Why did the F-14 Tomcat retire decades before its peers? (2021)
(Tangent, in praise of the F-14)<p>Before the F-14s were retired (2004-ish?), I attended an air show at the Quonset Air National Guard Base [0] .<p>As part of the show, an F-14 took off from the runway and then went vertical (I assume on afterburners).  It stayed vertical until it disappeared into the clouds.<p>It felt like I was living in some sci-fi future, watching a spaceship launch.  I was in awe. It was like some Stewart Cowley [1] book [2] come to life.<p>IMHO it's still one of the coolest-looking fighter planes ever, up there with the YF-23 [3] and Su-35 [4].<p>[0] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quonset_Point_Air_National_Guard_Station" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quonset_Point_Air_National_Gua...</a><p>[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stewart_Cowley" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stewart_Cowley</a><p>[2] <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Spacecraft-2000-2100-D-Authority-Handbook/dp/0890092117" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Spacecraft-2000-2100-D-Authority-Hand...</a><p>[3] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_YF-23" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_YF-23</a><p>[4] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_Su-35" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_Su-35</a>