Tomcat in Air and Space Museum

Harry Andreas wrote:
In article . com,
wrote:

I was flying them with the crappy flight controls, crappy engines,
crappy CADC...etc...
I flew the F-14A+ in VX-4..nice engines, crappy avionics. I saw the
F-14D...was in the planning for the cockpit...and it sucked compared to
the analog F-16N I flew...

unless you need to fire a missile...

--
Harry Andreas
Engineering raconteur

???Don't know what you mean? F-16N had all the plumbing for
Aim-9...even tho they were training aides only...just like the first
gen F-16....

I worked on the radars for the various versions of the F-14.
I've also observed the F-16's radar (N was a Block 30 IIRC)
with the APG-66 was pretty woeful compared to the AWG-9 or
APG-71.
There's just no comparison.
The radar is part of the Avionics suite BTW...

--
Harry Andreas
Engineering raconteur

Except when the fookin radar didn't work, it didn't matter how good it
was on paper. In the 12 months I flew the F-16, I launched w/o a radar
exactly ZERO times, in about 450 hrs...I had a radar fail once in that
time. It was standard to launch off the boat(VF-31, USS Forrestal) w/o
a stinkin radar about 30 days into the cruise. I saw better radar
availability with the F-4S(Awg-10) than I EVER did with the
AWG-9...APG-71 had MUCH better availability than the HAWG-9....The
inspired by the A-6, designed in the late 60s, F-14, never to be
modified in the 2 decades it existed, was an embarrassment when
compared to aircraft like the F-16C and F-15C/E....even the 'D'
model...too little too late. If the F-14A became the 'C' model like it
was supposed to, along the lines of USAF and now F-18 A/C, the F-18F
wouldn't exist.

Except when the fookin radar didn't work, it didn't matter how good it
was on paper. In the 12 months I flew the F-16, I launched w/o a radar
exactly ZERO times, in about 450 hrs...I had a radar fail once in that
time. It was standard to launch off the boat(VF-31, USS Forrestal) w/o
a stinkin radar about 30 days into the cruise. I saw better radar
availability with the F-4S(Awg-10) than I EVER did with the
AWG-9...APG-71 had MUCH better availability than the HAWG-9....The
inspired by the A-6, designed in the late 60s, F-14, never to be
modified in the 2 decades it existed, was an embarrassment when
compared to aircraft like the F-16C and F-15C/E....even the 'D'
model...too little too late. If the F-14A became the 'C' model like it
was supposed to, along the lines of USAF and now F-18 A/C, the F-18F
wouldn't exist.

For whatever reason, the F-14 seemed to be the red-haired stepchild when it
came to system upgrades. The engines were late (the F-14B was supposed to
come along with roughly airframe 49). WCS got the minimum incremental
upgrades in software (tape driven for God's sake!). Never got AAMRAM. A
lot of program managers are wearing the legion of merit when they should be
reading letters of reprimand.

The F-15 is a nice example of how to manage an airframe. The Turkey an
example on how to neglect one.

R / John

John Carrier wrote:
Except when the fookin radar didn't work, it didn't matter how good it
was on paper. In the 12 months I flew the F-16, I launched w/o a radar
exactly ZERO times, in about 450 hrs...I had a radar fail once in that
time. It was standard to launch off the boat(VF-31, USS Forrestal) w/o
a stinkin radar about 30 days into the cruise. I saw better radar
availability with the F-4S(Awg-10) than I EVER did with the
AWG-9...APG-71 had MUCH better availability than the HAWG-9....The
inspired by the A-6, designed in the late 60s, F-14, never to be
modified in the 2 decades it existed, was an embarrassment when
compared to aircraft like the F-16C and F-15C/E....even the 'D'
model...too little too late. If the F-14A became the 'C' model like it
was supposed to, along the lines of USAF and now F-18 A/C, the F-18F
wouldn't exist.

For whatever reason, the F-14 seemed to be the red-haired stepchild when it
came to system upgrades. The engines were late (the F-14B was supposed to
come along with roughly airframe 49). WCS got the minimum incremental
upgrades in software (tape driven for God's sake!). Never got AAMRAM. A
lot of program managers are wearing the legion of merit when they should be
reading letters of reprimand.

The F-15 is a nice example of how to manage an airframe. The Turkey an
example on how to neglect one.

R / John

HEAR, HEAR....Geeezzz, we saw the F-4J become the F-4S fercrissake,
with more mods(smokless engines, 1527 cockpit mod, new wings!!! with
slats, AWG-10B), than the F-14 got while the F-14 had been around for
15 years!!

DDAY wrote:
I was out at the Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy annex of the National Air and Space
Museum today (near Dulles airport) and saw their newest acquisition: an
F-14D Tomcat. This is one of the remanufactured F-14As, and it is one that
shot down a MiG in 1989.

Oddly, it does not have a MiG silhouette painted on it. Any idea why?

Anybody have a list of the preserved Tomcats? I saw one up in Kalamazoo a
few weeks ago.

I know that there an F-14B at the New England Air Museum in Windsor
Locks, CT, and an A model at the National Warplane Museum in Elmira,
NY. I believe the NEAM bird is former VF-143, but I don't know the
provenance of the other aircraft.

-JTD

wrote:
DDAY wrote:
I was out at the Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy annex of the National Air and Space
Museum today (near Dulles airport) and saw their newest acquisition: an
F-14D Tomcat. This is one of the remanufactured F-14As, and it is one that
shot down a MiG in 1989.

Oddly, it does not have a MiG silhouette painted on it. Any idea why?

Anybody have a list of the preserved Tomcats? I saw one up in Kalamazoo a
few weeks ago.

I know that there an F-14B at the New England Air Museum in Windsor
Locks, CT, and an A model at the National Warplane Museum in Elmira,
NY. I believe the NEAM bird is former VF-143, but I don't know the
provenance of the other aircraft.

Is it painted as a "Sans Reproache" or a "Pukin' Dawg"?

v/r Gordon

----------
In article . com,
wrote:

I was out at the Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy annex of the National Air and Space
Museum today (near Dulles airport) and saw their newest acquisition: an
F-14D Tomcat. This is one of the remanufactured F-14As, and it is one that
shot down a MiG in 1989.

Oddly, it does not have a MiG silhouette painted on it. Any idea why?

Anybody have a list of the preserved Tomcats? I saw one up in Kalamazoo a
few weeks ago.

I know that there an F-14B at the New England Air Museum in Windsor
Locks, CT, and an A model at the National Warplane Museum in Elmira,
NY. I believe the NEAM bird is former VF-143, but I don't know the
provenance of the other aircraft.

I've now seen several more. The Ronald Reagan Library has one. The USS
Midway museum has another. The San Diego Aerospace Museum has one. And I
think there are others on some of the other preserved carriers such as the
Intrepid.




D

"DDAY" wrote in message
k.net...
I've now seen several more. The Ronald Reagan Library has one. The USS
Midway museum has another. The San Diego Aerospace Museum has one. And I
think there are others on some of the other preserved carriers such as the
Intrepid.




D

There is also one at Bob Pond's museum in Palm Springs. Static display only
but most of his other aircraft are flyable. Gorgeous F7F Tigercat.

Tex

DDAY wrote:

I've now seen several more. The Ronald Reagan Library has one. The USS
Midway museum has another. The San Diego Aerospace Museum has one. And I
think there are others on some of the other preserved carriers such as the
Intrepid.

Forgot that one! The Intrepid does indeed have a Tomcat. IIRC, it's
the prototype for the F-14D conversion.

Gordon wrote:
wrote:
I know that there an F-14B at the New England Air Museum in Windsor
Locks, CT, and an A model at the National Warplane Museum in Elmira,
NY. I believe the NEAM bird is former VF-143, but I don't know the
provenance of the other aircraft.

Is it painted as a "Sans Reproache" or a "Pukin' Dawg"?

v/r Gordon

There was indeed a certain bent-over silhouette on the tailfin when I
looked it over a few months ago, and "Pukin' Dogs" painted on the wing
root. On that airframe, at least, the World Famous Pukin' Dogs live
on.

I think it may have been specially painted to go into the museum, now
that I think about it- it was in a light gray color scheme similar to
what the Tomcat wore when it first went into service, and was painted
with side number 143. Granted, it could be a coincidence, but it would
be a rather large one.

-JTD

wrote:
There was indeed a certain bent-over silhouette on the tailfin when I
looked it over a few months ago, and "Pukin' Dogs" painted on the wing
root. On that airframe, at least, the World Famous Pukin' Dogs live
on.

I think it may have been specially painted to go into the museum, now
that I think about it- it was in a light gray color scheme similar to
what the Tomcat wore when it first went into service, and was painted
with side number 143. Granted, it could be a coincidence, but it would
be a rather large one.

But appropriate Thanks for the info - personally I am glad that
they kept a Dawg on display, they deserved it.

I loved it when CAG Needham almost landed on the Connie and his wingman
failed to notice he was "Roger ball"-ing the _wrong carrier_. By the
time they let the Tomcat come back to the Ike a few days later, it was
tagged repeatedly with "Lost Dawg" stencils!

v/r Gordon