Tomcat Rules... as in, My Ruling on the Tomcat

Hello, feedback! Whew!

So, I got a little backlash and a little, "Never coming back to your blog again."

Welcome back, first of all.

So, a number of you were, how should I say, 'put out' when I threw in a snippet about how I thought the F-14D Tomcat was a superior air dominance platform than the F-15C Eagle.

Well, I blogged about this wayyyyy back. And if you care to go back and read it, you'll see that despite that, the F-15 is actually the better IN THAT IS ACTUALLY HAS FOUGHT FOR AND PAID FOR THE TITLE BEST FIGHTER IN THE WORLD.

Four nations have bought/manufactured/used the F-15A/C Eagle- Japan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the USA. None of them have lost a single jet in aerial combat. All but (officially) one has used them to effect in aerial combat and DOMINATED.

Compare this to the F-14A/B/D.... USA and Iran have used it. The US Navy used it very well, when anyone got close enough to fight it. A few times. Four? Five official kills in USN service? And Iran, DAMMIT people, you lost some in the war with... Iraq. Really?

Look, I always get flack for this, but facts are facts. And opinions are facts colored in with my favorite crayon color of the moment. Hence, it doesn't matter that the F-14 Tomcat may look better on paper. In the real world, it didn't. Matter of fact, add some Crayola to the F-14 in opinion, and use the "flame orange" and "burning yellow". because depending on the source, anywhere from two to 16 Tomcats have been lost in air-to-air combat. Yes, all Iranian.

I hear USN pilots calling "foul." And I get it. It was your magnificent bird. The Iranian were the red-headed step children who just cried loud until they got some, only to lose or break them. And the US Navy had some of the best fighter sticks in the WORLD. But she turkeyed out. She lost. At least two times. But two times against zero doesn't stack up.

Israel has had the F-15. And it's never lost. Oh, it's gotten peppered good a few times. 23 mm from a MiG-21. Another, Atoll up the engine- BOOM! And more, I'm sure. But each of those Eagles was flown back home, streaming precious Eagle fluids, landed, was repaired, and RETURNED TO THE FIGHT. EVERY Israeli F-15 is accounted for. As with the USAF, the IDF/AF (still called that? Not sure) has publicly accounted for every fighter, some have been damaged and forced to retreat, but then returned to fight another day.

Even Saudi Arabia, for whom flying the Eagle is a princely opportunity, and not an assignment earned by the best of their best (as in the USAF), has used the Eagle in combat, and never lost one in air-to-air combat. And except for a few pilots, the Saudi Air Force is widely regarded (because of above status statement) as lackluster (again, except for a few very skilled pilots). They've shot down enemy fighters with them, so yeah, they've been in the thick of it.

Against whom? Iraq. And, <ahem> Iran.

Final reason the F-15 is the best fighter in the world, in the real world? I can refer to it in the present tense. I can drive a half hour to a few hours and see them flying with my eyes. The Tomcat, very, very sad though it is, can only be referred to in the past tense.

Unless you talk about Iranian F-14s. Flown by Iran. Who have lost some.

And even then, that will only last until ours, or somebody else's, F-15s go up against them.

Then those F-14s be past tense, too.