Pesho the truth is truth, i do not care if http://www.airwar.ru or any other site has good or bad reputation, what we should be interested is in the truth, when i read about technical specifications of russian aircraft i believe the Russian sites, but when we read about combat records, any side might tell you lies and truths, i still will read Russian sources, i still believe some might tell the truth and other might tell lies, to know the truth about combat record is not as easy as say this or that site is better, for example this time i was awfully wrong, but as max plank once said The truth never losses, only its opponents” the truth always shines and lies always fade away.
reputation is not based many times in the truth but in social appproval, we should care about the truth and not in social approval.

An old quote, “The first casulty of war is the truth”

All “D” models originated from “A” models.

From Joe Baugher’s Lists:

Grumman F-14A-85-GR Tomcat

-159592 (DR-10) converted to F-14D(R). SOC May 29, 2003

-159595 (DR-12) converted to F-14D(R).

–159600 (DR-5) converted to F-14D(R).

-159603 (DR-14) converted to F-14D(R). SOC Jun 3, 2003

-159613 (DR-4) converted to F-14D(R).

Papa Lima

Those Tomcats that were with the VF-31 at the time of their retirement have either gone to their perspective museums or to DMAFB to await their ultimate fate. 159600, it has been decided that if she is not picked up by a museum that she is to be destructed at NAS Oceana.

Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

Not all F-14Ds were remanufactured As, I forget but out of the 55 F-14Ds made either 37 were new build or 18 were new build and the balance were remanufactured F-14D(R)s.

If you want an official command history of VF-96 I suggest you contact the Naval History Office at the following website http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/nhcorg4.htm, the NHO is the repository for all command histories for the U.S. Navy.

My father was a Thud driver when I was a kid my mom and I would be meet him for lunch at the base and he would give me a tour of the mighty Thud and put me in the cockpit once and had my picutre taken. I remember as a 7 year old how big it was even as an adult today it is massive for fighter. It was the interest in the Thud that sparked my interest in aviation and make a career in the Navy.

I have the Osprey book “MiG-21 units of the Vietnam War” by Istvan Toperczer in front of me and there are quite a few pics and color plates of 921st and 927 FR MiG-21 and so far nothing in the pics or text indicates to me that the four numbers on the side of the MiG do not indicate what regiment the aircraft is in. If you do not have this book I think it might be a good reference for you. The book speaks of the pilot you are seeking info on and that he was quickly shot down but my guess is that the bort number began with a 5 or 6. But there might be more qualified folks in this forum that might know more than me.

If you are talking about the older cf34s then you are adding about 200 lbs to an engine with no real thrust gain (sure newer systems might be nice and we all know how efficent the rjs are)
the newer cf34s are twice as heavy and only add 4000 lbs thrust per engine.

With more and more CF34s on the market you’ll never have a problem with parts so I guess its about even for the argument 🙂

I am specifically talking about the CF-348c-1 series engines that power the CRJ-700 that the airline I work for flies. The CF-348C-1 puts out 12,670lbs in normal TOGA and if APR is needed can produce 13,790 lbs of thrust. The CF-34D that we are about to retrofit even provides more thrust with minimal/accepatble fuel burn and weight increase, keep in mind our CRJ700s have take off weights of over 80,000lbs. But what you would loose in increase weight you gain in a more reliable engine with longer on wing time between unscheduled removals. But I don’t write the checks for the Air Force when it comes time to spend money…;)

The abilty not to fire at freindly forces/

I am sure the wife, childern and parents of the dead Canadian soldiers will find some comfort in your comment and I am sure that comment will take some of the guilt and grief off the shoulders off the A-10 pilot who now has to live with this for the rest of his life who was flying that day. The risk for blue on blue casualties is high when putting ordnance on target in such close proximity that the CAS mission requires.

An Iraqi Freedom veteran