Forum: Military Aircraft of the Cold War

I'll put $50 on the Hornets in that case, huggy Smile

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Was up at NAS Oceana a couple of weeks ago talking to a lot of ex-Tomcat and current Hornet crews. The best way I could put it, and most of them agreed was that:

"Hornets on the flight deck, beat Tomcats on the hangar deck any day of the week."

Everyone loved the Tomcat, and not just military aviation fans. The 'Cat became a popular cultural icon - while based at TJ I can remember sitting in a bar in Madrid watching "Top Gun" in Spanish - when I realized that I still knew basically every word - and then I realized that all of the locals sitting around me did as well.

But - by the time the Tomcat, the last in the line of Gumman built Naval fighters, was retired a year ago they were old and pretty tired. The Tomcat was a fighter of a different era, much closer to the Phantom than the F-22, and the years are hard on carrier based aircraft with the combination of arrested landings, cat shots and corrosive environment.

Now, you and I know that the Super Hornet isn't the answer to all of the questions that the Tomcat's retirement asks, but sadly, it was time...

Mike Kopack

Forum: Military Aircraft of the Cold War

F/A-18 vs F-14