The Final F-14 Tomcat Flyby

[Tappers Dad]

I found this on Live leak ,my son would have loved to have have watched it. Now thats what I call formation flying.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=bb4_1190273437

[Runaway Gun]

Great to see that they rigged up some nice flybys prior to retirement.

Was there a rodeo on nearby as well? Lot's of Yee-ha and whooping etc.

My fave quote "Wow - that's like Pearl Harbor all over again Man. Dang!" :cool:

[Spugford]

#19 long, #16 tight.

Tut tut

:E

[Black 'n Yellar]

I was lucky to be at NAS Oceana to witness the last flyby as the F-14s disembarked from their final combat cruise in March 2006. It really was an amazing sight to see so many of them in formation. What an awesome jet. It made our little puffer jets look a little small!

[MrBernoulli]

I don't recall anything about F14s at Pearl Harbour! Did they also get their arses kicked by the piston-powered Zeros?:)

[The Helpful Stacker]

MrBernoulli - Perhaps the chap watched 'The Final Countdown' and thought it was a documentary.

[WannaBeCiv]

22? Nice - did they do a loop later?:}

[soddim]

Did the Japs do dry passes at Pearl Harbour?

[High_lander]

Bloody funny film "The Final Countdown".

Absolutely cracking.


Fly-by looked good though

[Tappers Dad]

If you liked the first video try this.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a04_1188112290

[TEEEJ]

Cracking video. Thanks for posting. Of course it may have been the last flight of U.S. Navy F-14s, but the F-14 still graces the skies. If only the Iranians would allow snappers base tours! How long would you last if you turned up outside Bushehr or Esfahan airfield with a camera?

[Lower Hangar]

We dis-embarked to NAS Oceana in 1975 while the Ark was alongside at Norfolk. Our aircraft were co-located in a very shiny ( white painted floor) hangar together with some equally shiny F14's....were they still at the trials stage at that time ??? .......the contrast between salt stained , oily , AVCAT leaking Buccs and the F14's was ,to me, a daily embarrassment. I also recall the 'balletic' hand signals as the plane captains took the crew through all the post start up checks, flaps, hook , wings swept out and back , differential tailpane - it looked a very big machine....seem to remember the the VF concerned was nicknamed ' The Pukin Dogs !!"

[forget]

F14 crews! Keep away from ‘em. Around 1980 the USS Constellation pulled into Singapore for a week. The entire F14 crew took over the top floor of a hotel and, for one reason or another, the Memsahib and I were invited to the first night bash. It went as predicted (after their 3 months in the Indian Ocean) and we invited a dozen or so to forget’s place for a next night return match.

This went on for the whole week; down town one night, our place the next. The last night was at our place with them leaving at 3AM for a 6 o’clock sailing. The following night the Memsahib, having confirmed the sailing from the TV, then told me that she’d had a slight ‘problem’ with the boss, name of Buzz J. Seems I hadn’t noticed BJ following the Memsahib around ‘like a puppy’. (My fault!) But BJ had spent the last four days convincing the Memsahib that she’d be better off in San Diego with him, rather than in Singapore with me! He’s even talked of the airline tickets he could arrange. And he’d been drinking my beer! :mad:

Good taste in women – a little light on the social graces. Then again, US Navy ………… :cool:

If you’re there Buzz, you’re forgiven -- 3 months in the Indian Ocean and all that. ;)

[Al R]

A great soundtrack too.

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

[NST]

Loads of F-14 Fighter Fling videos here ..

http://video.google.co.uk/videosearch?q=Fighters+US

2004, 2003 and the start of 1999 are the pick of the bunch for me.

[Gainesy]

How long would you last if you turned up outside Bushehr or Esfahan airfield with a camera?

Ask the U-2 mates.:suspect::)

[airsound]

4 years ago, during the Dubai Air Show, the Big E (USS Enterprise) was tied up somewhere in the UAE, so she was invited to send a Tomcat to the show. To the USN’s great credit, they jo-ed a couple of squadron jocks from the Fighting Checkmates, VF211, to come and perform in their 30-year-old aircraft amongst all the shiny new stuff flying at the show. Each of the five days, the guys laid on a really good show, with lots of noise and excitement. In the middle of their sequence, as their script said:
The F14 is now accelerating to near the speed of sound. As it passes, the Tomcat will be traveling at over 650 miles per hour or 960 feet per second; a mere one third of its maximum speed capability.
On the third day, it was humid, and as they approached at this speed, I clearly saw a fully developed triangular shock wave mid-fuselage, top and bottom. They must have realised just in time (before they broke all the windows in the frightfully plush show site) and throttled back.

Afterwards, the crew was required to present themselves in front of the chairman of the Flying Control Committee (and bring their own carpet). The first charge was that they were way too low (evidence adduced from ‘height-and-flight’ cameras in support). Their answer? Well, we realised we were getting some compressibility problems, and,as you know, Sir, pressure instruments don’t work well under those conditions. Yeah, riiiiight. So why were they getting compressibility problems? Didn’t realise it was so humid Sir.

The rest of the pilots in the show thought that wasn’t a bad effort as an excuse - but when the pair arrived in the pilots’ lounge the next day, there was a chorus, started by Boeing test pilots, of ‘Bad boys, bad boys.....’

Anyway, no harm was done, and they remained a favourite part of the show, and did the reputation of the USN no end of good.

airsound

[lynx-effect]

I wish 2 UK squadrons could get that amount of aircraft in the air at once!