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Why do we love the Tomcat?


Wrightie

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I'm genuinely intrigued where our love of this jet in particular comes from.

There are so many military planes but for so many of us, standing head and shoulders above everything else is the Mighty F-14 Tomcat.

 

For me it started in a 1990, year 7 English class in my hometown in Lancashire U.K.

 

The homework we were given was to bring in a magazine and talk about what interested us in it.

 

I think the one I chose was Computer and Videogames, which was a magazine from the guy who now does Digital Foundry Richard Leadbetter.

all across the class, for the boys anyway it was either football or video games except the lad sat next to me.

Nicky had moved to the U.K from San Diego several years prior and he brought a magazine about military aviation. He stood up proudly and said

"Today i'm going to talk about the F-14 Tomcat"

I was fascinated listening to him speak He showed us pictures of this huge jet with afterburners blazing screaming off the end of a carrier and I was hooked.... actually a lot of us were we'd never seen anything like it before.

At some point he loaned me the VHS of this

 

That opening scene with the Tomcat lining up and launching cemented it for me, I bought plastic model kits, posters, my uncle started taking me to airshows sadly I never got to see a Tomcat but that love of aircraft and particularly the F-14 has stayed with me every since

 

It was this jet that brought me to DCS, I've known about DCS for a long time but it was hearing that there was a fully modelled F-14 in the works that gave me a kick to finally shell out and buy a Hotas Warthog and combat rudder pedals just over a year ago.

 

So why was the Tomcat the one plane that most of us dreamed about?

 

on another note thank you heatblur for making it possible for me to fly the Tomcat. in VR the experience cannot be beaten.

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I must have been 6 or 7 when my dad (a helicopter pilot in the Polish Airforce) showed me "Encyklopedia Techniki Wojskowej" - "Encyclopaedia of Military Technology". That book was the door to another world, a world of cross-sections, statistics, technical data and above all - photographs.. I don't know how accurate it was but considering it has been released in 1988 in a country that belonged to the Warsaw Pact, for citizens "protected" purely by Soviet equipment I can only imagine it glorified technical solutions of the Eastern Block over those of the West. However, it also contained priceless scraps of information on the equipment from America... And there, among the black-and-white photos I saw her for the first time..

The shape of the radar cone and cockpit, the wing sweep mechanism, crew of two, carrier capability, the Phoenix... I was blown away by what that aircraft could do! Shortly after that, a documentary about naval aviators I saw on TV cemented my love as among other facts I learnt about the ability to deploy six AIM-54s "simultaneously". I started gathering anything and everything Tomcat-related, from plastic models and stickers to photos and walkarounds. LEGO blocks served as the perfect building material in my attempts to recreate the characteristic lines of the F-14. Early simulations on my Amiga 1200 containing the Tomcat such as Combat Air Patrol were spicing things up even more. When I first watched Top Gun I couldn't sleep at night.. Of course I was going to be Maverick when I grow up! Desert Storm and later the Kosovo War brought live feed of the Tomcat operations. I remember watching CNN journalists commenting live from the deck of the supercarrier with F-14s being launched in the background, barely understanding the atrocities of war..

Years later I decided to stop being a "user" and start being a "creator". Through MSFS2004 forums I met Steve Hinson, a retired B-52 pilot who was a modder creating a flyable F-14 for that sim. We decided to collaborate and model what we believed was going to be the best Tomcat mod for Microsoft's Flight Simulator. We spent countless hours talking through Skype and studying NATOPS manuals. Unfortunately, Steve passed away before our work was completed and I was left with a half-finished model in 3D Studio Max. Others released incredible mods simulating my beloved aircraft but there was always something missing - if not the inferior flight model then the inability to deploy weapons. Other sims, no matter how detailed and amazing were all missing that one particular airframe. My questions on the implementation of the Tomcat were met with a negative response. "We lack the technology to realistically simulate the 2-man crew and it is unlikely that this aircraft will ever come to our sim". And of course there also was Iran..

Despite that, after years of prayers and an incredible technological leap the world of sims has made the Turkey finally came home – to my SSD :) This plane has been a symbol of freedom (!), power and cool for most of my life. Her shapes, capabilities and heritage have captured my soul and never let go. From the moment I first saw the wide fuselage and wings fully spread on final approach I knew she was mine and I was hers ;)

Eagle Dynamics and Heatblur have both attended the wedding ceremony… XD

 

Never say "Never", Baby!

Never say never, Baby!

 

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That was a really interesting read Manga, obviously very passionate about the F-14 Like you i waited for years to be able to fly a fully fledged Tomcat. Had a lot of fun with Dino Cattaneo's Tomcat in FSX but wasn't even in the same league as Heatblur's

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1978 - 1/72 Airfix Kit bought from my local newsagents in my Lanchashire hometown (Oldham) and built as a Wolfpack pack machine and a summer holiday at Southsea the same year hearing about the Nimitz i had missed by days!. Lifelong fasination.

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I love it, because I wanted to prove to people on PvP, that the F-14 wasn't a "sluggish fighter that can't hold its own", like so many have been lead to believe. So when the F-14 was available for pre-order it was an instant buy. After that I searched up on everything I could on how the F-14 handles, its quirks and features, and how I could potentially get the most use out of it, by doing so I fell in love with the F-14 indefinitely.

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I grew up on Long Island, New York (Home of Grumman) in the 80's and then lived right outside of Oceana Naval Air Station in the early 90's. My love for the Tomcat started with the Final Countdown and Top Gun, and then I was fortunate to see them fly everyday right from my yard. For me, there is a sense of nostalgia and it's brings me back to my childhood.

 

I have always had a fondness for naval aviation and Grumman aircraft...Hellcat, Intruder, and especially the Tomcat.

 

The F-14 is an incredible aircraft with a lot of character, history, and it's own culture. Everything about it is just exciting and fun.

 

Heatblur has done an absolutely incredible job with bringing the legendary Tomcat to life and has only increased my affection for it. It continues to make me smile as it did when I saw it fly when I was younger. I finally get to live my childhood dream of being a Tomcat pilot...even if it's only virtually.:pilotfly:


Edited by =BJM=

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You were very lucky to be so close to Oceana and being able to see them daily BJM. I live close to a UK Naval base now and while i see Hawks and Merlin Helicopters daily, and now the occasional F-35 those aircraft seem a little... sterile compared to the Tomcat. Such a shame that there's none left flying, well that I can go and see anyway.

 

I think I had the same model kit Boosterdog although a later version of it, still done out as VF-1 though. Nice to see a fellow Lancastrian on here i'm from Accrington originally.

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Even being related to someone who flew it wasn't enough to really get me interested. Every time someone brought up the Tomcat, I rolled my eyes and awaited the inevitable quotes from Top Gun or the fanboying over whichever incarnation the Jolly Rogers were currently in. I liked the A-6 Intruder, the F/A-18 Hornet, the jets that could do the cool smart bomb stuff we saw on CNN during Desert Storm. I laughed at all the fighter kids waving their skull-and-crossbone flags when the F-14's air-to-air haul in the Gulf War was one whole helicopter...

 

But then 1995 rolled around and they started putting bombs on the Tomcat. The A-6 Intruder went away and the F/A-18's legs were short. The F-14 became THE precision strike fighter for US power projection, and essentially did a "oh, you can fly fighter or attack, hold my beer" to the Hornet community. By the time Operation Allied Force was in swing and VF-41 and VF-14 were putting bombs on target, I was sitting up and paying attention.

 

I always liked the way it looked. Its aggressive lines are a marvel to behold. But as my love for the A-6, A-7, and F-8 prove, a plane has to do more than look pretty to get my attention. Now that it's more than just a fighter, I can't get enough of it.


Edited by Swordsman422

DCSF-14AOK3A.jpg

DCSF14AOK3B.png

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Because of a show named JAG (1995-2005), which I grew up watching and in which the protagonist of the show was a naval aviator who flew F-14's and was a hotshot lawyer. It was not without it's flaws, but it had some genuinely good episodes.

 

Whenever I think of a Tomcat, I always think of that show, where the Tomcat was still relevant and much adored by the main character. It cemented the Tomcat as cool in my mind somehow.

 

And it's the right plane for me and suits my style. Not too crude, but not too modern either. It's also very nice to look at.

 

If I could only keep one module, it would be the F-14, no contest.

Modules - F-18, F-16, Spitfire, F-5, Supercarrier, F-14, A10-C, MiG-21, Huey

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I have always liked the Tomcat(*).

 

I only started loving the Tomcat since (virtually) flying her in DCS.

 

So the answer to "Why?" has to be HEATBLUR.

 

Thank you, Heatblur :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

 

(*) p.s. and Tom Cruise had nothing to do with it, as I only watched Top Gun a few years ago.


Edited by Bearfoot
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I think it was 'The Final Countdown'. Unlike most people I associate the Tomcat with being a filmstar from THAT movie, not Topgun. And who wouldnt love it, sat there on the deck in the twilight, the truly evil looking skull and crossbones of VF84. And if that wasnt enough, it travels through time, tangles with zeros and shoots them down! Who wouldnt love that as a 7 year old? :D

 

 

And it sums up the latter stages of the cold war. It highlight US Naval airpower in a way nothing else did, and there was scarcely a crisis it didnt seem to have some role or other in.

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As mentioned before it was a few things:

 

- Dale Gardner, USN F-14 RIO for VF-1, Top Gun grad and NASA Astronaut, and my cousin. He traveled to see us and give a very inspiring presentation the Santa Clara reservation. I got to ask him so many questions about the Tomcat, Top Gun and flying the MMU in orbit!

 

 

 

gardner.jpg

 

 

I asked him if they had time for volleyball were issued motorcycles... He gave a very NASA PR response saying that the movie "took certain liberties" :D

 

He said it was lesson brief, fly, debrief, fly again, debrief and collapse every day. 5-6 hours of pulling G's and all you wanted was to lie down!

 

- Building/testing avionics at Honeywell. We built some small parts for the Cat but I mostly worked in production on the F-15 AHRS and B-52 DAFCS. (Autopilot) We did build a super complex relay array for the A-6...what a pain to test! My size and my coke bottle glasses kept me from my dream and service but I got to be a part in a small way.

 

- "Splash the Zeros. I say again. Splash the Zeros!"

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So why was the Tomcat the one plane that most of us dreamed about?

 

 

Why? You know why.....because.......she lost the loving feeling.....that's why :music_whistling:

 

Top Gun jokes aside....... my fascination is connected to that movie, but in a way not usually associated with it.

I was still a kid when it came out (pre-school) and my folks not being big movie goers at the time, didn't take me to see it. But it would appear everyone else did. So did all the kids on my street. Naturally, as a result of all this, toy and model planes suddenly got big. Like real big. You could not just buy them everywhere, but also every kid somehow instantly knew you had one. So when my dad got me some toy plane sets, all the kids flooded to my backyard and told me about the move. Being (even for a short time) the center of everyone's attention got me hooked into all things aviation. I started reading magazines related to aviation (not a contradiction, as i could read before i went to school), looked for articles related to aviation, watched moves on the topic AND most of all (and at the time easiest to access).....comic books.

 

I absorbed it all. WW1, WW2, modern - Cold War stuff. Even SF. And i slowly began to develop a taste for what i like and dislike about planes. It first started with delta wings. Being the age that i was, i could not tell the difference between a Mirage III or a Delta Dart, but admired both instantly. Spitfires and S.E.5's also found their way to my impressionable mind (and heart), but those are not related to the F-14, so i won't go into them. As i loved all things delta, the Tomcat in it's wing swept back configuration got my attention. At the time i didn't know they could move you see. And slowly, picture by picture it started to grow on me.

 

Then.....i must have been 10 or 11, i came across a Buck Danny comic...... an internet search decades later, revealed this to be Alerte nucléaire. And the F-14 was heavily exposed in that issue. And that made it all click. It was the final nail. I was charmed. A couple of years later, we got our first VCR, and as a rented all the moves withing 5km from where i live, i finally came across an old tape of Top Gun. Played it.....and.....well i'll be damned, those wings were moving! In flight! :huh: So.....i came to a full circle. What started with Top Gun, ended with Top Gun. My fascination never stopped since. I watched first JAG, and then later on The Final Countdown. To this day i can't objectively say if any of those movies/shows were good. They had an F-14 in them, so I could not help but watch them, over and over again.

 

 

And after i got my first PC in the mid 90's, i flew the thing. First in Jane's US Navy fighters, then Advanced Tactical Fighters Gold....... (i could never get Fleet defender to work on any of the machines i had at the time)......and then....they stopped making simulators. Well....they made them, they just didn't include the F-14. So naturally i only sticked with them for a short time. Until Aerosoft made their verson for FSX. And finally..... Heatblur with their masterpiece. So there.....my story..... no time to get some quality time with my Kitty :P :pilotfly:

 

I love it, because I wanted to prove to people on PvP, that the F-14 wasn't a "sluggish fighter that can't hold its own", like so many have been lead to believe.

There was a very interesting article at the time.....i think it was called "the F-14 and the knight syndrome". Have you ever read it?


Edited by captain_dalan

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There's just something about it. This humbling feeling you get, when you are close to her, even in the sim. It's almost like carrier quals going on in your tommy. Wether it's on a sleak picture, in real life (never got lucky enough to see her fly irl), in a movie, or in the sim, F2 or in a formation or just taxiing past on a carrier and of course: sitting in it. I think either you feel it, or you don't.

 

The shape, the bite, the reach - it just touches all at once. I guess, you know: it's like love at first sight, something one cannot fully explain anyway. It's like those elegant lines just keep growing away from it to meet at some point beyond infinity. Yes, all its pluses and benefits, the grip she has when you fly her, and the grasp for control, when you hold on to her through the groove, the loud sqeaking and rattling when she's angry and the rumbling feeling of ultimate power and badassery, when you unleash her anger; the brilliance of it for its time and the success it had in its mission role: all that does not quite cut it. Some, most of us I like to think, just get punched in the guts by it, and it sticks. The feeling just doesn't go away.

 

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For me, I grew up with Top Gun and JAG, but never really had a strong opinion on the Tomcat itself or even Naval Aviation in general, despite my dad being a Navy vet. Really the only thing I liked about the Tomcat was the unique yet pleasing whine of the engine intakes, modulating in and out as the pilot works his throttles during a trap. I don't know why, but I love that sound. Gives me chills every time I hear it.

 

It was initially the DCS Harrier and Hornet that lit my spark for Naval Aviation. Then, when the Tomcat teasers came out, all of that Top Gun nostalgia flooded in and I loved the detail and care being put into the module. Once I flew it, I came to love it because it feels so alive compared to the other aircraft. The warbirds like the Spitfire feel alive in a similar way, but the Tomcat just has more soul to it, somehow.

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Well, I can remember seeing the Tomcat perform at Ramstein during the 1976 airshow. I was impressed, but the old man (F-4 pilot) was kind of, "meh". The film "Final Countdown" introduced me to Tomcats in VF-84 colors (My fave scheme on Navy F-4s) and I was hooked. "TOPGUN" came out, loved it even more, and I got a book by Heatley that featured all his pix while he flew A models. WOW. Amazing pictures if anyone is still into printed books. Then the flight sims, "Fleet Defender" being a fave for years with me. Heatblur via DCS world has given us a chance to really taste the freedom that sexy Grumman wench gives us. I hate it met the fate that it did, surely some Hornet Mafia guido was behind the destruction of the tools and dies used to make this great airplane. For anyone interested, check out Youtube - "Aircrew Interview" by a young lad in the U.K. - plenty of great interviews, including some with former Tomcat drivers. Amazing stories one and all.

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i didn't. I notice that in many instances for many a love or at least favorites, for a specific aircraft at least in part seems to have to do with the era they grew up in. I observe that for the most part many here who have unrelenting love for the tomcat seem to be Boomers, or at youngest from generation X.

 

As a millenial a i was born and grew up in post cold war era long after any Hollywood films with said aircraft, and the first time i ever did get around to seeing any airshow i think they were already retired from service.

 

i grew up through 9/11 and the GWOT era ( A stan - and OIF from which were the first televised war footage i ever recall seeing during my formative years ), which the tomcat was only took part in 4 years or so, and as a strike fighter.

 

Although i did at some point in my life I end up watching a Top gun rerun on tv I didn't get any proper exposure to until HB F14 module. I learned to appreciate for what it's place in pop culture as well as historical significance , however said experience to date still didn't elevate my opinion of the aircraft as some uncontested legend.

 

In any case I think i still would have preferred the F14D Super Tomcat much more, at least for post cold war era scenarios, where it wouldn't feel ancient among other teen fighter level of tech we are accustomed to.


Edited by Kev2go

 

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Easy. Top Gun. I was 7 or 8 or so at the time, saw the movie, and was forever tainted. Then Iron Eagle and the Viper became #2 favorite plane. Didn't see Final Countdown till years later. I didn't know much about the plane at the time until I got a toy called "flying fighters" where you had the plane and then a joystick attached and the plane made noises as you moved it up or down and pressed the buttons. It came with Sidewinder, Sparrow and Phoenix missiles and the box explained pretty good what each missile did. Coupled with the working swing wings and landing gear and it was played with for a long time. The decals were of the Sundowners, and when you watch Top Gun, after the "flyby" bit in Viper's office and Goose asks for the Truckmaster number, he's standing next to a Sundowner logo hanging on the wall. So all that together cemented that plane as my clear #1. Now flying her in DCS, and she's such a fun plane to fly, a real stick and rudder feel to her, the DLC when you come in on the deck, just smile after smile. Even though you're not supposed to with the B, I love hearing the afterburners come on right before you launch of the deck.

 

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For me it was Top Gun. Cliche I know. I first saw the opening scene of Top Gun when I was in second or third grade or so (in the 90's) while at my babysitter's house. I remember someone popping in the VHS and the opening scene just grabbed my attention. To this day, it's still an EPIC scene.

 

As I grew older and I started getting heavily into aviation (somewhere around the 4th grade), in the Book Orders we could do for school, they had one of those thick heavy three ring binder thing with aircraft stat cards that you could "put together" year after year. I had to have it since the starter pack came with the F-14 card in it. I remember being fascinated by the capabilities of the aircraft.

 

It wasn't until the end of highschool, the proliferation of the internet's vast information trove, that I really began to appreciate the aircraft and what it could accomplish. You know... the whole, for it's time, being able to launch six missiles and track them all and splash them from insane ranges. The Pilot/RIO interaction, the outstanding aircraft handling for an aircraft so massive. The fact it did so much in the age that predates anything resembling a modern computer. It BLOWS MY MIND to this day how capable the F-14A was in 1975 given the aircraft technology at the time. It STILL BLOWS MY MIND how capable the F-14B and -D are even today (if they were still flying). It pisses me off to no end that politics ended the career of what should be the "F-15 of the Navy"... the airframe that just never went away, but such is not life.

 

My first F-14 "simulation" was a bootlegged copy of an Aerosoft F-14 for FSX. Was never big into flight simulation until college, but the F-14 does what she does. Captivates you!

 

My forray into DCS didn't occur until Heatblur created THIS beauty of a trailer:

 

From there, I got hooked... the deep dive into the F-14 Tomcat went into over drive. Now I started learning systems implementation, the "study level" of familiarity, in preparation for this epic bird. I regret nothing. I am continuously learning new things about the F-14 from everyone on these forums and it's like the worst crack addiction I've ever had! :D

 

There is no other aircraft that has gripped me to quite this extent. Nothing comes close. This aircraft is what launched my obsession into all things aerospace, it's what put me on the path to becoming an aerospace engineer (which didn't happen, but regardless) and it continues to humble me to this day just how awesome an aircraft it is.

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Why we love the tomcat - its a masterpiece in terms of texture, sound, simulation and the multicrew experience is fantastically done - I've even grown to love Jester especially now he doesn't bang out on me all the time! The feedback to the pilot for a simulation is well done regarding sound and airframe stress.

 

Back seat is amazing i just wish they would have 2 lines on the TID for target data - i believe the B's had this so not sure why it rotates between the two data subsets i thought this was the early A model's only?

 

Its a credit to Heatblur - i look forward to their next module, please please please let it be a Tornado GR1/GR4 !!

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I'm going to begin this by admitting that I HATE the movie TOP GUN. It's full of patent absurdity, so my affections for the F-14 absolutely do not stem from it.

 

That being said, I got my first look at one as a 13 year old kid at an airshow during the summer of 1993. Tomcat demonstrations have since become legendary and it's easy to understand why. I was captivated by the enormous machine's grace and agility. The demo lasted about 10-12 minutes and I don't think I blinked once.

 

Afterward, I went about learning everything I could about it. I honestly don't even really care that it's a machine of war. The fact that it possesses such impressive capabilities over such a broad speed and altitude range is what really drew me in.

 

Being able to blow shit up with it in DCS is just a bonus.

 

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Because its the best? Probably the most iconic naval fighter ever designed and produced, and not only because of its looks. Sure it was a maintenance hog early on in its life but with the B upgrades and especially when the D version came along it could do all of the things the Hornet or SuperHornet could do, and then some, and if you look at some real-world reports of the alleged "problems" of the F14 you quickly realize that it's mostly politics and other shenaningans that influenced its downfall and discontinuation instead of real world problems...

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For the same reason I love the AC Cobra, the one with the big nasty engine. Only thing on 4 wheels I'd ever buy (not counting my truck). And the F-4.

 

It, they, have personality. The Heatblur representation cinched it - you have to _fly_ this thing and that, in of itself, makes it very satisfying.

 

And yeah, 90% of the movie TopGun sucked, except the flying cinematography. It grew on me though.

 

It ('she') lives on via HB's dedication.


Edited by jross194

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