Okay so random question here for any USN experts we may have.
From what I understand, the last F-4’s left USN Reserve service in 1987, while the last RF-8 Crusaders also left USN Reserve service that same year.
I’m wondering…..given that the F-14 entered service in 1974 and the F/A-18 in 1983……did either the Phantom or Crusader ever serve on any carrier with the Tomcat or Hornet?
I’m guessing the only possibility of any overlap would be with the F-4 and F-14 in the years before the F/A-18 came along, or perhaps RF-8’s on the same carrier as Tomcats at some point before they got the TARPS system.
Anyone have any ideas on when/if this may have happened?
By: Bager1968 - 29th June 2011 at 09:01
The primary reason for that is simple… the F-4, F-14, & F/A-18 are all complex aircraft with lots of avionics, etc (as well as different engines from each other and the attack aircraft).
They would have had a hard time fitting the extra support equipment and extra personnel needed to maintain two fighter types and two attack types (most of this period saw carriers with both A-7 Corsair IIs and A-6 Intruders aboard), along with the ASW & AEW aircraft.
Remember… just on engines there were multiple types:
The F-4 had the J79 (as did the RA-5C).
The F-14 had the TF30 (as did the A-7A/B, but these were being phased out of the fleet about the time the F-14 entered widespread service).
The F/A-18 had the F404.
The A-7E had the TF41.
The A-6 had the J52 (as did the EA-6B and the A-4, but the A-4 had been replaced by the A-7).
The RF-8 had J57 (as did the EA-3B).
The S-2 had the R-1820 (as did the E-1 & C-1).
The S-3 had the TF34.
The E-2 had the T-56 (as did the C-2).
The SH-3 had the T-58.
There is a limit to how many different engine types the engine shop on a carrier can support, too many and there is no more room.
By: PhantomII - 28th June 2011 at 12:47
Great link! Thanks for sharing. I spent time running through all the carriers that had the types I mentioned embarked, and it seems that a few RF-8 detachments were all that I could come up with as far as mixing of the old and the new.
I don’t think the F-14 and F-4 ever shared the same flightdeck at the same time (at least the two fighter units stationed onboard always operated the same jet type). It seems that once one unit of Phantoms went to Tomcats, the other followed suit, with the same being said of the Hornet.
The F-4 was still on fleet carriers during a large part of the F-14’s early career (until 1986 anyways)….it was just on different carriers than the Tomcat.
By: Bager1968 - 28th June 2011 at 07:37
You can easily see for yourself.
Go to this site http://navysite.de/carriers.htm, choose a carrier, and click on its name, then scroll down to where you find a sentence such as this:
Read about the deployments of USS ENTERPRISE
or
Click here to get a view of the deployments of USS JOHN F. KENNEDY.
This brings up a page that shows the dates of deployments, air wing number, which squadrons were aboard, what aircraft those squadrons were equipped with, tail letters used, primary deployment area, etc.
In the case of CVN-65, there are no concurrent F-14/F-4 or F-14/RF-8 deployments… although there were F-14As and RA-5Cs aboard from 1974-1978.
In the case of CV-67, there were F-14As and RF-8Gs aboard from September 1976 to February 1979.
By: pagen01 - 27th June 2011 at 13:52
I’m in no way an expert, but I’m sure RF-8s operated off carriers along side F-14s, I think the F-4 had left the larger carrier fleets by then.
The last F-4 carrier take off was by an F-4S of VF151 in March 1986 from the Midway.
So they were in service together, but whether they shared decks and operations with F-14s I don’t know.
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June 27, 2011 at 1:28 pm