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#11
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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. |
#12
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Tomcat in Air and Space Museum
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 |
#13
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Tomcat in Air and Space Museum
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!! |
#14
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Tomcat in Air and Space Museum
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 |
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Tomcat in Air and Space Museum
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#16
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Tomcat in Air and Space Museum
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#17
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Tomcat in Air and Space Museum
"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 |
#18
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Tomcat in Air and Space Museum
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. |
#19
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Tomcat in Air and Space Museum
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 |
#20
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Tomcat in Air and Space Museum
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