The F-14 Tomcats should be on the airshow circuit and the F-4 Phantom IIs as well, they were such a pleasure to fly and it's a real shame that future generations won't be able to see those beautiful warbirds flying.
I was a structural design engineer on the f-14 program in mid-1980s. Can’t believe they just left titanium wing box ‘ pivots, one piece windshield canopy casting (a first at the time), the old refueling boom door cover (I redesigned it), and other once considered state of the art structural parts. Kinda wish I had a chunk of it myself.
Let's, you and I go get one of the cockpits. I'm looking for a dead cat to turn into a flight simulator - I'll gladly put you in as well. 1500 hrs flight time in the A & B variants.
I used to work on the F14. I was always amazed at how awesome these magnificent warbirds looked when loaded up for war. Seeing this makes me sick. I think they deserved better.
I once read that at the boneyard, where most of these planes go to finally rest, one of the last things they do is to run the engines to drain the lines of any remaining fuel. As any remaining fuel wears out, the engines chug, chug... as if she were gasping for air. Sad stuff for such a beautiful bird.
Concur. For me, growing up in the late-'50s and throughout the '60s, it's the F-4 Phantom and the F-105 Thunderchief at the pinnacle of my favorite aircraft.
I flew the Tomcat (A&B models) with VF-102... Diamondbacks, Baby! This is one of those things that just makes you sick in the pit of your stomach. That the old girls were just stripped, dumped, left to rot. I will hate Cheney until the day I die. They were great planes and deserved better. I'm sure my buddy cLyDe would say the same thing about his beloved F4.
They were taken down by maintenance costs because pilots didn't know how to not beat the piss out of them and who can honestly blame them but what the F-14 unique was also one of it's major weaknesses . . . . . it cost more to repair them sometimes than to just build a brand new one
Hi Ramosel, for sure you know probably that Ferrari's logo was the logo of Francesco Baracca, Italian ace of the 1st World War. Once he was downed, Francesco Baracca's mother asked Enzo Ferrari to use the simbol of her son on hes cars. Ferrari accepted and the spirit of Baracca still run today.
These were used as Static Dispays at one time. You can see towards the end of the video the pedestal the F-4 sat on. I know because as a Crane Operator, I have set a few aircraft on pedestals including of few dispays on Kelly in 1998 and the display inside of the Park in Texas City, Texas along skyline drive.
That is a possibility, but the other possibility is that the two Tom's were the missing airframes that two separate smuggling rings were selling to Iran in the early to mid 2000's Officials told of one instance in 2000, where a company called Multicore bought the fighters and parts from the Department of Defense surplus office. The parts were later confiscated because of export control violations and returned to the surplus office the airframes were never recovered. However, another company, allegedly Iranian, bought the same parts in 2005. Those parts actually made it to Iran. Defense officials at the time publicly said that Tehran is said to be in search of several key components for its aging fleet of F-14 “Tomcat” jets, which the United States sold to Iran prior to its 1979 Islamic Revolution. These parts include electronics and hydraulics used to control the wing, guidance and control system, J85 engines, Vulcan 20mm cannon and ammunition drums, and Sparrow medium-range missiles. Members of Congress put pressure on the U.S. military to suspend the selling of F-14 parts. Rep. Christopher Shays called the cases “a huge breakdown, an absolute, huge breakdown.” He said “the military should not sell or give away any F-14 parts. If we no longer need it, it needs to be destroyed-totally destroyed.”
I worked on these aircraft from 1988 to 1996 in the Navy as an electronics tech and worked on them later as a civilian contractor upgrading them. Loved that aircraft! Sure miss those beautiful birds on the flightline.
THIS IS CRIMINAL TO SEE THESE BEAUTIFUL AIRFRAMES LIKE THIS. THE F14 IS MY FAVORITE AIRCRAFT OF ALL TIME AND THE F4 IS SO RESPECTED FOR ITS SERVICE IN THE VIETNAM WAR.
A truly hearbreaking sight... Two magnificent flying machines now left in the open to rot and decay (any similarity with our human condition would be... well, intentional). Back in their days, they used to roam the skies as the apex birds of prey. The F4 could very possibly have seen the MiGs in Vietnam, while the Tomcats could have faced some Su-22s off the Libyan coasts in the eighties. Who knows? Thanks for sharing with us aviation fans.
152267 (MSN 994) upgraded to F-4N. SOC Apr 14, 1982. Currently preserved in Dallas, Texas. When it went to the Army Reserve, it was towed to a forest area near Temple, TX. NMNA at Pensacola took charge of all Navy preserved aircraft.
Thanks for the bulk number of F-4, I am trying to keep track of these birds: where they are, how many are scavenged or cannibalised, which of them are stored and so on... F-4 is my life, most beautiful bird ever built. Thanks for the video. It so so sad to see aircraft in such a miserable state...
Funny to think these were at one time front-line fighters/fighter-bombers which were looked after by large crews and now they are simply piles of junk. Time can be a bastard :)
That is for sure. I got to sit in one that was being restored, it's a beastly airplane. And I was surprised how high you sit, the sills are down below your bicep and you have great visibility.
Oh, wow. Crazy to think that at one point these were beautiful aircraft, maintained in tip-top shape and gave many pilots the experience of a lifetime.
When I was a kid, there was a stripped, but intact A-4 Skyhawk in the city park where I live. It was right around the time Top Gun came to the theater. It was great fun to pretend to fly it. It had no canopy, ejection seat, gauges, stick,, throttle quad. and so on, But we're kids and had no use for them anyway. I loved climbing in through the nozzle and peeking my head out of the intakes. Truth be told, I smoked my first cigarette ever, inside the nacelle. What a time to be young.
I would have absolutely LOVED this as a kid, we would have had a ton of fun on those things. We had 2 1957 chevys in our woods that were abandoned we used to mess with, never found out what happened to them we moved away and that area is all condos now.
As an old RF 4 C driver, it causes me a lot of pain to see those, i would love to have one in my back yard,..i still have the seat out of one it had to “jettison” due to excessive holes and fire…..but it brought me back.
yeah.. also you would nik-pick the whole movie -the planes you will be flying against are smaller faster and more maneovrable : Enters A-4 skyhawks.... -360º radars -Maverick is 100m and cant fire on enemy migs until 100m behind them -A ready5 and CAP planes with 2 sidewinders and 2 Sparrows only -North Korean MIGs over the indian sea -showers -Top Gun Throphy -Top Gun points - -4G maneovers
The A-4 ..specially the version used by Top Gun (it was a lighter version with all air to ground equipment removed and better sidewinder support) while lighter and nimbler than the Tomcat.. was way underpowered.. it was used to simulate the MIG-17 mainly.. the A-4 couldnt handle a sustained turn or climb faster than the F-14 ..but it was excelent to teach students how to use the Tomcat's (or the F-4 before) superior power to weight ratio against nimbler but underpowered enemy fighters.. the F-5E was used to simulate the MIG-19 and MIG-21 and during the 80s some KFIRs were lent by the Israel Air Force wich were excelent to simulate MIG-23s..all these planes had their strenghts and weakness and Top Gun was to teach F-14 pilots how exploit the F-14 capabilities against each type.. However the introduction in the early 80s of the 4th gen fighter was a game changer.. They could do everything right.. it had more maneovrability and better power to weight ratio to sustain turns and climbs.. the navy got some F-16As to simulate the new MIG-29.. some old F-14As were used to simulate SU-27s as well.. However the more F-18s the navy had made the use of several aircraft redundant..as contrary to popular beliebth the F-18 even the early A models had better power to weight ratio (specially when not carrying bombs) than the F-14A..and were as good as the F-16N .. so Top Gun migrated towards a nearly all F-18 fleet .. If you can beat a F-18 or a F-16 you can beat a MIG-29 or a SU-27.. and they dont have weak areas like the A-4/F-5 Now the arrival of the F-35 will be interesting to see how it changes stuff in Top Gun..will they try to train against other F-35s?
The throttle levers from either plane could be used by any flightsim enthusiast. The F-14 had full span flaps so I didn't see them. The "sweep wings" are actually F-4 I think. You can see a red, wing mounted speedbrake (the F-14 had a clamshell style speedbrake between the vertical fins). 3:55.
Cool but kinda sad, I talk to my old cars and feel like they understand (call me weird) but I bet the pilots spoke to these beauties more than once. A man can grow strongly attached to a machine, just the way it is. They deserve better.
I saw something similar back in the early 60's with three planes at NAS Whidbey Island. There were two A-3 Skywarriors and one A-4 Skyhawk piled up in the woods on property that was previously owned by the government. All three planes were scrapped because of structural integrity issues caused by aircraft mishaps. I would play on them when I was a kid. They were removed back in the 70's.
152267 was an F4B that went through overhaul and repair at NAS North Island back in September 1966 and checking my log book I logged 1.6 hour in the back seat on a test flight.
Cool video. Thanks for sharing :-) Its always interesting to see beneath the skin of military aircraft and think about all the work put into them to get a finished product. Curious to know what the noise in the background ?
I’ve never flown in either , however own the radio controlled versions they’re beautiful in life sized and R/C. It’s a shame these two beautiful ladies are left to rot away ..
Those planes cost Uncle Sam approximately $38 million (1998) ($19.2 million in 1977). It first flew on 21 December 1970 and made its first deployment in 1974 with the U.S. Navy aboard USS Enterprise (CVN-65), replacing the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II. The Tomcat was retired by U.S. Navy on 22 September 2006, having been supplanted by the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.
I believe this F-4 was paint schemed out as a display. Sporting the VMFA-112 Cowboys squadron insignia. But the tail registration 152267 brings it back to actual service with the Navy. Flying with VF-51 "Screamin Eagles" aboard USS Coral Sea.
The Stennis deployed 4 times with Tomcats on board, the last time being 2004. These look to be F-14a's which would mean they were from VF-211 which last deployed on the Stennis in 02. The other squadrons had B's and D's while abourd the Stennis. These were prolly retired due to high time on the airframe or they had failed NDI tests on the airframe. I wish there was some better footage to be able to tell exactly which Tomcats they were.
what a kool find.. such powerful and fast jets.. never 'fully' understood why a new generation F-14 wasn't possible.. like the super hornet or silent eagle.. with tarps n lantirn etc she was a beast. Two of my fav frames but there are many sweet designs, harriers and warthogs are awesome with unique abilities also, just alot slower hah
It was not about what was possible. It was. In fact we had concept designs for Tomcat 21, a 21st century composite airframe. When Mr Chaney decided on the F-18 Super Hornet and dumped billions into that design, Grumman killed the next generation design. That's when Grumman merged with Northrop and the rest is history. No matter what comes next the F-14 will always be ahead of its time.
It's a large rectangular piece that extends across the width of the fuselage. It's got a wing pivot mount on each side (check out 0:34). It carries the load of the wing. They were electron beam welded. Pretty exotic construction in the day.
I see. But if it is worth million like the OP claims, I have a hard time believing these planes were sold decommissioned for less than 10K back in the day. Of course, those too the government decided they wanted back...
you do sound right ... but consider this: how does a $2K computer ends up for 50¢ in a government sales store after its era ends? it's people's tax money spent on these toys and when they are garbage, then they are nothing but garbage to the government because as long as people work and pay their mandatory taxes, government has more than enough funds to buy new material again and again and ... i think the question is why weren't these items in this video sold to scrape metal buyers willing to pay a buck or two for them?
Rcbif The Navy wanted to cut up all remaining F-14 airframes in order to keep all the parts from showing up on the black market, and also to keep the Iranians from getting their hands on the parts, as well.
Given the partial STENNIS on the glove area, and the presence of the glove vane surface, my best guess is that this was a VF-211 F-14A, unless this was a former gate guard in which case who knows.
F-14 was a maintenance nightmare. It was a great aircraft that was outdated in the modern air to air arena. Just like other greats like the F4. Time marches on and old drivers will always swear by there old horses I can't blame them one bit.
@ErikJohnston : I fully expected this to be 'clickbait', since everyone knows that all the U.S. F-14s that exist are either shredded, or just static displays. What an incredible find ! I am an artist building a full scale F-14 vertical stabilizer out of cardboard. It takes up my entire living room wall ! I couldn't help but notice the tail you came across. If it is allowed, it would make a great display for some lucky aviation guy. Thanks for posting !
Hello Friend I know were there are 3 in Ga and they are all in a wooded area very cool to go look at also 2 at WRAFB in Ga in the Muslim . buy yes 3 in the edge of the woods in Bibb Co not know to most people and also 1 f15. I have no idea why thy are inn the woods at the farm??
Hi, I use to crew the RF-4C Phantom in the USAF at Shaw AFB, SC between 1975 -1979. I had a 1972 model and was the newest in my flight. It left the base and I didn't see it again for about a year. It came in Cross Country flight as NASA. Thanks for the video, it brought back many memories. Gerald Campbell SGT E-4
@@peterangles793 Yeah, back then E-4 was NCO, but a few years after my separation USAF reduced the rank to Senior Airman. Go figure. I visited Shaw AFB a couple years ago, and now it’s more tan Army base.
holy crap, the trees growing up through the fuselage make them look like extinct TRANSFORMERS. and yes, why the hell are they there, cause they've been there for a while...?
I think the species of tree is what is called a tallow tree. They grow to 2 inch dia in first year, 4 inch a year later. In 3 years, 8 inches. That is why they look large. The plague of east Tx and sw Louisiana.
I can imagine about a couple million community college engineering students that could learn a ton of useful knowledge just by getting their hands on those elegant frames. Ripped up or not, they're a learning milepost for young Americans. I blame uninspired and complacent bureaucrats for their lack of vision. Where are those located?
Have you found any more F14? I'm looking at trying to find just the pilot cockpit frames, panels and seat if possible or at less the true dimensions for it so I can build it for DCS World.
Just hurt's seeing this. As much as I love the F-4, seeing that Tomcat is just a knife in the guts. such a beautiful aircraft and already a tragedy what happen to them.
I’ve looked at some of the comments and I feel like some of you are very knowledgeable in these aircraft and my question is what would it take to restore these to display status???? I’m sure air worthy is completely out of the question but it sure would be nice to see them on display some place
0:16 *THAT'S TRULY DISGUSTING to see the condition that this aircraft is in* ... trees growing through opened areas..... OMG..... *sickening* . I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one that has this type of "visceral reaction" to seeing these jet "carcasses" in this condition.
A lot of issues killed the F-14. One of them was the maintenance to flight hour ratio.....it was getting to the point the aircraft were in maintenance several hours for every hour they were out carving up the sky. This is what happens to old equipment...it wears out. So, the F-14 was retired....one of the reasons was it was getting too expensive to maintain, and there was little alternative to the Navy.
All that stuff is gone now. The Navy came down and had everything removed. Use to be a lot of comments about where these were but it looks like they have been removed now. You wouldn't believe how close they were to a bunch of houses.
First emotion is anger then sadness. How do we allow our aviation to end up like this? All that aside…I will pay big money for that refueling probe. What an awesome piece for my bar. I’d take and pay for literally any part off that tomcat
