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(Tangent, in praise of the F-14) Before the F-14s were retired (2004-ish?), I attended an air show at the Quonset Air National Guard Base [0] . As part of the
by CoastalCoder 4y ago
(Tangent, in praise of the F-14)
Before the F-14s were retired (2004-ish?), I attended an air show at the Quonset Air National Guard Base [0] .
As part of the show, an F-14 took off from the runway and then went vertical (I assume on afterburners). It stayed vertical until it disappeared into the clouds.
It felt like I was living in some sci-fi future, watching a spaceship launch. I was in awe. It was like some Stewart Cowley [1] book [2] come to life.
IMHO it's still one of the coolest-looking fighter planes ever, up there with the YF-23 [3] and Su-35 [4].
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quonset_Point_Air_National_Guard_Station https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quonset_Point_Air_National_Gua...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stewart_Cowley https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stewart_Cowley
[2] https://www.amazon.com/Spacecraft-2000-2100-D-Authority-Handbook/dp/0890092117 https://www.amazon.com/Spacecraft-2000-2100-D-Authority-Hand...
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_YF-23 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_YF-23
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_Su-35 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_Su-35
- ethbr0 4y agoThe first time I saw an F-22 do this out of Dobbins (north of Atlanta) completely changed my art-of-the-possible physics understanding. Seeing something going vertical and accelerating is fascinating.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- sedatk 4y agoI agree about the coolest looking. It has a very muscular look from the front. I'd also add F-4 and Mig-29 to the list. F-22 isn't bad either although not as cool as YF-23.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- EdwardDiego 4y agoAh Chris Foss cover art, God I loved his space art when I discovered a book of it as a kid.
- YZF 4y agoThe F-15 can also do that. I guess they don't operate from carriers though but otherwise they're probably the ones that took away a lot of the F-14's niche.
- rootusrootus 4y agoAFAIK, the F-15 was in fact the first fighter that could accelerate vertically. I'm not sure the F-14 ever had enough power to do that. IIRC some newer variants of the F-16 can do it with the improved engines, as well as other modern fighters. I miss watching F-14s at the airshows. It was always a good show. Though I have to say, having recently watched a solo F-35 demo and having modest expectations, I was impressed. It may be a boondoggle and massively overpriced, but it seems to have the performance now.
- fivefifty 4y agoI don't think the F-15 would be the first to accelerate vertically, the English Electric Lightning was also known for incredible climb performance even in the vertical and it's a much older design of aircraft.
- foldr 4y ago> I'm not sure the F-14 ever had enough power to do that. It might have with a tiny amount of fuel and no load out (at an air show). In a realistic operational configuration, definitely not.
- xionon 4y agoI have a vague childhood memory of looking through a large illustrated book about spaceships in our public library and being in awe. When I came back on another trip, it was gone. I never knew the name or author, but the memory surfaces every few years. It always made me a little sad, because I couldn’t remember enough to find it as an adult - just the vibes I got as a child. I am now 99% sure it was Spacecraft 2000 - 2100 AD. Thank you so much for posting the name and helping me solve this mystery.
- CoastalCoder 4y agoYou're welcome! One day when I was pretty young, my dad brought that book home from the local library. He didn't often do stuff like that, so it's a really nice memory. I couldn't remember much about the book either. I did some digging a few years ago when I wanted to get a copy for one of my kids. Tangent: the spaceship designs in the Homeworld games [0] remind me a lot of that book. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeworld https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeworld