Another great F-14 article

Enjoy :)

http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/this-topgun-instructor-watched-the-f-14-go-from-tomcat-1725012279

I didn't even notice that Blacklion had already linked this article in another thread, my apologies!

Absolutely great article though :)

Yeah, I accidentally posted it twice myself. :)

Thank you for the repost - it's one of the most interesting and enjoyable Tomcat articles that I have read for a long time. More is better.

-Nick

The Five Maneuvers That Were Prohibited In The F-14 Tomcat

And this is the new one, posted by foxtrotalpha few minutes ago.

Edit: the author of this article is our dear "somkin" Ruzicka, he had already released many article about tomcat on this site.

and you can find his other works at the end, "Recommended stories".

The Five Maneuvers That Were Prohibited In The F-14 Tomcat

 

And this is the new one, posted by foxtrotalpha few minutes ago.

 

Edit: the author of this article is our dear "somkin" Ruzicka, he had already released many article about tomcat on this site.

and you can find his other works at the end, "Recommended stories".

Hmmm... I am very confused regarding his comments on the slats and the AIM-9 :huh:

1) At no point will the slats be blocking the view of the seeker, even with wings full forward and slats fully extended - and that simply because the wing leading edge is well behind the AIM-9 seeker.

2) The slats/flaps have two operating modes, a take off & landing mode and a maneuver mode. In a dogfight, even a slow one, the slats (and flaps) would be in the maneuver mode, not the former, and in the maneuver mode the slats wouldn't droop down much at all and most definitely not enough to prevent the firing of the no.1-8 AIM-9.

All of this is in the manuals...

[ame]http://www.ejectionsite.com/F-14%20SHOOTDOWN.pdf[/ame]

Another one that was linked in the 5 rules article.

Hmmm... I am very confused regarding his comments on the slats and the AIM-9 :huh:

 

1) At no point will the slats be blocking the view of the seeker, even with wings full forward and slats fully extended - and that simply because the wing leading edge is well behind the AIM-9 seeker.

 

2) The slats/flaps have two operating modes, a take off & landing mode and a maneuver mode. In a dogfight, even a slow one, the slats (and flaps) would be in the maneuver mode, not the former, and in the maneuver mode the slats wouldn't droop down much at all and most definitely not enough to prevent the firing of the no.1-8 AIM-9.

 

All of this is in the manuals...

Don't worry Hummingbird :) ....it's a reference to the use of landing flaps only.

The F-14 had 3 slat/flap settings: retracted, maneuvering, and landing. It became common practice to use the maneuvering flaps for takeoff depending upon load and often Tomcats would take-off from shore bases without any flaps. Catshots and traps would use landing flaps in all cases.

This picture shows maneuvering flap takeoff. Notice that the most inboard portion of the flap is retracted:

Here is a take-off without flaps:

The maneuvering flaps could be actuated either by the air-data computer or manually via a button (or thumb wheel?) on the control stick.

Firing an AIM-9 with the maneuvering flaps deployed was absolutely fine.

The issue is that pilots would sometimes deploy the landing flaps to improve high-alpha low-speed handling during knife-fights. The landing flaps overspeed at 225 kts, so these were pretty low-speed maneuvers, generally below 200 kts.

A pilot on the Tomcat Sunset forum (Cosmania - former VF-143 F-14B pilot) said that the problem with the AIM-9 was that the motor ignited on the rail. With the inboards flaps fully deployed, the motor would burn the flaps and the concussive force could damage the actuator (don't know if it was theoretical or proven). However, he was also firmly of the belief that if he really needed those flaps to make the shot with an AIM-9, he would take the shot and buy a case of beer for the maintainers. :) Better to come home with burned flaps than not at all. He didn't mention any issues with seeker FOV, but looking at the relationship between the leading edge of the wing and the AIM-9 seeker...I don't see how this is possible. Might be an inaccurate recollection - that happens to the best of us.

Here is a picture for references purposes:

The seeker is well-forward of the wing leading edge and slats. Though I could see the most rearward portion of the missile striking the slat...maybe?

Luckily, I don't see any limitations on the list that would actually be an issue during real combat, just another Tomcat thing to talk about. :)

-Nick

Yep you are absolutely correct Lion, and I was well aware of all of that, which is why I was/am so confused by his comments :) It was esp. his comments on the slats which made me go "huh?" as they just didnt make any sense.

Great pictures btw :)

Yep you are absolutely correct Lion, and I was well aware of all of that, which is why I was/am so confused by his comments :)

Sorry, went nuts with my explanation. :)

Glad you like the pictures.

-Nick