Jalopnik:
LCDR Joe “Smokin” Ruzicka was the Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) to fly the last F-14 Demonstration before the Tomcat’s final demise in 2006. Commander Ruzicka took the time to sit down with Foxtrot Alpha to talk Tomcats and share his amazing experiences and lasting impressions of being part of one of the most competitive, demanding and rewarding cultures in American history- the F-14 Tomcat community.
My bucket list will sadly go unfinished because one of the things on it was to get shot off of a US Navy aircraft carrier in an F-14 Tomcat.
I grew up in San Diego, and was a frequent visitor to “Fighter Town USA” as my dad, himself a combat vet from a helo squadron in Vietnam, sold and repaired construction equipment at several Naval bases in San Diego all during my youth. When you’re 8 years-old being 20 yards from an active military flight line is pretty great, even if you’re only viewing it from the backseat of the station wagon.
Like the author, my best friend from high school went to the Academy and was an F-14 RIO. After his graduation and flight school he was assigned to VF-124, the West coast RAG. So I spent more than a few evenings drinking in the Miramar Officers Club with him and guys from various squadrons and commands. Interesting people Naval Aviators and Flight Officers. Brash and cocky, but also extremely intelligent, committed, and-it should go without saying-brave. Like my friend used to say, “I strap myself into a 20 ton machine with 10,000 moving parts carrying 30000 lbs of fuel and weapons built by the lowest bidder and maintained by people with just a high school education.”
The F-14 was a special plane, but the AWG-9 radar and the AIM-54 Phoenix missile were the real stars of the show. The ability to track 24 targets and fire on 6, simultaneously, was key to the fleet defense strategy of the 70s and 80s. It’s also what doomed the ‘cat once the Cold War ended. While the author is right and the F-14 was very viable CAS and ground attack aircraft, two things made it’s demise inevitable. First, the F-14 was expensive—to build, crew, and maintain, and second McDonnell Douglas had the best lobby in DC at the time. In the era of the multi-role, multi-purpose aircraft, the F-14 just didn’t have a chance.
“When you’re 8 years-old being 20 yards from an active military flight line is pretty great”
I’d say it would be pretty great regardless of your age. 🙂
As the manager of a preferred civilian contractor/vendor, My dad had Dept. of Defense registration stickers on every one of his company cars while I was growing up. A commonly-offered reward for good behavior was a trip to NAS North Island or Miramar for a ride along frontage roads and between hangars on Saturday or Sunday afternoons. Technically it was a violation, but since it was the weekend no one really minded. The best was when I was about 10 and my dad’s old ship USS Coral Sea CV-43 put in at North Island. We got the “special” tour most civilians never get. I remember sitting in the cockpit of an F-4N amazed at the number of gauges, dials, and switches and the big red button on the stick that makes things go “boom!”
Growing up in a military town like San Diego, I forget that most kids didn’t get to do stuff like watch fighter planes take off close enough to see rivets on the wings, climb on parked anti-submarine helicopters, or dangle your feet over the stern of a guided missile frigate.
My home town of Halifax is a Navy Town and, while not nearly as big as San Diego, I know the feeling of “Huh? You didn’t grow up with this stuff all around you?” 🙂
“and maintained by people with just a high school education.”
A-hem…who all went through the equivalent of between two and four years of college-level technical training to get there, and had to constantly be tested on said knowledge. Who had to do engine runs and tests of all the equipment with no way to get out in a hurry if things went south.
Pilots, at least the smart ones, were very careful to not say such idiocy around their maintainers. Because then they got reminded, with proof, of just how stupid they could be. That whole “doesn’t work in the official position”? not urban legend. Happened to me on a flight debrief. Sadly, pre-iphone, so I couldn’t get a pic of the pilot’s face the instance he realized what he’d done.