I was trolling the Navy news website this morning, as is my custom, and chanced across this image of a VF-213 F-14D Tomcat coming into the break overhead the USS Theodore Roosevelt, and of course this photo of a D-model kerplunking heavily into the arresting wires (as is their custom) and it all made me just that little bit nostalgic.
You see, I grew up around Tomcats and Tomcat people and although it was hard to love them very much, taken as a whole, there were some fairly good eggs in the F-14 basket who just missed getting Hornet grades out of flight school. And now they’re going away of course, this being their last deployment, victims to the remorseless march of time and modernization in the form of the Super Hornet, FA-18E’s and F’s.
And we should all be just that little bit sad, recognizing as we must that we will be old one day ourselves, sic transit gloria.
So before the Tomcat community dries up and blows away entirely, I just wanted to share this with you – this being the way that one old Hornet driver will always remember you.
(And by the way, many thanks for the memories!)
Ahh, to urinate on the almost dead. How wonderfully like aviators…:) You have to admit, if ever one day BVR is approved, 100+ miles is kinda impressive against a bogie.
Yes, one day, too, you shall be the one in the HUD, most likely targeted by a UCAV driver, pulling 20+ Gs to wrap around on your tail, as you strained to keep your eyes on the small, sleek airframe, while he/she sits sipping an energy drink, with a plastic bowl of chocolate autodog on the desk beside them, listening to the 1MC announce shower hours, sitting in a space off of CDC, fully air conditioned as he/she wonders how long it will take to get the SAR MH-60 to you.
I had an AF friend who said BUFF guys were the ones who did well in the lower half of their class. Is that what you’re trying to say about the Tomcat drivers?
C’mon, Curt – for a fighter guy, even a parting shot is better than no shot at all!
And I’m very happy to say that my days of worrying about being gunned by UCAVs are past and opening.
Although I do have a rather humorous tale to tell one day about the lady F-15 pilot who gunned the F-16 guy in Korea.
Some other time, perhaps.
“we will be old one day ourselves”
Snerk.
I’ve *met* you, dude!
OK Lex- This dinosaur-trout’ll rise to your offering.
Everyone gets a shot..eventually, even the best. I’ll bet $$ that photo wasn’t taken in the 80′s when Hornets were new, and well so misunderstood…sniff. I’d take a guess it was taken in 90′s after they eviscerated the community, gave Miramar to the Jars, watered down Topgun and moved it Fallon and turned ‘em into Bombcats!
But of course that’s all hearsay!
Curt is kinda sensitive but he’s got the ‘Cat mentality when it comes to attack!
As for their aircrews, I actually miss their knuckle dragging bravado and ridiculous arrogance. Pure unadulterated entertainnment on cruise- at work and on libs!
Another chapter nearly closed.
B2
B2–
The photo was definitely not taken in the 1980s — it’s a screenshot from a computer flight simulator (Jane’s F/A-18) that was released in 2000.
-R.
ah….. the USS Theodore Roosevelt.
When I was a wee pup during the first Gulf War (ok.. not soo wee, but still a pup in my eyes today), we were still allowed to write letters to “any Soldier, Sailor, Marine or Airman”. I regularly wrote several guys, including one on the Roosevelt. He sent me several items from the Roosevelt, including a teddy bear and a patch. He happened to be a local boy, so when he came back I went to his homecoming party. I wouldn’t say that we dated, but we did go out a few times with his friends.
I still have the letters the guys sent to me. It’s really cool going back and reading them from time to time. One guy was 101st Airborne, and one was an air tester for the Marines. The 101st guy told me about taking the airport in Kuwait, and the Marine told me about how many times they tested the air following attacks from Saddam, for fear he was using chemical or biological warheads. I still remember how good it felt when they all came home safe!
In the late 80′s I was in the E2 RAG at “Fightertown, USA”. To the uninformed, this is akin to being the one geek in a class full of football players – but you?ɬ
In the late 80′s I was in the E2 RAG at “Fightertown, USA”. To the uninformed, this is akin to being the one geek in a class full of football players – but you’re the geek only because the teacher said you were. The F-14 guys were insufferable (I’m sure this was due in part to that f-ing movie).
I wonder how many of them are now being re-routed to Hawkeyes to finish out their careers. It happened to a number of A6 guys in the early 90′s after Desert Storm and the A12 disaster. Oh were they a happy bunch…
Ouch – from a fighter to a bus… *that’s* got to hurt. But not as much as losing flight status and pay, if my knowledge of aviators is anything to go by.
My co-blogger Dusty climbed out of an A-10 cockpit and into beltway banditry… and couldn’t stand that so badly that he took a pay cut to become junior aircrew at a major freight mover… come to think of it – except that he actually has to land to deliver the goods – mebbe that isn’t so different from being an A-10 jock, given the amount of freight they could deliver…
In the old days (mid 70- late 80′s) it was hyper-competitive. Post-nam the Naval Aviation pilot training rate (PTR) had relatively high attrition numbers and, given the “genetic diversity” of all the aircraft available, made it quite a fight to get your first choice. In most cases it was so close, it was a crapshoot, as to what you’d get in jets. Some years, getting jets was easy because of other factors- war being one, movies lie “Topgun” another. From my unvarnished observations
, Some guys are born (destined?) to fly helos and some guys (gals now too-sorry folks) like to fly sky-pigs for the per diem and on the beach lifestyle. But if you ask, I wager 8 of 10 Navy pilots will tell you that the platform they fly was their first choice! Hmmmm.
Now I think the Navy “feels” their high PTR (super low attrition) means that they pick ‘em better from the gitgo. I don’t necessarily agree with this given the type of mishaps we’ve had, but I will say that it is easier to become a “fighter” pilot than ever before. Soon, nearly 80% of a CAGs airwing pilots will be some form of Hornet driver. Now on the reality side,check history- only 5-10 % of all fighter pilots are effective in A-A combat. Think about it.
Bottom-line- Presently, a lot of go-fast talking without the balance in the account. IMO.
In today’s world I would call the attack helo pilots of the NightStalkers, AirCav and all Cobra pilots America’s “elite” pilot warriors for what they face everyday and what they accomplish. But still, if I could go back in time and had a choice, I’d still rather fly a jet off a carrier because it’s fun and I’m selfish. Of course, I’d choose the Hornet “F” because I like to have someone to talk to! But don’t tell Lex.
BTW, I ain’t disparaging Lex here. From what he’s told us he was winged in 82 or 83. At that time, being a new aircraft, the Hornet was very competitive to get a seat. Some classes harder to get than Tomcats. He’s good. His checkin account’s in the black!
Of course, some guys like to “do it” by themselves.
Dino (B2)
RIO’s: Every pilot who needs one should have one!
B2;
I was just having fun with Lex. Being a shoe and all, I take the “eat your young” management style myself…:)
Lex;
You’re right, a shot is a good thing. I wish I had the chance, but in ’71, during a physical, I got told I needed glasses. My first thought was “I won’t be able to fly!” I came to find out you can’t do anything really fun if you have over 20/40…no SEALS, no diving, and if you’re not a SEAL, no shot at being on the Leap Frogs or Chuting Stars, so…I ended up making sure you had JP to keep your quals up, and later that you had a plane guard to pull you out in the case of something bad happening on final approach. I also got good with the whole Thawk thing, when they were new and pilots whined about attacking “alerted targets.” I have a great story from a briefing to Adm Jeremiah in the NAS from when I first heard that line…worhty of a blog post one day. I’ll trade you for the F-15/F-16 story. Deal?
I still got stick time in TA-4s, H-46s, T-34s, and then Cessnas whenever I could. I always was told I was a natural, but that’s as far as I got. Having studied for most of my young years the history of aviation, I have always had an affinity for it and envy those of you who got to do it, but, we are where we are because we’re supposed to be there.
Get some more Rythyms going, please…it’s great stuff!
Nice pic Lex! I was the lead designer on that game. Also was a Tomcat maintainer in a past life (the goofy looking green shirt in the game credits was me back in 1986). The Tomcat was a tough jet to work on (the D even more so IMHO) but still my first love.
-CJ
Geez, I feel like a Tomcat gut defending ‘em (sort of):
Quote I just read:
“ALTHOUGH THE TOMCAT IS CURRENTLY ON ITS LAST
DEPLOYMENT, THESE VENERABLE YET AGING FIGHTERS STILL ACCOUNT FOR HALF
OF (CVW number deleted) OIF SORTIES AND ARE FLYING SIX TO SEVEN HOUR COMBAT MISSIONS
ON A DAILY BASIS.”
I’m curious – is this the first time that the Navy has replaced a still capable platform (F-14D) with a less capable one (F/A-18E/F) due to politics more than anything else?
(Donning asbestos undershorts)
All this fighter jock adrenalin for what? Now I can understand how an F-18 can do SOME of what an F-14 can do (and some of it better), but somebody is going to have to explain to me how the F-18 can do ANYTHING the S-3 can do, even half-assed. Yes, it’s a former Hoover guy, about the same vintage as Lex, but long converted to a captain of industry. Sad to see the Viking squadrons decommissioning, and with them a loss of much of naval aviation’s flexible capability.
P.S. You could blindside us but never turn with us or outlast us in the air!
As a former Tomcat driver, in the 90′s, we used to love mixing it up with our airwing F/A-18Cs while deployed. They were always “triple bubble” with three drop tanks of fuel in order to match the airwing’s scheduled “cycle” of 1.5 hours. Our F-14Bs, with the more powerfull GE F-110 engines, could easily beat the Lot 18 Hornets in a 1 V 1 setup, as long as we kept our energy up. Don’t think it’s much different with the Super Hornet, looking at the specs.
Yeah, we had too much swagger in those days, but the NVG/LANTIRN/JDAM F-14B Upgrade or F-14D Tomcat is a very capable platform. Wish you all well.