| |
|
|
|
Last of the Tomcats
Tony Osborne visited USS Theodore Roosevelt to report on the final Tomcat operations with the US Navy.
For 30 years, the Tomcat has been one of the best-known shapes in the sky, while its appearances in movies such as The Final Countdown and Top Gun have ensured the jet will live forever in aviation heaven.
This awesome machine has been in US Navy service since 1973, flying operationally in Vietnam, Libya, Lebanon, and both Persian Gulf Wars. Today, however the F-14, once the tip of the sword in the Navy's Atlantic and Pacific fleets now languishes in the with a final few squadrons, with many already converting or have converted to the all-new 'electric jet', the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. But in late 2005, the Tomcat was given one last chance to shine with a final cruise to the Persian Gulf aboard America's 'Big Stick', the USS Theodore Roosevelt.
Since September 2005, the carrier's vast air wing (CVW-8) unusually, has two Tomcat squadrons embarked, VF-31 'Tomcatters' and VF-213 'Black Lions'. Both squadrons are fielding the awesome F-14D, the ultimate incarnations of the 70s fighter equipped with upgraded F110 engines with 28200 lbs thrust each. This means that the 'D' needs no reheat for the normally strenuous catapult launch and it also features improved flying characteristics and more fuel efficiency.
Each day the Tomcats launch alongside F/A-18 Hornets of VFA-87 and VFA-15, EA-6B Prowlers of VAQ-141, S-3B Vikings from VS-24, E-2C Hawkeyes from VAW-124 and SH-60 Seahawks from HS-3 which have all be playing their part in conducting operations in the Persian Gulf, not only in support of operations in Iraq but also what the Navy calls Maritime Security Operations (MSO).
The two months has seen the ship in a high tempo of operations as part of Operation Steel Curtain, an on-going aerial campaign to reduce the threat of insurgent attacks on both Iraqi civilians and coalition troops on the ground. Each day dozens of missions are being launched and recovered around the clock with live ordnance, and few aircraft come back with the bombs and weaponry still attached. Even during the relative peace of the Iraqi parliamentary elections, which occurred during the author's visit to the ship, missions continued around the clock.
It's hard work, not only for the pilots, many who are having to adjust to five or six hour missions but also the crews aboard the ship who are determined to their bit to make the lives of the troops on the ground in Iraq that little bit more bearable.
Lt Nicholas Smith (27), F-14 Tomcat Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) with VF-31, is among the many airmen flying missions into central Iraq will surely miss the Tomcat: "It's sad to think that this fine aircraft will soon no longer be in service, but this is a time of transition and modernisation for the US Navy. It's an organisation that tends to look forward not back, but there's no doubt we'll all miss the Tomcat. There's a great deal of rivalry between the Hornet squadrons and Tomcat squadrons, but it's a friendly rivalry which only goes to help better ourselves. The flying over here has been challenging, we fly a whole range of missions, from the MSO's where we are doing a little flying up over the Persian Gulf and then there's four or five hour missions that will take us right up into northern Iraq. During those missions we are doing two or three refuelling in that time to keep the tanks topped up, so when we do go into action we don't have too much worry about our fuel status."
Lt Matt Nieswand (26), who serves with VF-213, was the last ever pilot to be trained on the Tomcat at NAS Oceana: "It was a strange feeling that everyone was saying their goodbyes and farewells to an aircraft I was learning to fly. For me, this is the ultimate aircraft. When you think of the Navy and its aircraft carriers, this is the aircraft that people think of and that's why I wanted to fly it. It's going to be sad to see the aircraft go. Nothing really compares with this machine, especially in the long-range attack role there are very few that can match it. The flying over Iraq has been challenging, and even though we are about to retire the jet, we are still adding new pieces of technology to it."
By the time the aircrews return to the Big Stick's homebase in February or March 2006 they will not only be celebrating the success of another cruise, but also celebrating one of the greatest carrier aircraft of all time. VF-213 crews say they expect to make their transition to the Super Hornet within a month of their return, while VF-31 will transition to the new aircraft some six or seven months after their return.
The author would like to thank the United States Navy and its Fifth Fleet Public Affairs team as well as the Public Affairs officers aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt for all the hard work they did in getting him aboard the ship. Articles and photos published on this website are copyright protected. All rights reserved.
|
|
|
| | |
|
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)