F14's being retired

scubasteve · Post by **scubasteve** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 10:28 am

According to CNN today the Tomcat is being retired and the F-18 is going to be the only carrier based fighter in the US. Anyone want to hazard a guess at the price on Ebay??

Hedley · Post by **Hedley** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 11:00 am

The US military takes a very dim view about it's airframes being used by civilians. Look at the slingsby disposal - the engines and avionics weren't even allowed to be sold off as surplus. And the US Navy has very aggressively pursued people who have salvaged and restored 60 year old WWII wrecks.

grounded · Post by **grounded** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 1:27 pm

I remember a few years ago there was a guy in the US who had a T-38 I think. He got it without it being recycled like the slingsbys are being right now, because it was a Air Force plane that crashed at a Navy base. He had to put gear and a bunch of other work into it, but within a short time he had a flyable machine. He also spent a lot of time and money in court trying to keep said machine when the military realized what they had done. There are ads in magazines that advertise rides in T-38s and other military equipment, so I'm sure that someone will find a loophole and end up with a shiny F-14 in their backyard. Good luck buying fuel though.

C-GPFG · Post by **C-GPFG** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 2:11 pm

That's a classic fighter that has to be preserved.

If they can do it with a F-104, why not a F14?

McPhoo · Post by **McPhoo** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 10:42 pm

Methinks we won't see and F-14 flying civilian until they are far and completly obsolete. They may be old by U.SA. Navy standards but they would be handy for wome warlord in Somalia no? So I expect they will be mothballed and not permittted to fly for along time. Most will get scrapped and a few will go to museums but I think it will be some time before we see one on the airshow circuit in civies.

shitdisturber · Post by **shitdisturber** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 1:06 am

C-GPFG wrote:That's a classic fighter that has to be preserved.

If they can do it with a F-104, why not a F14?

If memory serves that is a Canadian 104; one of those interesting contradictions, we can't have Canadian fighters up here sold to civilians but we can sell them to Americans and nobody will say a word. Although I have seen T-38's etc for sale down there.

linecrew · Post by **linecrew** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 4:00 am

shitdisturber wrote:If memory serves that is a Canadian 104; one of those interesting contradictions, we can't have Canadian fighters up here sold to civilians but we can sell them to Americans and nobody will say a word. Although I have seen T-38's etc for sale down there.

That's not exactly correct. These guys do have 2 Canadian built CF-104's but both were sold to the Royal Norwegian Air Force. Since Norway doesn't have laws restricting the sale of military aircraft to civilians both were imported to the American civil register.

Here's the webpage with details of their birds:

http://www.starfighters.net/aircraft/aircraft.html

Hedley · Post by **Hedley** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 6:39 am

we can't have Canadian fighters up here sold to civilians

Didn't the NRC have a C-reg T-33 that it was selling off? I know a T-33 isn't much of a "fighter", but ...

IIRC The superb formation aerobatic team, the Northern Lights, did a switch to L-39 (iron curtain trainer) jets, right at the end of their career. Unlike their Extras, which were all N-registered, I believe they were trying to register the L-39's in Canada. Not sure if they were ever successful.

So, I suspect that if you're willing to push simply awesome amounts of paper, and you are sufficiently personally well-liked at a high enough level at Transport, it is possible to C-register an ex-military jet.

P.S. Last time I saw Andre Lortie (years ago) he was flying a primer-grey Lear with hard points, and was talking about a Hawker Hunter.

linecrew · Post by **linecrew** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 7:38 am

Hedley wrote:
we can't have Canadian fighters up here sold to civilians
Didn't the NRC have a C-reg T-33 that it was selling off? I know a T-33 isn't much of a "fighter", but ....

Again good point but not quite the same thing. The CAF are the ones that have a rule about selling their surplus aircraft to civilians. Several years ago the RCAF sold two T-33s to NRC for a token transaction of $1 and were issued civil registraions. I guess NRC doesn't have the same policy and is allowed to sell their goods to whomever they please. This was evident when a couple of years ago one of the T-birds was sold to an American civilian pilot.

Also, the Northern Lights folks got out of the airshow business after losing one of their ranks in an L-39 crash. They resurfaced a few years later flying Canadian registered ex. Swiss Air Force Hawker Hunters.

snaproll20 · Post by **snaproll20** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 8:47 am

oooooh! A Hawker Hunter!!

Aaaah Aaaah
(Anybody got any screen wipe?)

righthandman · Post by **righthandman** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 3:32 pm

Fuel flow/burn rate at full afterburner is...
2500 lbs/min. = $$$

righthandman · Post by **righthandman** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 3:36 pm

haven't posted for a while, forgot about rude "Signature" I had in my Profile, deleted it.

CAPGEN · Post by **CAPGEN** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 12:22 am

"Uh yeah, I'll take 2 Kiowas an F-5 and HMCS Algonquin...and I'll need a reciept."

http://www.forces.gc.ca/admmat/dgiip/dd ... wing_e.asp

http://www.lancasteraviation.com/aircraft.htm

Actually, this article is a pretty interesting read on the topic...I may have originally read it on here:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.10/kirlin.html

F14's being retired

F14's being retired

Minor detail to keep in mind on owning an F-14

oops