F-14 Tomcat Retired

F-14 Tomcat Flies Final Mission » Outside The Beltway

An era in military aviation has come to an end: the Navy’s F-14 Tomcat has been mothballed, reports USA Today’s Steven Komarow.The F-14 Tomcat, the fighter jet that soared into the national imagination in the movie Top Gun, has flown into the danger zone for the last time. The Navy announced Thursday that the last F-14 combat mission was completed Feb. 8, when a pair of Tomcats landed aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt after one dropped a bomb in Iraq.

Capt. William Sizemore, who flew on that last mission, said the Tomcat will be missed. “This is one of the best airplanes ever built, and it’s sad to see it go away,” Sizemore said in a Navy report from the ship. “It’s just a beautiful airplane. And it just looks like the ultimate fighter.”

Although still swift and deadly, the F-14 is a victim of changing times. For example:

•Sophisticated missiles have made its specialty, aerial dogfighting, obsolete. Opposing aircraft target each other from miles away, often before the pilots can see each other except on radar.

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Comments

  1. Ben Sykes wrote:

    To setup my “credentials”, I have absolutely loved F-14’s since WAY before Top Gun came out. So while I am a fanboy, I’m not much of a bandwagon fanboy (at least on this matter). ;)

    As much as it shreds me inside, I can see the case for sending it off to a nice family in the country that has a farm where the Tomcat can run and swim and play. This awesome aircraft was built for fleet defense against the Soviets, which is where the Phoenix missle comes into play.

    I have never flown an F-14 or been in the military, but since this is the Internet I can spout any opinion I want no matter how uninformed it is. ;) I don’t think that the Tomcat was ever designed for close in dogfighting, regardless of what the movie Top Gun showed. It was designed to be used as a deterrent for the Soviet Bears and Badgers and did it’s job admirably.

    I’m sad to see it go, BUT maybe this means a version will show up at my local aircraft museum and they will give rides in it! :)

    Posted 18 Feb 2006 at 1:50 am

  2. Tainted Bill wrote:

    “Sophisticated missiles have made its specialty, aerial dogfighting, obsolete.”

    Wasn’t that the kind of thinking that made the Top Gun school necessary in the first place? “No more long range Soviet bombers to shoot down” would probably be a better answer.

    Posted 18 Feb 2006 at 7:45 am

  3. CDR Salamander wrote:

    TB has stolen my thunder. There are graves in Arlington from ‘65-early ‘70 as a direct result of that thinking.

    You cannot “assume” away the reality of combat. “Theory” has been proven wrong again and again; from the “no need for a gun F-4″ to the “no need for armour” army pre-03, to the “a 3″ gun will do” DE’s and corvettes of 39-41 (all upgraded to 4.5-5″ later), to the “we don’t need the .45 (forgeting that we upgraded from the 38 (same as 9mm) after the experience of the lack of stopping power round after fighting…wait for it…Muslim terrorists in the Philippines), to the “our torps are so good, we don’t need to do realistic warshot practice in peacetime, they will work and we need to save money” of 41-42, ….
    Those lessons were learned in blood only to be forgotten because someone’s pet “theory” looked so good on paper. Thing is, we are still fighting that circle of beltway logic. The 9mm (.38) battle has been won again with the JCP (.45, natch).

    Don’t even get me started on the 5.56mm, and the LCS…

    Posted 18 Feb 2006 at 1:47 pm

  4. commissar wrote:

    Oops. I am guilty of extremely careless posting.

    Any advocate of “we don’t need a gun in this plane” should be executed with the 20mm cannon of an F-4E. Or at least be made to “dance.”

    Posted 18 Feb 2006 at 2:26 pm

  5. CDR Salamander wrote:

    …..there is a reason why you have to wait for the F-4E though. A great story.

    Posted 18 Feb 2006 at 4:59 pm

  6. cmdr Alessandro Ramin wrote:

    we miss you F-14 Tomcat. the best airplane in the History, and the most dangerous too. will never forget you!!
    CMDR Alessandro Ramin
    US NAVY FIGHTER PILOT (RET.)

    Posted 08 Mar 2006 at 4:32 pm

  7. i9xsytgs wrote:

    The F-14 Tomcat was and still is an awesome Bird of Prey in anyone’s heart that has a love of bad-ass looking, I’ll kick you’re butt flying machine any day an anywhere!!!! We’ll so was those aircraft in the past This Great Country built years past. It’s time to move on to the next FREEDOM FIGHTER! WE’ll all fall in love with the next once we hear how it blew some other out of the sky in defence of THE U.S.A. YEA!!!!!!

    Posted 11 Mar 2006 at 5:37 pm

  8. From Brasil wrote:

    It was just the most elegant fighter ever build.

    Posted 11 Mar 2006 at 8:33 pm

  9. B Mac wrote:

    It’s sure going to be sad to not see those twin tails sitting on flight lines and carrier decks anymore. I was a Liasion Officer on board the Roosevelt and I got to see the F-14 upclose and personal. It was a great looking jet. It had all the looks of a fighting machine. I thought that the program would get a second chance as the Navy’s version of the F-15 Strike Eagle. The irony in all this is the Iranians whom, we don’t like will be the only nation flying the F-14 operationally. Gentlemen, raise your glasses to one of the greatest fighter aircraft in the world. Anytime baby.
    B Mac

    Posted 13 Mar 2006 at 1:32 pm

  10. i9xsytgs wrote:

    The CAT may be gone but not the memories of a fighter that did it’s job so well.
    It did it’s part and won our hearts when it sent our enemies to Hell!
    Tom never ran from a scrap in fact it could scare it’s prey away !
    Yea, this Flying Cat would take NO **** and never did to it’s day!
    Thanks for your Service and to the
    people who knew you best.

    Posted 13 Mar 2006 at 8:35 pm

  11. Mattsson wrote:

    The queen of the sky, but I suppose she is an old lady now, simply to old. Her look has a walking-dead quality.

    Posted 22 Mar 2006 at 5:41 pm

  12. BloodSpite wrote:

    Mostly frame integrity issue’s. And parts were getting to be a nightmare as I understand it.

    Shame they can’t just revamp the frame, and rebuiold her, but I guess thats too logical. As well as the fact that thanks to the F-22 there’s probably not much money left in the DOD coffers for fighter or attack aircraft for a while.

    Posted 22 Mar 2006 at 6:22 pm

  13. F-14 rocks wrote:

    I personally think that they are stupid to take away the F-14 that was the best jet ever,the speed, the range and the missiels i could carry. It was a excellent plane. If they took it away because of the $$$$ Price, look at the F-117 nighthawk(stealth) it is $45 million dollers, and i think it is not as near as good as the F-14. Yes it can fight and it can not be detectid on radar, but can it match the F-14s speed and the capability of the what missels the F-14 can carry i dont think so. that is all i have to say and they should bring the F-14 back into the US Airforce.

    Posted 14 Aug 2006 at 12:50 am

  14. F-14 rocks wrote:

    We should all sulute the F-14 and wish it a good life as it served us well. Thank you for your service , and thank you to all those people who flew it..

    Posted 14 Aug 2006 at 1:44 am

  15. From SF wrote:

    As a former Naval Pilot, one of the most impressive things I ever saw was the Tomcat, locked into the shuttle on the waist catapults … at night with both engines set in stage 5 afterburner waiting to be launched. It turned night to day. Truly an image never forgotten!Unfortunately, it’s mission has been obsolute for almost 20 years. To carrier pilots, known as the “Turkey” the F-14 was tough to land on the boat(heavy and wide), and had cosiderable maintenance problems in its old age. It was an interceptor, not a fighter, and did it’s job well against the Soviet threat in the 70’s ad 80’s. The Navy now has a far more capable aircraft in every possible category, except of course, that burner cat shot at night!

    Posted 22 Sep 2006 at 1:02 pm

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