So, when will the US have completely automated aircraft? They are long
overdue. Personed vehicles can only turn about 9 g's, and have to carry
a lot of extra weight just for the person on board.
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Squadron Homecoming Marks End of Era for Tomcats
By Petty Officer 1st Class Stefanie Holzeisen-Mullen, USN
American Forces Press Service
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., March 10, 2006 – Two strike fighter squadrons
arrived at Naval Air Station Oceana here today, ending a six-month
deployment and closing the book on the Tomcat as an asset in the Navy's
war fighting arsenal.
The "Tomcatters" of Strike Fighter Squadron 31 and the "Black Lions" of
Strike Fighter Squadron 213 were deployed with Carrier Air Wing 8
embarked on the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt.
The squadrons' "fly-off" marked the last operational flight of the F-14D
Tomcat and the final stage of the squadrons' transition to the F/A-18
E/F Super Hornet. VF-213 pilots will begin F/A-18F training next month
and VF-31 pilots, who are transitioning to the F/A-18E, will remain
operational until September when they will fly the last Tomcat in the
Navy's inventory from Oceana.
"Everyone has worked very hard, pulled together and with purpose to
ensure we retire this naval aviation icon appropriately and commensurate
with its long and proud legacy," Cmdr. Richard LaBranche, VF-31
commanding officer, said.
The Navy decided to decommission the Tomcat and move to the Super Hornet
to lighten the workload on its people after recognizing the excessive
amount of maintenance needed to keep them operational. "It takes about
three to four times more maintenance man-hours per flight hour to
maintain than the newer Hornet," LaBranche said. "Retiring the extremely
relevant but maintenance intensive Tomcat was a way to save the
exhaustive efforts of our people and better spend their labors."
For the pilots who fly them and the crews who keep them operational, the
loss of the Tomcat hits close to home. "I will miss flying the Tomcat
very much," LaBranche said. "Saying good bye to the Tomcat will be like
saying good bye to an old friend, but in the best interest of our
people, it must be done."
Throughout its 32-year service to the fleet, the Tomcat has been
synonymous with excellence. Since the first aircraft entered operational
service in September 1974, the Grumman Aerospace Corporation-built F-14
has seen numerous upgrades and modifications to meet the demands of the
Navy as the premier carrier-based multi-role strike fighter. "It is one
of the greatest fighter planes in history," Lt. Chris Rattigan, a pilot
with VF-31, said. "When you think of naval aviation, you think of the
Tomcat."
The Tomcat saw its first major improvements to the initial design with
the F-14B, introduced in November 1987, which incorporated new General
Electric F-110 engines. In 1995, an upgrade program brought the Tomcat
new digital avionics and weapon system improvements. "The F-14 may be
old, but with all the upgrades (over the years), there isn't anything
out there tougher and more capable than the Tomcat," Petty Officer 2nd
Class Michael Houlihan, an aviation structural mechanic with VF-31, said.
During this deployment, VF-31 flew more sorties and with the highest
sortie completion rate of any other Tomcat squadron in recent history,
LaBranche said. With a more than 99 percent sortie-completion rate and a
100 percent on-target rate when ordnance was expended during this, their
final deployment, VF-31 is confident they sent the Tomcat out on a high
note.
"Our successes on this deployment have been huge," Houlihan said. "We
accomplished more than we had set out to do. I honestly think that VF-31
has proved that these aircraft, despite the amount of maintenance
required to maintain it, have a lot of life left in them."
While deployed, VF-31 provided invaluable close-air support to troops on
the ground and, together with VF-213, completed 1,163 combat sorties
totaling 6,876 flight hours and dropped 9,500 pounds of ordnance.
"Our entire crew is acutely aware of the historic nature of being the
very last Tomcat squadron," said LaBranche, noting the attention VF-31
is facing as they return from this final deployment in support of
Operation Iraqi Freedom.
"To see the sailors of this command perform so magnificently throughout
five months of arduous combat operations has been inspirational for me,"
LaBranche said. "(The unit) has met every challenge head-on, succeeded
in every endeavor and left a legacy befitting our new slogan as 'The
Last Cat Standing.'"
(Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Stefanie Holzeisen-Mullen is assigned to
Fleet Public Affairs Center Atlantic.)
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Mar2006/20060310_4455.html
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