F-14s... Not USAF and not brown

[Ivan]

these are RECENT shots... 4 blue F-14s taxiing in a row

http://www.patricksaviation.com/videos/amirtomcat/2808/

Ultimate GCI launch platform... radars on the ground, HAWK on the Tomcat
http://www.patricksaviation.com/videos/amirtomcat/2797/

[Ashar]

Fantastic video...Iran has quite a few Tomcats at its disposal then... 8-)

[Ivan]

The ones that are shown had a D-check and are basically new... And in the process they got a new paint

[Ashar]

The ones that are shown had a D-check and are basically new... And in the process they got a new paint

Its interesting though, I read that no more spare parts are being manufactured for the F-14's in the US in case they may get shipped to Iran...I heard that all existing F-14's has been scrapped too...I have no idea as to how true that is...Do you know Ivan?

[fighter25]

Ashar all the F-14's in the US have been scrapped.

[mustang666]

Nice one!  Out of 60-70 birds bought from the US there aint too many left flying.  Most of them have been raped for parts to keep the few they have left airworthy.  Amazing how times change!  Iranian pilots due to fly the Tomcat went to the US for training on how to fly these to their full capacity.  

Any case the Super Hornet will leave these standing.

[Ashar]

Ashar all the F-14's in the US have been scrapped.

Ah...That's what I thought...There is not even 1 left? For like a museum or something?  :-/

[Ivan]

Ashar all the F-14's in the US have been scrapped.

Ah...That's what I thought...There is not even 1 left? For like a museum or something?

[ThatOnePerson]

hehehe and all the while my CAF museum keeps our cat shhhhhhh

[C]

The ones that are shown had a D-check and are basically new... And in the process they got a new paint

Its interesting though, I read that no more spare parts are being manufactured for the F-14's in the US in case they may get shipped to Iran...

Reverse engineering?

As for the thread title - did the USAF ever operate the Tomcat?

[Ivan]

The ones that are shown had a D-check and are basically new... And in the process they got a new paint

Its interesting though, I read that no more spare parts are being manufactured for the F-14's in the US in case they may get shipped to Iran...

Reverse engineering?

Reverse engineering that is slowly evolving in an indigenous aircraft production program. They can make most mid-sized parts of the A300 and A310 like the cargo doors, and they have made a few new AH-1J helicopters (easy to recognise as they put the 'new' canopy on them instead of the old one).
And their love relationship with anything JT9D powered (A300, A310, 747SP and 747-200) has a reason: they can make a lot of the parts themselves.

As for the thread title - did the USAF ever operate the Tomcat?

Yeah... my fault

[Papa9571]

There are approximately 60 F-14's left in the USA, not counting those on display at various museums, military installations, etc.

They are maintained at Davis Motham AFB as reserves in case they should decide to bring the Tomcat back.