To all of you folks who flew in or worked on one of these beasts,I’m so jealous. I visited one in Canton,Ohio on display and just being near it gave me goosebumps,I was in awe!!
Amazing how you disparage a nice museum with an excellent model of a F14A there. I know its perspective, but any air enthusiast from around the world would love to visit and appreciate what was put on display.
They kept the changes minimal to save money. Most of the cockpit from the A to the B is identical. One change made was in the engine gauges since the B-model used GE F110 engines. Another change made after 2000(?) was installing Hawk HUD's in the B-models because the original HUD display was a maintenance nightmare and didn't function well in strong light. The HAWK HUD separate unit like the HUD used in the D-model (which was from another manufacturer). The A and original B-model HUD actually projected symbols and guidance cues onto the flat pane glass of the forward canopy.
@@slowpoke96Z28 @2:09 -- It's an F-14 A-model. The video description says an A-model and it has TF30 exhaust nozzles. When they retired F-14 airframes and they became museum pieces, most of them were fitted with the nozzle of the engine that particular F-14 ended its flying career with. Most B-models were refit F-14As and reclassified as F-14B(R) with the "R" standing for refit. Most D-models were new build (37 of 55 built); only 18 D-models were rebuilt from A-models and thus designated F-14D(R). I know of one exception where the F-14 on display was NOT fit with the "correct exhaust nozzles" and that's the F-14 sitting on the deck of the USS Intrepid. That F-14, the seventh Tomcat built, was the original B-model prototype and flew for most of its test life with F110 engines. I think what happened was that the Navy was hard-up for F110 engines that they not only removed the engines from that airframe they also took the exhaust nozzles! The seventh F-14 has TF30 nozzles installed (as it rests on the Intrepid) but it never FLEW in that configuration.
@@dunbar555 I know that. The Phoenix can be carried on that station, but the actual pylon shape is not right. It looked very different on operational Tomcats.
@@wannaloginnow That is correct, the pylon it's mounted to is the correct shoulder mount but it's only half of it. 99.9% of the time, the adaptor for the AIM-7 Sparrow would have been there which has been removed and if a Phoenix were to have been fitted, the sparrow mount would have been swapped out for the longer more aerodynamic Phoenix adaptor. Most F-14 missions usually only carried two AIM-54s on the belly rails because at $1 Million a shot, that a lot of expendature to carry around when the likelihood of an all out war requiring shots to be BVF (Beyond Visual Range) was less than 10% and also the maintenance time to required to swap out the shoulder pylon mounts could be used for things such as system faults etc. A standard CAP loadout would have usually been two AIM-54s on the belly, two Sparrows and two Sidewinders on the shoulder mounts. Trials did show that an F-14 could take off and land with a full load of six AIM-54s but the fuel load had to be so light that it rendered the aircrafts purpose useless and also gave little margin for error for loiter time around the ship during operations. Other F-14As that were upgraded for the air to ground role would have had mount for the LANTIRN pod fitted to that side only and was permanently wired however as this example still has the older AWG-9 TID radar scope, it wasn't upgrade as those with LANTIRN had the square PTID screen with hand controller on the left side console. This example has been cannibalised for parts as are most museum examples after the DoD raided them as the tomcat neared retirement as they didn't want the Iranians getting hold of critical parts on the black market. This aircraft has clearly been repainted as it's too clean but they haven't repainted the Bureau number under the tail.
I’m reading elsewhere this is the only one outside of AMARC that was never demilled? They flew it in, parked it and nothing was ever taken apart, engines still mounted, wing boxes still intact, etc.?
The F-14 has a distinctive sound her engines are howling its distinctive as a P-51 Mustang oh, you don't have to see it but once you hear that engine you know it's a P-51
@Rod White Flight deck yellow shirt would be the greatest job known to mankind if you could do it 9-5, m-f. Unfortunately, going to sea for weeks or months at a time ruins it.
They still used the P412A until the P414A became available. The Iranians are still stucking using the early pre-P414 engines in their F-14s. The Iranian planes were NOT upgraded with the later engine models. The P414A arrived after the Iranian Revolution. By then, the Grumman technicians had left Iran the Iranian air force was not getting technical support and spare parts let alone safety upgrades for their planes! I don't know that "reliable" is the best word to use for the P&W TF30 upgrades. The main advantage of having the later engine variant (the P414A) is the steel shroud they put around it to keep disintegrating compressing blades from slicing through the airframe and damaging the other engine, too! The TF30 still stalled like crazy but at least the new engine models didn't destroyed the airframe right away! I doubt the average person would spot much difference between the P412A and the P414A. It's still the same basic engine.