Tales of the F-14 • Hacker News Board

Re: Tales of the F-14

#11

Post by zokier » Fri, Jul 30, 2010, 9:45 PM UTC

barake wrote: post #6

It always blew my mind how long the F-14 was in service - they were present at the American evacuation from Saigon in 1975.

While a respectable career, its not that remarkably long. A-10 for example was operational in late 70's and it's still in service. On the other hand Tomcats successor F/A-18 Hornet was already introduced in mid-80's. Compare that to F-15 Eagle, which was also introduced in late 70's and its successor, F-22 Raptor, introduced in 2005. And the Eagle is supposed to last to at least 2025, according to Wikipedia.

Throwing expensive toys away if they work is bit silly, that's why phasing operational stuff out takes so long. Especially if you account for the need to retrain all your people, not just the pilots, but service crew as well.

Re: Tales of the F-14

#12

Post by phreanix » Fri, Jul 30, 2010, 9:53 PM UTC

Fave (relevant) quote:

"The best way to do something ‘lean’ is to gather a tight group of people, give them very little money, and very little time."

Re: Tales of the F-14

#13

Post by AttilaTheHun » Fri, Jul 30, 2010, 9:58 PM UTC

mrduncan wrote: post #10

barake wrote: post #6

It always blew my mind how long the F-14 was in service - they were present at the American evacuation from Saigon in 1975.

As a fighter, definitely. When you compare it to other larger military aircraft, it doesn't seem very long at all. The B52 has been in active service since 1955. The A-10 was introduced in 1977 and isn't expected to be replaced until nearly 2030.

And the Douglas DC-4 was introduced in the 1930s and there are still a few flying around!

Re: Tales of the F-14

#14

Post by z303 » Fri, Jul 30, 2010, 10:03 PM UTC

MikeCapone wrote: post #9

"At this point we were about a half-mile short of the runway, about 25 feet above the trees. Bill quickly initiated the ejection sequence using his face curtain. A sensitive accelerometer on the nose strut recorded and telemetered back to the ground the little blips showing the firing of the canopy and then the ejection guns on the two seats in turn. That all took 0.9 seconds as advertised; 0.4 seconds later the nose…

Some footage of the last few seconds of the flight is on Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY3tsYoLopQ

Re: Tales of the F-14

#15

Post by ctkrohn » Fri, Jul 30, 2010, 10:15 PM UTC

AttilaTheHun wrote: post #13

mrduncan wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a fighter, definitely. When you compare it to other larger military aircraft, it doesn't seem very long at all. The B52 has been in active service since 1955. The A-10 was introduced in 1977 and isn't expected to be replaced until nearly 2030.

And the Douglas DC-4 was introduced in the 1930s and there are still a few flying around!

I think you mean the DC-3: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DC-3

Re: Tales of the F-14

#16

Post by sliverstorm » Fri, Jul 30, 2010, 10:44 PM UTC

AttilaTheHun wrote: post #13

mrduncan wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a fighter, definitely. When you compare it to other larger military aircraft, it doesn't seem very long at all. The B52 has been in active service since 1955. The A-10 was introduced in 1977 and isn't expected to be replaced until nearly 2030.

And the Douglas DC-4 was introduced in the 1930s and there are still a few flying around!

In active service in the armed forces, or private/commercial?

Re: Tales of the F-14

#17

Post by therockhead » Fri, Jul 30, 2010, 11:04 PM UTC

Why is it that the Navy never replaced the F-14 with a fighter with similar characteristics - speed, range, weapon range etc ?

Re: Tales of the F-14

#18

Post by evgen » Fri, Jul 30, 2010, 11:13 PM UTC

mrduncan wrote: post #10

barake wrote: post #6

It always blew my mind how long the F-14 was in service - they were present at the American evacuation from Saigon in 1975.

As a fighter, definitely. When you compare it to other larger military aircraft, it doesn't seem very long at all. The B52 has been in active service since 1955. The A-10 was introduced in 1977 and isn't expected to be replaced until nearly 2030.

The KC-135 is also an old plane that is still in active service (started ops in 1957 and was based on the prototype aircraft that eventually became the Boeing 707..)

Re: Tales of the F-14

#19

Post by btilly » Fri, Jul 30, 2010, 11:15 PM UTC

therockhead wrote: post #17

Why is it that the Navy never replaced the F-14 with a fighter with similar characteristics - speed, range, weapon range etc ?

I assume because we're preparing for different threats. The F-14 was designed for creating air superiority in direct confrontations with the Soviet Union. Now our likely opponents will concede that territory to us and respond with suicide bombs.

Re: Tales of the F-14

#20

Post by bmm6o » Sat, Jul 31, 2010, 12:01 AM UTC

sliverstorm wrote: post #16

AttilaTheHun wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the Douglas DC-4 was introduced in the 1930s and there are still a few flying around!

In active service in the armed forces, or private/commercial?

All private, I think. This one flies right over our office several times a week: http://archives.californiaaviation.org/ganews/msg09194.html .