Posted on 02/25/2015 9:52:46 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
The Super Tomcat should be a clean sheet design, not an upgrade.
“None of these proposals has been built and we’ll never know if an advanced Tomcat would have been better than the actual Super Hornet,”
What a freaking laugh. The regular Tomcat outclasses the Super Hornet any day of the week.
I loved the F-14, but as a child of the 80’s I may be biased by nostalgia!
The F-14 Tomcat is the sexiest fighter plane ever.
Now that was just straight up FUNNY.
Would it have been cheaper to maintain then the E/F? If not then it is a waste of time. The world changed and needs are different.
“The Super Tomcat should be a clean sheet design, not an upgrade.”
Buwahahaa! They tried that. A-12.
If they try to clean sheet one again don’t expect it to cost any less than the F-22 or F-35. ‘Clean sheet’ is the same as saying ‘damn expensive’.
The A-12 was supposed to be a replacement for the A-6 Intruder.
I just had an up close look at both the F-14 and the F-18 at the Yankee air museum in Chino CA this last Sunday. What really struck me is how large the F-18 is.
The Tomcat was definitely an engineering marvel, but it looks kind of clunky compared to today’s modern aircraft.
I was in Virginia when their Air National Guard gave up their F-106s. The paper interviewed some of the pilots and they all were sorry to see it go.
I remember one described the F-106 as the “Cadillac of Fighters”. I wonder if they just get used to one and hate to see it go.
Hmmmm...if not outright competition for that title, the F-16 fighting Falcon is a very, very close second.
F-14 - Sophia Vergara
F-16 - Selena Gomez
You'd think someone who has got to ride in the back of either would prefer the amenities.
Yea, and the Hog is just plain ugly, in a beautiful sort of way. So what? Both airframes are damn good at their job. It’s sad that the Tomcat never got to see its full potential.
Big beautiful sexy hunk of screaming jet.
I have been hanging around airplanes long enough to get a sense of what they do by watching them fly. The F-18 never has floated by boat let alone the E/F.
Now the F-14D I saw at the Reno Air Races in 91' with the GE Engines, did things I never saw a F-14 do before. And it pains me to say that being the Pratt and Whitney Engine zealot I am :-).
Just my 2 cents, I'd taken any and all the follow-on re-do's of the F-14, and If Cheney didn't kill the A-12, I'd have loved to see a version that wasn't all composite, maybe standard airframe with composite skins like the F-117a and see if it had the payload of the A-6 and Stealth.
Then the Navy would have had something....
Since a regular Tomcat F-14D is already FAR superior to a “Super” Hornet,,,yeah, id say so. Even an original Hornet outruns, and out turns it.
Super Hornet isn’t that hot of a plane. Its main advantages is in bring back ability for expensive precision ordinance, and ease of maintenance. But in the air, its not the Equal of an F-14D. In range and ordinance on target it isn’t as good.
Every advance in Naval Air bombing has gone backwards since the 80s. The A6 was dumped for the 14D, then the 14D to the latest Hornet, and now the Hornet for the F35.
Every single time, range and payload has significantly dropped.
The carrier air wing of today has the lowest capability post WWII in terms of striking distance and payload. Its dramatically lower than even the early 90s.
I’ve always heard the F-4 Phantom II referred to as the Rhino but never Hornet. Interesting.
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