Is the F-14 Tomcat ever going to fly again?

Question

I hated to see this remarkable aircraft be retired. It was one of my favs. Will we ever see one of these fly at an airshow?

Answer 1

Barring a major war the US military will not use the F-14 in combat.
They will still be used in air shows and by other countries' militaries. The US will continue to use a small amount for testings.

It's sad to see it's limited use, but it is over 30 years old and the upkeep costs are quite high.

F-14; retired but not extinct.

Answer 2

The military has retired this type of aircraft. So you will not see any military demonstration of the F-14 Tomcat although certain individuals have purchased and maintained military aircraft for airshows. There are a few people out there have Hawker Hunters, MiG-17 and T-38 Talons for display and demonstrations at airshows. Just hope that there is going to be a group of people with money to keep the Tomcat flying. The main reason for retirement of this airframe is high maintenance costs and structural fatigue. Citing the incident at the retirement ceremony... F-14s were readied for the ceremonial final flight; after the primary plane experiencing mechanical problems, a backup was flown instead.

Answer 3

A air museum has bought a F-14 for airshows currently the plane is grounded due to lack of parts. However the Iranian air force has F-14's whether they still fly or not I can't say.

Answer 4

Doubtful even though it was built by Grumman's "iron Works" and are still sound aircraft, the Navy's current mission is based more on cost per sortie. The new air fleet of F/A 18s available and the new F35 Lightning II coming on-line at the end of the decade made the F-14 less cost efficient for Fleet service

Answer 5

Im realy sad if they do so
The F-14 tomcat is cool plane but it's OLD
the deployed it in 1972
but there is Updated on it's the F-14B and the F-14D super tomcat they had been deployed in 1987 and 1988 with new engin.

but now it's the time for the F-35 to take the place

Answer 6

I did hear a rumor of a demo team on the east coast that was going to take the F-14 around to airshows and fly it.

Answer 7

A few will, but they won't return top service, they take too many ground maintenance hours per flying hour and they are outclassed by more modern aircraft.

Look for them turning up as target drones in 10 years maybe. Sad, but that's where many F4s and F5s ended up.

The Iranian F14s have been hanger queens since before the US Vincennes shot down a civilian Airbus A300 claiming they thought it could be one of them. Eventually they admitted that they knew what it was. Who can blame the Iranians for distrusting America when the USN murdered so many people and then declared it 'an understandable mistake' by frightened sailors in combat (the US has never been at war with Iran) for the first time?

http://www.history.com/exhibits/military_blunders/mb_iasd.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/3/newsid_4678000/4678707.stm

Answer 8

The history channel has a special on the F-14 retirement it was on last night (very good). Seems they will keep some still intact for possible future use.
Ck. out the history channel (on demand) you might be able to catch it.

Answer 9

There are museum F-14's that will fly occasionally, but it will never again fly under military colors.

Too unfortunate, to be sure.

Answer 10

people who have enough money ccan get there hands on one...other than that masybe forgen countys...but in the US they are kept at an aircraft boneyard...maybe someday if all hell breaks loose they can be re-armed and sent back into combat