Kiwi Boy Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 Hey all. Those of us who are totally gaga about the legend that is the Grumman F-14 Tomcat will be happy to know that the big cat is still breathing!! Just doing my daily scout on airliners.net and came across this as their feature photo... http://www.airliners.net/photo/Iran---Air/...mcat/1907605/M/ The Iranian cats are stil chugging away but I am suspicious as to how they we reincarnated after they went into storage for a while. Where did the parts come from? How did they pay for it? Did the Americans have something to do with it despite cutting ties with Iran after the Shar was booted out? So many questons. Anyway enjoy the photo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 Thats a bit cool & more than a bit unexpected. I'm guessing they don't exactly encourage such pics, I won't ask how you came by them but they would make a nice model subject. Did anyone ever do any decals for these? Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daz greenwood Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 There are decals for Iranian cats. Fujmi did an Iranian cat boxing. Or you could get these from Hannants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 The Iranian Tomcats have been in continuous service since their delivery, only single planes went in (and out of) storage but never the whole fleet. Spares were acquired in a number of ways during the first gulf war with Irak, including smuggling from the US, provided through Israel and secretly provided by The US theselves as part of the deal that led tothe Iran-Contras scandal. A good number of parts were also available in the country after the fall of the Shah. In the meantime Iran has developed its own capability of manufacturing spare parts for the Tomcat. When US analysts had the chance to evaluate a tomcat that defected to Irak, they found that several parts were not original US made but had been copied in Iran. That was more than 20 years ago, today the indigenous support capability covers pretty much everything. Even parts of the radar have been replaced with more modern local replacements. The camouflage show in that picture has replaced the older original one only a few years ago. Decals were made for these planes by both Hi-Decal, Cross Delta, FCM and Techmod. All the scales have been covered, from 1/144 to 1/32 included. To correctly represent one of these planes, they are equivalent to the USN block 80-85, therefore have the final design of the gun gas grilles (that on USN planes was later replaced by the F-14D arrangement), pitot probe on the radome, no ECM bulges on the beaver tail and beside the intakes. These planes usually dont carry the IFR probe door, and use the AIM-9J instead of the L. Iran is now producing a copy of the AIM-9J. This has made superfluous the integration of russian types that was initially proposed. Iran also developed an air-to-air version of the Hawk SAM and some were tested on the tomcat. Sparrow and phoenix missiles are also used, and there are strong rumours that Iran is now building its own version of the phoenix. Although it's not brand new anymore, the Osprey book on the Iranian Tomcat units in combat is highly recommended for anyone who wants to know more about these. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daz greenwood Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 I have the Osprey you mention Giorgio and its a very good reference for any one building Iranian cats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExRAF Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 The arms industry has probably always been this way and always will be. Questions of interest such as who has, and continues, to support the airframe the engines and perhaps even if Martin-Baker support the ejection systems from the UK will almost certainly never be resolved. It's a murky world with blurred lines sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrvr6 Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 Any idea if there's any truth in the rumour about Iran actively using the turkey against Iraq and a lot of the eagles kills in gulf war 1 were due to the iraqis running away from the navy tomcats? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 Any idea if there's any truth in the rumour about Iran actively using the turkey against Iraq and a lot of the eagles kills in gulf war 1 were due to the iraqis running away from the navy tomcats? Tom Cooper of Acig fame describes the use of the iranian tomcats against Iraq in the abovementioned Osprey book, of which he is the author. He had access to many pilots to interview and has always proved to have many contacts in Iran. Personally I trust his research more than I trust the older stories about the tomcats never been flown and so on. If the tomcats had not been succesfull or had been impossible to use, Iran would have replaced them. They bought Mig-29s and Su-24s, they would have had no problem in buying other planes to replace the tomcats. Mind, the same author has been heavily criticised on a couple of US fora, but for some people there he is guilty of saying things like that the US provided assistance to iraq dring the war... all things that we now know are true. Some have accused him of lying about the story of iranian tomcats and still believe that they haven't been flying since the fall of the Shah. As the foreign press and diplomatic personnel saw them flying over a number of celebrations, it's clear that they are still around. The fact that the US government showed a lot of concern about Iran purchasing parts from retired tomcats, is another sign that these planes are operational. Things are different about desert storm: the tomcats were assigned to areas that were away from the iraqi borders, while the eagles covered the skies over iraq and its immediate borders. Any iraqiplane would have to meet an eagle before it could meet a tomcat, and with the kind of cover provided by the eagles, this could not happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 Pity relations with Iran are so strained. Would love to see one of these at RIAT or something!! Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Martian Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 Also from Airliners.net from April 16th pics Erm, weren't Phantoms retired a couple of decades ago ? Seems the Iranian AF is happy to keep them going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julien Posted April 30, 2011 Share Posted April 30, 2011 Nice pic, F-14 F-4 & MiG-29 all in the same shot! Julien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now