Back around 1975 my buddy and I disagreed on everything, and in this case he claimed the F-14 was superior to the F-15, and that the Air Force should just give up on developing the F-15 and operate the F-14. At the time the F-15's F100 engines weren't working right while the Tomcat was about to go operational. The funny thing is that we didn't know what the hell we were talking about with our technical justifications. He claimed the F-14 was "better", when neither of us knew what the operational requirements were, nor did we have an appreciation for the added structure necessary for carrier ops. Anyway, the Eagle is still operational. I guess it could be said that the Tomcat is too, though in Iran's air force. I modify my 1975 opinion to say "The Eagle is a superior air-superiority aircraft to the Tomcat, though I acknowledge the operational availability of a carrier deck full of Tomcats that can achieve local air superiority in places too remote for the Eagle can't reach.
Back around 1975 my buddy and I disagreed on everything, and in this case he claimed the F-14 was superior to the F-15, and that the Air Force should just give up on developing the F-15 and operate the F-14. At the time the F-15's F100 engines weren't working right while the Tomcat was about to go operational.
The funny thing is that we didn't know what the hell we were talking about with our technical justifications. He claimed the F-14 was "better", when neither of us knew what the operational requirements were, nor did we have an appreciation for the added structure necessary for carrier ops.
Anyway, the Eagle is still operational. I guess it could be said that the Tomcat is too, though in Iran's air force.
I modify my 1975 opinion to say "The Eagle is a superior air-superiority aircraft to the Tomcat, though I acknowledge the operational availability of a carrier deck full of Tomcats that can achieve local air superiority in places too remote for the Eagle can't reach.
Tomcat parts were very very expensive. We had to buy a lot of them over the years.
both are awesome fighters filling in different roles. neither could do the roile of the other because of differing operational requirements.