F-14 on the History Channel's "Modern Marvels"

A couple of night ago the History Channel aired a program about the
F-14. During the promo it was stated that the Tomcat is the world's
fastest fighter. I dunno, every aviation book in my house puts it
clearly behind the F-15 and the MiG 25.

Also, the program stated that the Shah of Iran ordered a fly-off
between the F-14 and the F-15 in order to decide which one he was
gonna buy. But when the narrator was talking about the Eagle, they
showed footage of what was clearly an F-5.

So, what's going on here? Am I wrong, is the Tomcat actually faster
than the Eagle. And what's up with the F-5 footage? Did the US offer
the Shah F-5s or F-15s? Did the documentary show the wrong footage,
or did the narrator misread the copy, or was he given the wrong copy?
When I get confusing information from a documentary it makes me doubt
the validity of the entire work.

Did anyone else see the program, or can anyone give me some clear and
unimpeachable facts?

Thanks in advance,
Brian J. McCann

(Brian J. McCann) wrote:

A couple of night ago the History Channel aired a program about the
F-14. During the promo it was stated that the Tomcat is the world's
fastest fighter.

Maybe they said "was designed to be the world's fastest fighter" when it
was built in the 1970s?"

Or maybe someone just blew it when they made the promo. They *do* make
mistakes on those shows from time to time.

I'd suggest watching the show again and paying closer attention to what
was actually said.

--
cirby at cfl.rr.com

Remember: Objects in rearview mirror may be hallucinations.
Slam on brakes accordingly.

They definitely blew that one: using footage that isn't suiting to the text
and the story.

The Shah has not "ordered" a fly-off: he requested the opportunity to fly
each plane AFTER the IIAF has already made its mind. The fly-off was offered
to him after all the briefings in Tehran, and because the Pentagon would not
let him fly the F-14 or F-15.

Iran, nevertheless, ordered F-5E/Fs already before it ordered the F-14s:
these were intended as interim solution unitl the decision about the YF-16
or YF-17 would be made.

Re. speed: the F-15 should have the official top speed some 200km/h higher
than the F-14.

If you're confused about the quality of the show in question, it's easy to
find out how well researcherd it is: have they maintained that the F-14 saw
no serious service within the IRIAF during the war agianst Iraq?

Tom Cooper
Co-Author:
Iran-Iraq War in the Air, 1980-1988:
http://www.acig.org/pg1/content.php
and,
Iranian F-4 Phantom II Units in Combat:
http://www.osprey-publishing.co.uk/t...hp/title=S6585

"Tom Cooper" wrote in message
...
They definitely blew that one: using footage that isn't suiting to the
text
and the story.

The Shah has not "ordered" a fly-off: he requested the opportunity to fly
each plane AFTER the IIAF has already made its mind. The fly-off was
offered
to him after all the briefings in Tehran, and because the Pentagon would
not
let him fly the F-14 or F-15.

Iran, nevertheless, ordered F-5E/Fs already before it ordered the F-14s:
these were intended as interim solution unitl the decision about the YF-16
or YF-17 would be made.

Re. speed: the F-15 should have the official top speed some 200km/h higher
than the F-14.

If you're confused about the quality of the show in question, it's easy to
find out how well researcherd it is: have they maintained that the F-14
saw
no serious service within the IRIAF during the war agianst Iraq?

I've seen the show in question and it's full of basic errors. They did make
the claim that it's the fastest fighter in the world which I don't think
even in its day it was. Can't remember if they even mentioned the Iranian
angle.

John

Snip

If you're confused about the quality of the show in question, it's easy to
find out how well researcherd it is: have they maintained that the F-14 saw
no serious service within the IRIAF during the war agianst Iraq?

They made no mention of the Iran-Iraq war. What they DID say was that
the F-14s were sabotaged, possibly by Grumman technicians, at some
point during the revolution. They made it clear that the Tomcats
would be useless as weapons platforms without the destroyed/missing
components.

Around 20 years ago, I heard a rumor that all copies of the software
were destroyed.

Mark

Brian J. McCann wrote:
Snip


They made it clear that the Tomcats would be useless as weapons
platforms without the destroyed/missing components.

They made it clear that the Tomcats would be useless as weapons
platforms without the destroyed/missing components.

I recall reading press reports of multiple F14's in formation,
but the Iranians using hand signals as had no working radios...

--
A host is a host from coast to
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

"David Lesher" wrote in message
...
They made it clear that the Tomcats would be useless as weapons
platforms without the destroyed/missing components.

I recall reading press reports of multiple F14's in formation,
but the Iranians using hand signals as had no working radios...

Which, to be blunt, sounds like bull****. It wouldn't take much to replace
the "stock" radio equipment with commercial products of some sort. Hell,
buy some 50 buck CB walkie talkies and you'd have at least short range comm
gear.

tim gueguen 101867

"David Lesher" wrote in message


I recall reading press reports of multiple F14's in formation,
but the Iranians using hand signals as had no working radios...

Sounds like maybe the press people didn't comprehend the value of emissions
control. Practicing no-radio communications does not necessarily mean the
radios did not work, just that they did not use them.

--�
Tom Schoene Replace "invalid" with "net" to e-mail
"If brave men and women never died, there would be nothing
special about bravery." -- Andy Rooney (attributed)

"Brian J. McCann" wrote in message
m...
Snip

If you're confused about the quality of the show in question, it's easy
to
find out how well researcherd it is: have they maintained that the F-14
saw
no serious service within the IRIAF during the war agianst Iraq?

They made no mention of the Iran-Iraq war. What they DID say was that
the F-14s were sabotaged, possibly by Grumman technicians, at some
point during the revolution. They made it clear that the Tomcats
would be useless as weapons platforms without the destroyed/missing
components.

Brian, the Iranian F-14s were _not_ sabotaged by anybody.

This is an urban legend, and it never happened.

Not that they did not think about this: they just couldn't get close to
these after several CIA agents tried to sabotage a couple of C-130s (and
failed). From that moment on, all the US personnel was put under a
house-arrest in their compounds, while all the IIAF air bases and
installations were blocked from the outside world. Nobody there could walk
around 77 aircraft and sabotage them one after the other.

Tom Cooper
Co-Author:
Iran-Iraq War in the Air, 1980-1988:
http://www.acig.org/pg1/content.php
and,
Iranian F-4 Phantom II Units in Combat:
http://www.osprey-publishing.co.uk/t...hp/title=S6585