Originally Posted by
NWSRG
F14 Tomcat. IIRC, Capitol Hill politics favoured the F/A-18E/F over the Tomcat 21. The refreshed Tomcat had a lot going for it, and would have given the fleet greater reach than it has today.
the super tomcat. I fly with ex tomcat and aardvark pilots. Evidently, Dick Cheney hated the CEO of Grumman. Also, everyone that I know who flew either of these aircraft says that towards the end, their mx requirements were well over 15:1 mx hour per flight. There’s a lot of moving parts and hydraulics in these planes. The F-18 is an 80% airplane. It does the job 80% as well as a dedicated attack or dedicated fighter aircraft. It would be nice to have a long range, tip of the carrier air group spear though...