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The Tomcat Legacy; 35+ years from Fleet Air Defender to Recce to Precision Strike

HeyJoe

Fly Navy! ...or USMC
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Thought you said you've never been over to SailorBob?

Here's what I said:

heyjoe said:
Would you go there? Despite all references to SailorBob during my "tenure" here, I was never even remotely interested in going there, but seems even the SWO Detailer likes it here.

I like presence of SWOs here and even Air Force folks for their perspectives. I just never was compelled to try to return the favor. My only visit was to attempt to correlate postings here and there on someone who was reportedly on both forums. I'm not knocking SailorBob, just haven't been interested in hanging out there or going back once I finally and only recently took a look.
 

NavAir42

I'm not dead yet....
pilot
And right in the middle of it all: "Brickyard 46, Kingpin, radar contact. Go ahead." Gave even me flashbacks to deployment. Hilarious video.
 

HeyJoe

Fly Navy! ...or USMC
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Nothing but targets now.

You mean ones not in museums stateside or that have been turned into Aluminum Cans?

There are scores of Tomcats across the country in museums and parks/memorials, way more than are flying over Iran (out of the original 79 delivered) these days.

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Except for a few under control of National Museum of Naval Aviation still intact at AMARG, the remaining Tomcats there have been steadily turned into Aluminum scrap due to continued attempts by Iran to obtain parts on the black market or through unlawful means.

190191-2.jpg


The ultimate irony is the Tomcat's success in aerial combat was never demonstrated in US Navy service other than a few isolated encounters, but it was vindicated in the Iran-Iraq War with Iranian Tomcats prevailing over their adversaries. In another irony, the Tomcat's combat record was primarily as a precision strike platform in its last 10 years of service that were only possible due to dramatic improvement in A/G lethality by rapid integration of the USAF LANTIRN Targeting System.

F_14_IRAN2.jpg


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Schnugg

It's gettin' a bit dramatic 'round here...
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
I think I actually rode the jet up from the hangar bay one time....for a launch.
 
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