Originally Posted by Tdog02
I've seen some videos of F4's in private hands. Do you think there will ever be a time that a flying F14 will be in private hands? Or will the Iranian units left out there somewhere keep that from ever happening.
As long as Iran has the F-14, the US Government will continue to tightly control access to the existing airframes in museums, etc. They're a source of spare parts, potentially. We crushed over 400 airplanes, rather than store them at Davis-Monthan, to stop any source of potential spare parts for Iran.
Terribly short-sighted, of course, but that thinking has prevailed.
Museum airplanes have had critical parts removed for the same reason. All of the airplanes in Museums are still the property of the US Navy. They are legally on loan*.
So, I can't see how a private owner would ever be able to get an intact airplane, until one day, when Iran sells off theirs, perhaps.
Even then, you would really have to be a billionaire. The F-14 is a complex airframe. Lots of hydraulic components and structural parts that would require servicing and/or replacement. Those parts would have to be reverse-engineered and made from scratch.
When you look at the extraordinary effort to keep Vulcan XH558 in the air for a few years, it was incredibly expensive, and they had access to some spares from other surviving airplanes. In the end, it was concern over airframe fatigue, and the concomitant loss of technical expertise from the companies that built her, that permanently grounded her.
*The Navy History and Heritage Command owns all the artifacts; retired airplanes and ships of the US Navy, including relics and sunken ships and airplanes.
That list includes the F-14s now in museums. A museum in Quonset, RI went belly-up a couple of years ago. The US Navy arranged to pick up the F-14 that was there, and transport it to a new site. In this case, the US Naval Academy. Buno 162591 is now installed there. It was not an easy task. To move the airplane, it had to be certified as safe, requiring that the CADs in the canopy and ejection seat be verified as removed and safe. A friend works for the Naval History and Heritage Command. He contacted me to help locate some retired mechanics that could do the work. Through some old contacts, we got the right folks up to Rhode Island to certify and move the airplane. The maintainers love the jet just as much as those who flew it.
www.history.navy.mil
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org