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F-14 External Fuel Tanks


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In the photo Manuel posted, 201 does seem to have the white demarcation by the NAVY stencil. Even in that photo, the white would be visible on the nose of 201. The white demarcation is fairly low on the forward fuselage but on the nose the white goes up a bit higher (on the photo below) and would be visible. It is possible that it was in transition of being repainted and didn't receive a full repaint at the time the photo was taken.

b471f9cf_zpsqzpk0din.jpg

 

VF-84 in the Eagle Claw photo dated 1980 is overall gull gray as can be seen on the glove vane pylon and MLG door. The white missile color doesn't match the pylon color. This one also has the large star and bar on the vagabond stripe.

F-14A_VF-41_and_VF-84_Operation_Eagle_Cl

 

VF-84 went back to the large center star and bar on the vagabond stripe while on the Roosevelt and they were in overall gull gray.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/F-14A_VF-84_at_NAS_Fallon_1988.JPEG

F-14A_VF-84_at_NAS_Fallon_1988.JPEG

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That's definitely interesting, the picture of Operation Eagle Claw definitely looks overall LGG.  But here is another picture from that operation, and it looks like overall LGG, but the glove pylon is white, the phoenix pylon is gray, but if you look to the very lower right of this pic (Vic203), you can see white demarcation in the word "Navy".  So maybe there was a little of both at this time?

 

eagle-claw-2.jpeg

 

Very large pic:

https://nsarchive.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/eagle-claw-2.jpeg

Edited by Fighting Eighty-Four
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10 hours ago, Manuel J. Armas S. said:

Modex 201 with very lower white, I think is possible, maybe transition paint...

160380pb-2.jpg

This one above has a different white demarcation line than the previous one you posted. The previous one the white demarcation went through the lower part of NAVY and this one above, the white demarcation is below the NAVY. Also, aircraft were rotated through the squadrons through different cruises and different BuNo's were repainted with different side numbers. While the side number is the same, the BuNo is probably different.

 

Either way, it looks as if in early 1980 that VF-84 was going through the overall gull gray repaint and not all of their aircraft got fully repainted. Maybe Operation Eagle Claw prevented it. Operation Eagle Claw was in April 1980 and in 1980 is when VF-84 was switching to overall gull gray. All the VF-84 aircraft during Operation Eagle Claw still have the large star and bar insignia on the center of the vagabond stripe even on some that are overall gull gray. Later in 1980, the large star and bar national insignia was removed and the smaller national insignia appeared between the vagabond stripe and intake.

 

The photo below (not my photo) is from a port visit to the UK from September 1980 which shows completely overall gull gray with the small star and bar national insignia. My best guess is, during Operation Eagle Claw in April 1980, VF-84 had a mix of partial gull gray over white, overall gull gray and overall gull gray with white pylons.

Grumman_F-14A_Tomcat,_USA_-_Navy_AN06821

 

The one below that Bushande posted is pretty cool showing both VF-41 and VF-84 in gull gray over white with the drop tanks but no date provided as to when the photo was taken.

On 1/3/2017 at 2:38pm, Bushande said:

Aaaaand VF-41 / -84 with tanks under a white belly:

27912977fy.jpg

Edited by twong
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9 hours ago, Chic said:

Dear All:

 

Why all Iranian F-14A didn't carry any tanks? They didn't order or if there were any technical reasons?

 

 

Probably because Iran just isn't that big, and the theater of operation was well within the Tomcat's range without tanks.  

 

Or possibly they preferred to rely on tanker support ?

 

Both just guesses on my part....

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Since I can't find a map with both countries, Iraq would add a rough triangle from (about) Casper, Wy, to Amarillo, Tx, to Flagstaff, Az.  Mehrabad (Tehran) to Baghdad is about 450 mi direct.

 

IR_area.jpg

Edited by MoFo
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7 hours ago, MoFo said:

Since I can't find a map with both countries, Iraq would add a rough triangle from (about) Casper, Wy, to Amarillo, Tx, to Flagstaff, Az.  Mehrabad (Tehran) to Baghdad is about 450 mi direct.

 

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Hi,

 

The Iranian Tomcats were ordered to counter Soviet Mig-25 recce flights.

I think that, at the time, a war with Iraq was not  considered very likely. Back then, Iran was still  a member of CENTO.

 

Is Tamiya part E6 the endcap of a tank that had its wings removed and E5 the endcap of a later tank (designed to wrk with out fins)?

 

Cheers, Stefan.

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  • 2 months later...
On 1/4/2017 at 11:41 AM, Fighting Eighty-Four said:

This was a short lived transition period VF-84 went through right around the timing of the filming of the movie "The FInal Countdown" in which the undersides were still white, but all upper surfaces that had been white previously (Horz Stabs, flaps) were now painted LGG.  VF-84's white demarcation line was very low compared to other squadrons, making it look as if it is all-over LGG in many pics.  Here you can see the Phoenix pallets appear to be white.

303077-16625-12-720.jpg

 

They went to LGG overall when the also changed the large national insignia in the center of the vagabond strip to offset to the lower right.

 

Totally cool pic Fighting Eight Four. Do you have any more pics to share? If I can see tail # and other details I just might build this as a kit as those kill markings look super. I love Final Countdown movie and the Zap the Zeros scene is the best. 😉

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On 1/18/2017 at 0:49 PM, Slartibartfast said:

Lastly, where were Iranian F-14s based?  I am quite deficient in Middle East Air Force info.

 

On 1/18/2017 at 1:26 PM, MoFo said:

Mehrabad (Tehran), primarily.  

No.

 

They rotate them through Mehrabad for rework. They're based out of Khatami AB in Esfahan.

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On 1/17/2017 at 3:29 AM, Chic said:

Dear All:

 

Why all Iranian F-14A didn't carry any tanks? They didn't order or if there were any technical reasons?

 

No technical reason, they weren't needed. As has been shown, their airspace hunting grounds are relatively small, and they operate with extensive tanker support.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, just as a little add on the Iranian birds issue.

Actually Tom Cooper is the expert on all things reg. the Persian cats but AFAIK, while no tanks had been on order with the first lot of Block 90/95 Tomcats, the Shah actually DID order some external tanks to be delivered later on together with new equipement, missiles potential new airframe lots etc.. They wanted some ext. FTs right away but due to the necessary rework that had to be done on the tanks (the little winglets kept them just long enough gliding under the trunks upon a potential drop to damage the ventral vins) they skipped that and postponed it to supposed later stock-ups. The intent was not so much to extend the range of the jets but rather increase independent loiter time.

 

There apparently were some supposed attempts to manufacture some indigenous EFTs and some basic test sets had actually been produced but due to lack of further funding (the IRGC from where the money actually comes, considered an increase of loiter time not relevant enough) the whole program was shelved. It apparently resurfaced as a point of the current "Baba'ee" update program but once again it seems that IRGC has not yet issued the funds for it because most of the money currently goes to anti-ISIS efforts. This is also the reason why the current Baba'ee-, i.e. AM-upgrade program seems to be at half pace at best. originally it was said that the IRIAF wanted at least half of the fleet upgraded by 2020 but as rumor currently indicates the new timeframe is somewhere around 2025. If tanks will ever be an issue remains to be seen I guess.

 

Oh and nowadays the airbase north of Esfahan isn't called Kathami anymore, at least as far as I was able to learn. Currently the base seems to be run under "TAB8 Babai".

While most of the Tomcats seem to be stationed there, it seems at least 6 ships are forward deployed to a base close to Busheer and a few more seem to be based further down south closer to the Gulf region. As Skull Leader said, Mehrabat/Esfahan is only a temporary rotation point for overhauls and potential upgrades.

Edited by bushande
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