always like to vist my old friend, tomcat #7. it was an engine flight test bird and never left the factory except for some stuff at pax.
as i recall, the last test we did was to come up with a fix for a problem with the ge engine at high fuel flows. the fuel bag hangers in the aft cell would fail because the pressure inside the bag would decrease too quickly resulting in too much airspace between the bladder and the structure. the fix was to increase the size of the small intake at the base of the left (i think) rudder. this allowed higher pressure inside the bladder at rapid depletion rates.
i also remembetr a 71k lb take off with 4 2000 pounders
i was aboard for it's last flight from pax to cto about '94 with kurt schroeder.
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http://farm1.static.flickr.com/229/456574210_e39006491c_z.jpg
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here's a shot of #7 with tom cavanaugh and me , christmas, '92 at pax,
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http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3115/5832339871_4dd76393af_z.jpg
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my 6 year old grandson a little wise ass, commented,
"gee, grandpa. when you croak, maybe we could have you stuffed and put back in the cockpit."
i threw him overboard.
additional info on #7,
This installment of Tomcat Tales concerns itself with the seventh pre-production F-14. This Tomcat was designated F-14B and became the engine test-bed for evaluating the various alternative power plants being considered to replace the interim Pratt & Whitney TF30 series engines.
photo courtesy of the Grumman History Center
No. 7 first flew on September 9, 1973 with Grumman Test Pilots Joe Burke (pilot) and Roger Ferguson (Weapon Systems Officer). It was equipped with the Pratt & Whitney F401-PW-400 engines. Tests with the F401 engine were not satisfactory and at the conclusion of the flight test program, the F-14B was put into storage at Calverton.
No. 7 was taken out of storage in early 1981 and two General Electric F101DFE (Derivative Fighter Engines) were installed. On July 14, 1981, the first test flight took place. Test pilots discovered that the F-14B could accelerate from Mach 0.8 to Mach 1.8 in just 90 seconds and could launch from a catapult without the use of afterburners. With 65,000 lbs of thrust, the F101DFE engines produced enough power to give the F-14 a thrust to weight ratio of
approximately one to one. Though far more successful than the F401 trails, the Navy decided to terminate the test program in September1981. Once again No. 7 went back into storage. A few years later, in July 1984, it was out of storage again and two General Electric F110-GE-400 engines were installed. Test flights began shortly thereafter on what was to become known as the Super Tomcat. This time the tests proved highly successful and led to the production in March 1987 of the F-14A (PLUS), essentially an “A” model with the General Electric F110 series engines (and redesignated F-14B in May 1991), to the highly improved and updated F-14D produced until 1992.
Today the Super Tomcatis in the custody of our sister museum, the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum, located at Pier 86 in Manhattan. Shown here on the carrier’s flight deck, No. 7 sits proudly in New York Harbor as a testament to the skills and determination of Grumman Aerospace in the continuing effort to improve the F-14 Tomcat.
http://www.grummanpark.org/images/tomcat3-7.jpg
as i recall, the last test we did was to come up with a fix for a problem with the ge engine at high fuel flows. the fuel bag hangers in the aft cell would fail because the pressure inside the bag would decrease too quickly resulting in too much airspace between the bladder and the structure. the fix was to increase the size of the small intake at the base of the left (i think) rudder. this allowed higher pressure inside the bladder at rapid depletion rates.
i also remembetr a 71k lb take off with 4 2000 pounders
i was aboard for it's last flight from pax to cto about '94 with kurt schroeder.
...
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/229/456574210_e39006491c_z.jpg
..
here's a shot of #7 with tom cavanaugh and me , christmas, '92 at pax,
...
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3115/5832339871_4dd76393af_z.jpg
..
my 6 year old grandson a little wise ass, commented,
"gee, grandpa. when you croak, maybe we could have you stuffed and put back in the cockpit."
i threw him overboard.
additional info on #7,
This installment of Tomcat Tales concerns itself with the seventh pre-production F-14. This Tomcat was designated F-14B and became the engine test-bed for evaluating the various alternative power plants being considered to replace the interim Pratt & Whitney TF30 series engines.
photo courtesy of the Grumman History Center
No. 7 first flew on September 9, 1973 with Grumman Test Pilots Joe Burke (pilot) and Roger Ferguson (Weapon Systems Officer). It was equipped with the Pratt & Whitney F401-PW-400 engines. Tests with the F401 engine were not satisfactory and at the conclusion of the flight test program, the F-14B was put into storage at Calverton.
No. 7 was taken out of storage in early 1981 and two General Electric F101DFE (Derivative Fighter Engines) were installed. On July 14, 1981, the first test flight took place. Test pilots discovered that the F-14B could accelerate from Mach 0.8 to Mach 1.8 in just 90 seconds and could launch from a catapult without the use of afterburners. With 65,000 lbs of thrust, the F101DFE engines produced enough power to give the F-14 a thrust to weight ratio of
photo courtesy of the Grumman History Center
approximately one to one. Though far more successful than the F401 trails, the Navy decided to terminate the test program in September1981. Once again No. 7 went back into storage. A few years later, in July 1984, it was out of storage again and two General Electric F110-GE-400 engines were installed. Test flights began shortly thereafter on what was to become known as the Super Tomcat. This time the tests proved highly successful and led to the production in March 1987 of the F-14A (PLUS), essentially an “A” model with the General Electric F110 series engines (and redesignated F-14B in May 1991), to the highly improved and updated F-14D produced until 1992.
Today the Super Tomcatis in the custody of our sister museum, the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum, located at Pier 86 in Manhattan. Shown here on the carrier’s flight deck, No. 7 sits proudly in New York Harbor as a testament to the skills and determination of Grumman Aerospace in the continuing effort to improve the F-14 Tomcat.
http://www.grummanpark.org/images/tomcat3-7.jpg
