Grumman F-14 Tomcat

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Grumman F-14 Tomcat

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The F-14 Tomcat

Citat:"Gentlemen, there isn't enough thrust in Christendom to make that airplane into a fighter!" - The F-14 Tomcat Story

Citat:The F-14 Tomcat is an unique aircraft: the reasons why it has been designed, how it has been developed and its operational history, even the name represent something you do not see every day. In present times, the process of making a new fighter aircraft is long: +20 years from the original concept to field deployment is not uncommon, for example the F-22 Raptor has been theorized in 1981 and the first Raptors were deployed in 2001. Only one (or two) companies in the U.S. can afford such extremely long terms and risky investments: Grumman, Lockheed, Boeing, McDonnel-Douglas, Northrop, Rockwell, Ling-Temco-Vought, Convair ... Many of those companies do not exist anymore, or have been merged together to survive.

But let's go back to the F-14, and try to understand what was the political situation 50 years ago.

1. Background
1960: The U.S. Navy needs aircrafts (and weapons) capable to protect a CBG (Carrier Battle Group) against enemy attacks. The enemy is well known, it is the Soviet Block and the threat is equally clear: tactical nuclear weapons are being designed and the most probable arena in which nuclear weapons can be used, is really the sea. Nuclear torpedoes, nuclear depth charges and nuclear-tipped missiles are something concrete.

The U.S. Navy has theorized during the 2nd World War the concept of creating concentric circles around a carrier, which is always the prime target: the outermost circle is represented by aircrafts, which protect the group against aircrafts and enemy submarines, then we have the submarines attached to the battle group, then al least two circles of ships (destroyers, frigates and cruisers).


Picture 1. This is a peacetime-formation. In wartime, the ships are spread over a far wider circle:



Citat:The submarines of the Soviet Block are a low-level threat: slow, noisy and without sophisticated sensors and weapons, they had no way to come close enough to an U.S. carrier. The aircrafts however, are something different. The Soviet Air Force could deploy literally hundreds of bombers, and each one can carry two or four air to surface missiles: once a CBG has been detected, waves of missiles can be directed against it and there aren't simply enough cruisers and destroyers to stop all of them.

As the typical Soviet air to surface missile of that time has a +100 miles range, it is necessary to intercept and destroy the bombers quite far away from the carrier to ensure its satefy: long-range missiles and an aircraft capable to shoot them are needed.


Picture 2. A Tu-95 Bear Bomber:



Citat:1965: The U.S. military is not particularly trusted by the U.S. Government. Those are difficult years, the age of McNamara and his "joint" approach: one aircraft fits all. The F-111B, a fighter-bomber, is proposed to the U.S. Navy as candidate to carry long-range missiles. However, the F-111 is neither agile nor fast enough to be a real fighter. In the best case, it could be an interceptor (that is, an aircraft that simply carries missiles from point A to point B, shoot the missiles and then come back). But even as interceptor, the F-111 is too heavy and to make it carrier capable, the landing gear has to be made much more resistant (a carrier trap implies slamming on the deck at approx. 1500 fpm sink rate) and an arrestor hook has to be added. That will make the F-111 even more heavier and slower... It isn't a solution.

Picture 3. The F-111:



Citat:The fight between the politicians pushing for a navalized F-111 and the Navy opposing it reaches the apex when Rear Admiral Thomas Connolly, asked for the n-th time whether it would be possible to make the F-111 a naval fighter, snaps and answers (throwing away his carrier at the same time) to the U.S. Congress that "Gentlemen, there isn't enough thrust in Christendom to make that airplane into a fighter!".

In 1968 the U.S. Congress drops the idea of having the F-111 deployed on carriers. It will remain an U.S. Air Force aircraft and the U.S. Navy will develop an alternative.

2. Birth of the F-14
In 1968 Connolly begins to work with Grumman on the VFX concept. Grumman in reality was already working on such a concept and was ready and eager to cooperate. The new Navy fighter aircraft was designed from day one to carry a variety of weapons (a gun and three different kind of missiles), be fast and agile (with variable-geometry wings) and to re-use, as much as possible, mechanical components coming from existing aircrafts to speed-up the development process. Connolly put his heart and soul into making the F-14 the best possible fighter for the Navy.

The results? In 1970, only TWO YEARS after the initial concept, the F-14 flew for the first time. Compared to the TWENTY years required to have a working F-22 it is something that makes people wonder...

Deployed in the following years, The Tomcat joined the fleet, replacing the aging F-4 Phantom as primary fighter.

3. Deployment and Evolution
The F-14 was a Quantum Leap from many points of view. It could carry the AIM-54 Phoenix missile, a missile capable to hit a target more than 100 miles away (so the F-14 could engage the Soviet bombers before they could fire their missiles at the U.S. fleet). With the AGW-9 radar, the F-14 become the first aircraft in the U.S. arsenal capable of firing and guiding more than one missile at the same time: a group of 10 F-14s could launch a massive volley of 60 (!!!) AIM-54 missiles at the same time, decimating in minutes an incoming wave of Russian bombers, and be still capable to press the attack with other weapons.


Picture 4. An F-14 "Loaded for Bears" - It carries six AIM-54 Phoenix missiles, two AIM-9 Sidewinders and the internal gun:



Citat:But the F-14 was not only a missile platform; it was a fighter and a real one: it was fast, agile and could pull Gs: a computer controlled the variable-geometry wings, finding the optimal setup for every flight condition. It had a gun, the same Gatling gun that has equipped all U.S. fighters (even the F-22) till today.

For more than 30 years, the F-14 patrolled the oceans, guided by the "Hummers" (The U.S. Navy AWACS aircrafts, the E-2 Hawkeyes), intercepting Soviet bombers coming too close to naval formations. Two times in the Mediterranean Lybian aircrafts engaged F-14s and were promptly destroyed.


Picture 5. An F-14 escorting a Tu-95 Bear:



Citat:Despite having sub-optimal engines at the beginning and requiring an high workload in terms of maintenance, the F-14 fulfilled its role: it protected the fleet against all threats, until March, 10 2006, when it was definitively retired to be replaced by the F/A-18 as primary fighter.

Ironically, its main weapon, and the reason why it has been created, the AIM-54 Phoenix missile, never hit any enemy aircraft. The Phoenix was used only two times in wartime and failed to hit the target.

4. Conclusion
The F-14, built in record time and survived for more than 30 years of service, is an example of what motivated people can and will do. Thomas Connolly decided that his career was less important compared to provide to the U.S. Navy a valid aircraft and help pilots to have the best tools to fight the enemy for years to come...


Picture 6. Thomas Connolly:



Citat:Connolly used all his knowledge and experience to build with the help of Grumman a wonderful aircraft that made history. If the old saying that "Wars are won, or lost, in peacetime" is true, Connolly managed to create in peacetime an aircraft that helped to prevent a war for three decades. Countless Soviet Tu-95 Bears aircrafts have been intercepted by the F-14s well before acquiring an U.S. fleet.

One last thing worth mentioning: in an age where U.S. military aircrafts were named according to their roles, so "Intruder", "Vigilante", "Phantom". "Hawkeye", and so on, the F-14 has been called "Tomcat". What could a stray cat, fighting in dark alleys, mean?


Picture 7. The "Tomcatters" badge:



Citat:Well, Thomas Connolly was an Admiral, but before that, he was a naval aviator. As every aviator, he had a personal callsign to be identified in frantic radio calls. Thomas Connolly callsign, not surprisingly, was Tomcat.



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...nastavak sa priprema za Dan vojske

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Та комбинација са 4 спероуа и 4 сајдвиндера је била честа комбинација наоружања код иранаца у иранско-ирачком рату...

Најчешћа комбинација коју је мачор носио је 4 финикса, 2 спероуа и 2 сијдвиндера..

ова комбинација са 6 финикса веома ретка комбинација, веома ретка....

персијки мачори и даље лете, ал исам приемтио на многим сликама да јадници цуркају на све стране на стајанкама...

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Kolekcija fotki na kojim mozemo da vidimo Macora sa raznim UBS

Arrow http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php?topic=5371.240

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sremac983 ::...
персијки мачори и даље лете, ал исам приемтио на многим сликама да јадници цуркају на све стране на стајанкама...


Curili su i kada su bili novi.

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Iran...danas
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Army Day ( Rouz-e Artesh) is celebrated in Iran on 18 April , the establishment day of the army.
April 18, 2014




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Персијски мачори... Zagrljaj


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Persijanci u finoj rezoluciji.....
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