated April 1977 that the F-14A in Fleet Air Defense
configuration has an empty weight of 44,700 lbs.
As for the engines, the TF30-P-412A is similar to the TF30-P-1, as for
the thrust of the P-412A I would imagine the F-111B developments would
have ended up with an engine similar to that put into the F-111D (the
TF30-P-9) or even F-111F (the TF30-P-100).
Weight is important but the characteristic that is probably most
important when the aircraft carries very expensive air to air missiles
is the required wind over deck in landing configuration for the aircraft
and the specific carrier it is landing on, at a landing weight that
includes those weapons still being there. How does the F-14A compare
with the F-111B under those conditions, I've seen several quotes that
the F-14A doesn't always come out as that "great" under those
circumstances and the F-14A isn't hauling around a "large" escape
capsule, an internal weapons bay and the capability of M1.2 on the deck.