11 hours ago
Aviation nerds are mourning Iran's F-14 Tomcats
Israel's attacks on Iran, starting with the killing of an Iranian nuclear negotiator, have proven controversial in the U.S. They also triggered a debate on whether to risk American blood in yet another Middle Eastern war. But some Americans are already mourning the loss of elderly Americans, specifically the remaining F-14 Tomcats in Iranian service.
The plane became most famous for its starring role in 'Top Gun.' Tom Cruise was also in it, but the supersonic, swing-wing fighter used by nearly every pilot in the movie was certainly the star. It's like the fighter version of a convertible, if you could launch your convertible off a carrier.
The F-14 Tomcat retired from American service in 2006, following the Navy's long transition to the F/A-18s and, later, the F-35 fighters currently in service. It was only exported once. That was to the Imperial Iranian Air Force of the American-backed Shāhanshāh Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, usually known as the Shah of Iran.
Originally, the plan had been for America to send Iran 80 F-14s and over 700 Phoenix air-to-air missiles, allowing the American ally a huge advantage when fighting anti-American adversaries in the region, mostly Iraq. But when the Shah was deposed in 1979, America obviously didn't want to send its resources to an Islamic Republic built on rhetoric that demonized America and its allies.
That proved prescient since Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini immediately instituted Sharia law and took a more hostile stance toward the U.S. and Israel, which had also formerly allied with the Shah.
So the new Islamic Republic of Iran was left with 79 Tomcats and about 200 Phoenix missiles. That was enough to make a serious difference in the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988, but the Iranians lacked spare parts and additional missiles for the aircraft. Iran only ever got shipments of F-14 parts during the Iran-Contra Affair, a secret deal between Ronald Reagan's Administration and the Islamic Republic that sent arms and supplies to Iran through Israel. Iran's F-14s have been struggling to stay airborne ever since.
So it was actually a pleasant surprise in 2022 when a single F-14 Tomcat took part in a flyover. For planes over 40 years old with nearly a decade of combat use and no spare parts, one out of 79 was a good showing.
For F-14 nerds, the Iranian fleet represents the only chance of seeing one of these birds in action. To prevent further smuggling of spare parts to the Islamic regime, America locked down all of its own remaining F-14s in museums and at Davis Monthan Air Force Base. In 2007, it even made the decision to destroy all of its F-14 wing boxes, the linchpin of the Tomcat's sweep-wing design. And the Navy further shredded the entirety of most F-14s to prevent black market sales.
Put simply, an F-14 without an intact wing box will never fly again; the wings would fall off. The tooling to manufacture new ones is no longer available, and none are known to exist outside of Iran. Few other parts for the F-14 exist outside of Iran and museums.
So even though Iran could only muster one F-14 for the 2022 flyover, it still remains the greatest hope of any and all aviation nerds who wish to see the F-14 fly again.
And that hope got a whole lot dimmer this week when Israel released footage of it hitting Iranian F-14s on the ground.
The planes probably couldn't have flown anyway, but the direct hits in the video put the wing box and the rest of the components at serious risk. It's quite possible that the last flight of an F-14 was the last ever flight of an F-14.
One possibility does gleam from inside the ash clouds, though it would take a few minor miracles in a row for it to work out for F-14 geeks. If the Islamic Republic of Iran falls due to the current violence, and if one or more F-14s survive the war, and if the missing components are replaceable with museum pieces or new manufacture, then there is a chance that the U.S. Navy could ask for key components from Iranian salvage and put back together a working F-14.
With no foreign operators remaining, there would be little reason to keep the current, fairly extreme, safeguards around the F-14 in place. One or more F-14s could appear in air shows as a legacy flier.
But that's a remote possibility. Again, the U.S. intentionally destroyed components so no smuggler could get the necessary parts to Iran. And any hope of reversing that damage will come in finding the exact components, in workable condition, in the flaming wrecks left behind by the Israelis.
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