F-14 on flatbed going down 270 South

[Mark1647545493]

Anyone know where it was going? I was going North on 270 at Cemetery Rd at 3:15 today when I seen it. It was a cool thing to see. Looked like it was taking up all three lanes.

[SpaceGhost]

That would have been cool to see. They have been retired correct?

[Mark1647545493]

That would have been cool to see. They have been retired correct?

 

It was very cool. Traffic going North slowed down to about 55 in the fast lane I'm sure because everyone was rubber-necking. It would have sucked to be behind that convoy of 6 OSP's and plane... I bet the tail or traffic was 2 miles long if not more.

 

The F-14 Tomcat was officially retired on September 22, 2006.

[SpaceGhost]

SO maybe to an air museum....

[AWW$HEEET]

That would have been cool to see. They have been retired correct?

 

edited

[Not Brian]

Sweet pictures

[Mark1647545493]

SO maybe to an air museum....

 

Closest Air Museum I know of is in Dayton unless a new one popped up recently. I thought it might be making it's way to a V.F.W. post or and American Legion somewhere.

[Mark1647545493]

Sweet pictures

 

couldn't get my camera out that fast.

[AWW$HEEET]

Maybe Oprah is gonna use it as an IUD

[Duff1647545513]

I'm surprised they were doing it in the middle of the day like that. I've seen them doing it a few times while working, but it was at real late at night/early in the morning so they wouldn't fuck up traffic that bad because they do block all lanes and move slow as shit. It does look cool as hell to see though.

[SiColin]

I got stuck behind them coming down from mansfield on 71s. Took up both lanes and no one was able to get around until they stopped at a rest stop before sunbury.

 

Pretty cool looking.

 

Sorry no pics my cell phone camera took a shit.

[bahd-ler]

edited

 

Quoted for truth

[AWW$HEEET]

Quoted for truth

 

Lol, I was gonna say we sold the fleet of f14s to saudi, but it was actually the f15s.

[Putty]

pics muafugga

[Patterson]

I was going opposite at the time. Right around where the big ass windmill is. I past it thinking that would have been a cool picture. Then saw the trail of cop cars behind it blocking traffic. Sucks to have been going west around that time.

[SinisterSS]

Lol, I was gonna say we sold the fleet of f14s to saudi, but it was actually the f15s.

 

we sold F14's to Iran

[mmrmnhrm]

we sold F14's to Iran

 

Yep, back during the days of the Shah. The Ayatollahs are now scrounging the third-hand aftermarket junkyards attempting to keep them flying.

[Spidey2721]

those f-14s haven't flown since we pulled the mechanics we had over there long time ago.

[Richard Cranium]

We saw it at a rest stop headed toward Dayton. We were on our way to the Museum to sit in on a lecture by a guy named Paul Metz.

 

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=16168

 

____

 

Mr. Paul Metz

 

Posted Printable Fact Sheet

 

Photos

Wings & Things Guest Lecture

 

Download HiRes

 

"From Weasels to Raptors: A Test Pilot's Story"

 

Nov. 17, 2010 - 7:30 p.m.

 

In March 2008 Paul Metz joined Rocketplane Global as vice president and chief test pilot. He is responsible for the pilot-vehicle interface to include the cockpit, flying qualities, life support, spacecraft operational profiles and procedures, crew and passenger training and execution of test and operational flights.

 

He previously served on Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program and was named the vice president for integrated test and evaluation (flight test). He was responsible for a 1,600-person, $750 million flight test organization for the USAF, USN, USMC and seven other countries. He served in this capacity until his retirement in February 2006.

 

He served as Lockheed Martin's chief test pilot for the F-22 Advanced Tactical Fighter from 1992-2001 and made the first flight on the F-22A Raptor on Sept. 7, 1997. He and a staff of test pilots worked closely with the engineers on subsystem design, flying qualities, simulation, avionics, cockpit layout and man-machine interface. Prior to joining Lockheed Martin, he was an engineering test pilot and chief test pilot for Northrop Aircraft for 12 years and served 12 years in the U.S. Air Force as a fighter pilot and test pilot.

 

Metz joined Northrop Aircraft in 1980 as an engineering test pilot. He conducted flight tests on the F-5E/F, the F-20 and the Antonov Colt, a Russian biplane. In October 1985, he was appointed chief test pilot for Northrop Aircraft and was responsible for flight tests of the F-20 Tigershark, the RF-5E Tiger Eye reconnaissance aircraft, the F-86F Saber and other programs. He and his staff of test pilots worked closely with the engineers in the detailed design of the YF-23, the Northrop-McDonnell Douglas entrant in the Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) prototype program. He made the first flight of the YF-23A ATF in August 1990. He continued to test the F-22 at Edwards AFB, expanding the flight envelope to maximum speeds, Gs, altitudes and angles of attack. He subsequently spent two years as an engineering test pilot on the B-2 bomber program prior to leaving Northrop to become Lockheed Martin's chief test pilot for the F-22 Advanced Tactical Fighter.

 

Metz entered the USAF in 1968 and flew operational missions in the F-105G Wild Weasel in the U.S. and Southeast Asia. He flew 68 missions over North Vietnam and took part in the pivotal "12 Days of Christmas" raids in December 1972. His combat day and night missions against surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft gun sites in support of strike missions in North Vietnam earned him two Distinguished Flying Crosses and six Air Medals. In 1976 he was a distinguished graduated from the USAF Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB and he remained at Edwards AFB conducting avionics, flying qualities, engine and flutter tests on the F-5E/F. In 1978 he became an instructor pilot at the U.S. Navy Test Pilot School at Patuxent River, Md.

 

Metz was born in Springfield, Ohio, in January 1946. He received a bachelor's degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from The Ohio State University, Summa Cum Laude, in 1968. His graduate studies have been in aeronautical engineering at Ohio State and California State University, Fresno, and aviation safety at the Naval Post Graduate School, Monterey, Calif.

 

He is a Fellow and past-president of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots. In 1992 he received the Kincheloe Award, the test pilot profession's highest award, for his flight testing of the YF-23 Advanced Tactical Fighter prototype. In 2002 he was enshrined in the Aerospace Walk of Honor at Lancaster, Calif., the gateway to the USAF Flight Test Center. In 2008 he was inducted into the USAF Gathering of Eagles. He has written numerous articles on the flight test of modern fighter aircraft. He has over 7,000 hours and more than 37 years of experience flying 70 aircraft types including the F-86, F-105, F-4, F-5, F-15, F-20, YF-23 and F-22.

 

Paul is married and has three sons.

Edited November 18, 2010 by Richard Cranium
correction

[CRAWDAD]

I'm surprised they were doing it in the middle of the day like that. I've seen them doing it a few times while working, but it was at real late at night/early in the morning so they wouldn't fuck up traffic that bad because they do block all lanes and move slow as shit. It does look cool as hell to see though.

 

Oversized loads have to be transported in daylight. Thats why you always see the really long ones (like 200ft long) parked in the rest area or scale house at night.

 

They can start rolling 1 hr before sunrise

[Buckeye1647545503]

Closest I have ever seen was a old school hewy on 70 by zanesville. That was pretty cool but no f-14 for sure.

[BloodRed]

I heard about the wide load holding up traffic through town and out of town. Never said what it was until I read this. That would have been a cool site to see.

[unfunnyryan]

The remaining intact US Navy F-14 aircraft have been stored at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group "Boneyard", at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. By July 2007, many of the remaining 165 aircraft were being shredded to prevent parts from being acquired by Iran, the only other nation to buy the F-14. By July 2007, 23 F-14s had been shredded at a cost of US$900,000. Due to the strength of the landing gear, it was removed before shredding and cut up with a torch. The last remaining F-14 after demolition will be located at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida.[46

 

there goes an amazing 30 years of air dominance

[RyM3rC]

there goes an amazing 30 years of air dominance

 

Seriously. Shame on them for spending our tax dollars to build something awesome, then spending our tax dollars again to destroy something awesome. What are the Iranians going to do, break into the boneyard, unbolt the nose gear and mail it back?

 

I guess by that logic we should go ahead and dump all our small arms we're not using to keep the taliban from breaking into the armories and taking it. Jesus, I don't get it.

[Avenger1647545502]

What are the Iranians going to do, break into the boneyard, unbolt the nose gear and mail it back?

 

Nope, but they'll pay some scrapyard worker to smuggle one out. There have been quite a lot of parts turn up that shouldn't have been still around...one guy was arrested for trying to sell a COMPLETE GE F-110 engine from an F-16...four more had previously disappeared from inventory, and probably ended up in China.

 

And the Iranians are still flying the F-14, at least as recently as October '08. How many they still have, and what condition they are in, is not certain.