I’ve chatted with a few F-14 pilots who are members of the Tomcat Association, aviation museum curators, as well as former NFWS Topgun instructor Dave “Bio” Baranak about the possibility of getting one or two F-14 airframes flying again. The depressing conclusion we have all come to is that it is almost impossible for this to happen. Multiple F-14 pilots, RIOs and maintainers have approached the DOD about doing so, to no avail.
Virtually all Tomcats which did not get donated to museums were cut up and melted down into beer cans, more or less. The Navy destroyed nearly all of its Tomcat fleet to prevent spare parts from winding up in Iran, the last known Tomcat operator. As of 2018, the DoD did maintain at least 11 flyable F-14 airframes in long term storage at AMARC and they are not parting with them. Period. The exact reason the DOD keeps these aircraft is unclear, though I suspect they are retained for limited purposes such as RedAir aggressor aircraft, flight test and research, or similar role that the type is deemed suitable for. F-14s which were donated to museums or for public display as “gate guards” still remain the property of the DoD and the airframes have been mutilated to permanently prevent them from carrying flight loads.
The only other potential source of flyable Tomcats remains Iran and it’s believed that all or nearly all are out of commission due to lack of spare parts. If somebody could purchase an F-14 airframe from Iran, then take it back to the states, it might be possible. However this would almost certainly be seized and confiscated by customs.
And even if you could get the aircraft back into the United States legally, plus find the enormous funding required for this enterprise, you’re still faced with the prospect of finding spare parts for it. It will be very difficult to get anything from the manufacturer i.e. Northrop Grumman as the assembly lines have long since closed, there are ITAR and national security restrictions, and all existing spare parts, aside from those needed for the last AMARC F-14s, have been destroyed.
It’s a great dream, but it looks like if you ever want to see an F-14 fly again, the closest you will get is watching a DVD of Top Gun or Final Countdown.
Answer from Romeo_4808N on Stack ExchangeI’ve chatted with a few F-14 pilots who are members of the Tomcat Association, aviation museum curators, as well as former NFWS Topgun instructor Dave “Bio” Baranak about the possibility of getting one or two F-14 airframes flying again. The depressing conclusion we have all come to is that it is almost impossible for this to happen. Multiple F-14 pilots, RIOs and maintainers have approached the DOD about doing so, to no avail.
Virtually all Tomcats which did not get donated to museums were cut up and melted down into beer cans, more or less. The Navy destroyed nearly all of its Tomcat fleet to prevent spare parts from winding up in Iran, the last known Tomcat operator. As of 2018, the DoD did maintain at least 11 flyable F-14 airframes in long term storage at AMARC and they are not parting with them. Period. The exact reason the DOD keeps these aircraft is unclear, though I suspect they are retained for limited purposes such as RedAir aggressor aircraft, flight test and research, or similar role that the type is deemed suitable for. F-14s which were donated to museums or for public display as “gate guards” still remain the property of the DoD and the airframes have been mutilated to permanently prevent them from carrying flight loads.
The only other potential source of flyable Tomcats remains Iran and it’s believed that all or nearly all are out of commission due to lack of spare parts. If somebody could purchase an F-14 airframe from Iran, then take it back to the states, it might be possible. However this would almost certainly be seized and confiscated by customs.
And even if you could get the aircraft back into the United States legally, plus find the enormous funding required for this enterprise, you’re still faced with the prospect of finding spare parts for it. It will be very difficult to get anything from the manufacturer i.e. Northrop Grumman as the assembly lines have long since closed, there are ITAR and national security restrictions, and all existing spare parts, aside from those needed for the last AMARC F-14s, have been destroyed.
It’s a great dream, but it looks like if you ever want to see an F-14 fly again, the closest you will get is watching a DVD of Top Gun or Final Countdown.
Highly unlikely.
There were only two operators of the F-14: the US and Iran. When the US decommissioned theirs in 2006, aside from a few stripped airframes in museums, they were all destroyed to prevent their parts making their way to Iran.
If Iran somehow has any flyable planes left in another 30-40 years despite not being able to get any parts to repair them (other than cannibalization) in the meantime, I doubt they would sell you one.
Videos
Let's say I have 20 million dollars laying around to buy any aircraft I chose, and I want to buy a fighter jet instead of a private jet. Where can I find 2nd hand used fighter jets such as old MIGs, Mirage 2000's, and F-16s? Are there websites for this?
If I can't buy an operational fighter jet, where can I buy scrapyard fighter jets?