iran has 4 flyable f-14 tomcats??

[tom d. friedman]

a friend told me today that iran has 4 out of 27 flyable f-14 tomcats left. he said he saw it on airliners.net, if true where are they getting the back up & parts?? fabricating them on their own?? cannibalizing from existing hangar queens?? those f-14's are pushing 30 years old & were bought while the shah was still in power. there has been speculation that north korea or china have a hand in it supplying technical support.

[Ztex]

They may have more than 4 flying...

Here's a video said to be from April of last year...shows at least 6...

http://www.patricksaviation.com/videos/amirtomcat/3221/

Airliners search result.. ( massive url )
http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?aircraft_genericsearch=Grumman+F-14+Tomcat+(G-303)&airlinesearch=Iran+-+Air+Force&countrysearch=&specialsearch=&daterange=&keywords=&range=&sort_order=&page_limit=15&thumbnails=&calccount=1377034&truecount=false&engine_version=6.0

[tom d. friedman]

z man, my buddy said finding it was a royal pain too. thanks for taking the time to do so.

[A2C]

My guess is that they are cannon fodder. Old TF-30 engines, and old equipment overall.

[Randy Haskin]

My guess is that they are cannon fodder. Old TF-30 engines, and old equipment overall.

Never, never, NEVER underestimate your enemy.

[love2gofly]

That makes 4 more than we have...

'Iranian Tomcats Serials

160299 F-14A 3-863
160300 F-14A 3-864
160301 F-14A 3-865
160302 F-14A 3-866
160303 F-14A 3-867
160304 F-14A 3-868
160305 F-14A 3-869
160306 F-14A 3-870
160307 F-14A 3-871
160308 F-14A 3-872
160309 F-14A 3-873
160310 F-14A 3-874
160311 F-14A 3-875
160312 F-14A 3-876
160313 F-14A 3-877
160314 F-14A 3-878
160315 F-14A 3-879
160316 F-14A 3-880
160317 F-14A 3-881
160318 F-14A 3-882
160319 F-14A 3-883
160320 F-14A 3-884
160321 F-14A 3-885
160322 F-14A 3-886
160323 F-14A 3-887
160324 F-14A 3-888
160325 F-14A 3-889
160326 F-14A 3-890
160327 F-14A 3-891
160328 F-14A 3-892
160329 F-14A 3-8001
160330 F-14A 3-8002
160331 F-14A 3-8003
160332 F-14A 3-8004
160333 F-14A 3-8005
160334 F-14A 3-8006
160335 F-14A 3-8007
160336 F-14A 3-8008
160337 F-14A 3-8009
160338 F-14A 3-8010
160339 F-14A 3-8011
160340 F-14A 3-8012
160341 F-14A 3-8013
160342 F-14A 3-8014
160343 F-14A 3-8015
160344 F-14A 3-8016
160345 F-14A 3-8017
160346 F-14A 3-8018
160347 F-14A 3-8019
160348 F-14A 3-8020
160349 F-14A 3-8021
160350 F-14A 3-8022
160351 F-14A 3-8023
160352 F-14A 3-8024
160353 F-14A 3-8025
160354 F-14A 3-8026
160355 F-14A 3-8027
160356 F-14A 3-8028
160357 F-14A 3-8029
160358 F-14A 3-8030
160359 F-14A 3-8031
160360 F-14A 3-8032
160361 F-14A 3-8033
160362 F-14A 3-8034
160363 F-14A 3-8035
160364 F-14A 3-8036
160365 F-14A 3-8037
160366 F-14A 3-8038
160367 F-14A 3-8039
160368 F-14A 3-8040
160369 F-14A 3-8041
160370 F-14A 3-8042
160371 F-14A 3-8043
160372 F-14A 3-8044
160373 F-14A 3-8045
160374 F-14A 3-8046
160375 F-14A 3-8047
160376 F-14A 3-8048
160377 F-14A 3-8049 Remained in the U.S.A. for testing.

http://www.iiaf.net/aircraft/jetfighters/F14/f14.html

[John Dupre]

It is very hard to figure out just what Iran has or does not have. They engage in a lot of propaganda and disinformation. Sometime in the 1980s the CIA arranged for a Tomcat and two Phantoms to defect to Iraq. The Tomcat and one Phantom flew on to Saudi Arabia to be inspected. One Phantom was so unsafe the American pilots wouldn't fly it and it remained there until it was destroyed in the American attacks in 2003. There were photos on the web. The whole point was to determine if Iran was building spare parts to keep its American aircraft flying. The finding was that they were at least for the Phantom and less so for the Tomcat.

I have heard that the latest F-18 pilots found fighting against the Tomcat akin to clubbing baby seals.

[gale_dono]

A recent issue of Combat Aircraft had an article on Iranian Airpower, they put the number remaining flyable at around 27 or so if memory serves. Some of them have been fitted to use Russian AAM's as well.

I agree with Randy, however (and he should know this better than some college student like me) never, ever underestimate your potential enemies.

[RickH]

Wonder if some of these guys are the same ones who get there butts kicked by the Skyhawk? At least until they learn how to fight it !

[Ken]

They may have more than 4 flying...

Here's a video said to be from April of last year...shows at least 6...

Or possibly the same three spliced into the video again. They could have 30 or zero - let's hope the people who really need to know, know.

Ken

[jet1]

...probability is close to zero that they could fight for more than 1 minute....

[gale_dono]

...probability is close to zero that they could fight for more than 1 minute....

"There's no way fighters will need guns anymore. The guided missle is the wave of the future; dogfighting is dead"

e: Notwithstanding the fact that a war with Iran is extremely unlikely at this point.

[jet1]

...probability is close to zero that they could fight for more than 1 minute....

"There's no way fighters will need guns anymore. The guided missle is the wave of the future; dogfighting is dead"

e: Notwithstanding the fact that a war with Iran is extremely unlikely at this point.

the missle systems were removed from those AC by the factroy techs that were in country servicing the planes when we got the iron boot....no systems = no way to survive in combat. (although I prefer guns myself)

[A2C]

"There's no way fighters will need guns anymore. The guided missle is the wave of the future; dogfighting is dead"

e: Notwithstanding the fact that a war with Iran is extremely unlikely at this point.

Isn't that what the bean counters said in 'nam? So the missile only F-4's got beat up by the Mig 17's at first, before they had guns.[/code]