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Don't know who your buddy is or what squadron he was in, I could tell you the F-15 is a 9G airplane, read "F-15 Eagle engaged" By Steve Davies Page 82. Additionally the -1s show configurations where the F-15 could sustain 9gs. The F-14 has a higher wing loading and lower thrust to weight ratio than the F-15, go to any web site (Wiki) and it will show that. It was an "excellent" machine with "excellent" maneuverability - the F-15 is just more maneuverable.Hey guys, just talked to a friend of mine, a former Navy pilot, regarding this and he said that the F-14 turns better than all the rest hands down, being able to sustain 8.5G's until fuel runs out, while the others, including the F-15, can maintain 8G's. Furthermore he mentioned that the variable sweep wing gives it excellent manuverability for an aircraft so large and heavy, esp. in the horizontal, permitting this interceptor to also dogfight against the lighter USAAF fighters.
Furthermore the F-14 uses a lift-body design, giving it even greater lift in turns. He also said that the F-14 has been successfully outmanuvering smaller and lighter adversaries all through it's service life despite the fact that often it is nearly twice as heavy.
Part of the secret is the computer controlled variable geometry wings which automatically adjust for all flight aspects. This is a great help as it makes sure that drag is as low as possible when needed and lift is as high as possible when needed.
Another secret he told is its low wing loading for its size. Like the F-16, F-15, and many of the newer MiG and Sukoi types the F-14 obtains a sizable fraction of its lift from the design of the fuselage (The lift body design), keeping "wing loading" low.
According to him the F-15 climbs better though, but the F-14 will climb with an F-16 and out-accellerate most fighters in level flight.
Hey guys, just talked to a friend of mine, a former Navy pilot, regarding this and he said that the F-14 turns better than all the rest hands down, being able to sustain 8.5G's until fuel runs out while the others, including the F-15, can maintain 8G's. Furthermore he mentioned that the variable sweep wing gives it excellent manuverability for an aircraft so large and heavy, esp. in the horizontal, permitting this interceptor to also dogfight against the lighter USAAF fighters.
Permitting versus winning are different concepts
Furthermore the F-14 uses a lift-body design, giving it even greater lift in turns. He also said that the F-14 has been successfully outmanuvering smaller and lighter adversaries all through it's service life despite the fact that often it is nearly twice as heavy.
Against Libyan pilots he is correct. Against the A-4 when he can use better much better T/W to maintain energy and fight in vertical, he is correct
Part of the secret is the computer controlled variable geometry wings which automatically adjust for all flight aspects. This is a great help as it makes sure that drag is as low as possible when needed and lift is as high as possible when needed.
Another secret he told is its low wing loading for its size. Like the F-16, F-15, and many of the newer MiG and Sukoi types the F-14 obtains a sizable fraction of its lift from the design of the fuselage (The lift body design), keeping "wing loading" low.
The F-15 climbs better though.
Just out of curiosity, how long has your friend been out of the Navy and when was the last time he took on an F-15C in exercises?
BTW the published wing loading for the F-14 is approximately 50% higher than either the A-4 or F-15C.
Not compared to an F-15 when its putting out almost 5000 pounds more thrust. Again an F-14 can not out turn an F-15, especially the earlier F-14As. And I'd like you to show HOW the F-14 carries a more efficient wing?True, but the F-14's wings are more lift efficient, creating more lift pr. area when folded out. The span-loading, which is a good indicator of turn performance according to some as an a/c rides on a cylindrical tube of air, suggests that the F-14 is the best.
Don't know who your buddy is or what squadron he was in, I could tell you the F-15 is a 9G airplane, read "F-15 Eagle engaged" By Steve Davies Page 82. Additionally the -1s show configurations where the F-15 could sustain 9gs. The F-14 has a higher wing loading and lower thrust to weight ratio than the F-15, go to any web site (Wiki) and it will show that. It was an "excellent" machine with "excellent" maneuverability - the F-15 is just more maneuverable.
The F-14 "was" a great aircraft and is still worthy of front line operation but as stated the F-15 is at least a half a generation a ahead of the F-14, especially comparing it to the later block "C" models.
Again an F-14 can not out turn an F-15, especially the earlier F-14As.
And I'd like you to show HOW the F-14 carries a more efficient wing?
Like I said earlier span-loading is a good indicator of turn performance according to some as an a/c basically rides on a cylindrical tube of air, so lets look at the span loading of the a/c.
Span loading of the a/c:
F-14: 27,700 kg / 19.55 m = 1,416.87 kg/m
F-15: 20,200 kg / 13.05 m = 1,547.89 kg/m
F-16: 12,000 kg / 9.8 m = 1,224.48 kg/m
F-18: 21,320 kg / 13.62 m = 1,565.34 kg/m
Seems the F-16 beats the pack but the F-14 comes in as second.
Hmmm, I rather have 2 F16's for the price of one F15 or 1 F14......
Why don't you look in the POH of each aircraft and it will tell you the exact data you are looking for.
Vastly better? Come on Soren, what's vastly better? If the F-14 was so much better why did the navy stop sending the aircraft to William Tell, RIMPAC and other exercises even AFTER they were re-gngined? I was at a RIMPAC exercise as a participant and was told the -14s got its @ss kicked by Navy people!!!!! and fighting in the horizontal is something done 60 years ago. If you're fighting on the horizontal in a modern jet either you're a 3rd world fighter pilot with minimum training or you really screwed up - and who have you really spoken to? One Tomcat driver who flew in the 80s and probably never got to fly an F-14B? Look at the stats on the airplanes, the F-15 still puts out more thrust, has a lower wing loading and a higher thrust to weight ratio. It was designed as a fighter from the ground up and was on the drawing board when the first F-14s was being delivered.Why do you quote facts about the F-14A FLYBOYJ ? The F-14B is vastly better in the horizontal than the F-14A, and also better than the F-15 according to most I've read and the people I've talked to.
It was designed as a fighter from the ground up and was on the drawing board when the first F-14s was being delivered.
BINGO!It all comes down to what each a/c was designed for: the F-14 was designed FROM THE OUTSET with Fleet Defense in mind, which means shooting down bombers, and other less maneuverable attack a/c, attempting to destroy US Naval assets. I believe the primary adversary the F-14 was originally designed to counter were Tu-16's Tu-22/M/26's missle bombers, which were medium-sized tactical bombers for use primarily against the US Navy, especially large surface targets, like aircraft carriers. There was no need to make the F-14 very maneuverable, as they would be flying against much less maneuverable Soviet bombers.
The F-15, on the other hand, was designed from the get-go to acheive maintain air superiority against any current and future Soviet fighter. Therefore, it was designed with exceptionally low wing-loading, and exceptionally high excess thrust (especially for the '70's).