Swordsman422

Anything is better than having to look Kelly McGillis full in the face at any age. I'd rather walk for an hour around my neighbor's horse farm and kiss whatever I found on the bottom of my boot.:megalol:

Kelly McGillis!? Well, that's a lunch I don't get to keep down. That's it, I quit and I'm going to fly Hornets.

Like Northstar pointed out, it's the longest serving variant. It's also the only Tomcat in service with a foreign air force, and at the end of the Tomcat's US service still made up a significant percentage of the fleet. Every squadron that ever flew the F-14 flew the A first, and some of them that's all they ever had. Pretty much any scenario taking place before 1988 the F-14A is the only one available, and after that year it was still the most common until the mid 1990s. By comparison, the F-14B served only 9 (and at a maximum 6 at once) fleet squadrons and the F-14D only served 4 (max 3 at once) versus the F-14A's 28 fleet squadrons, including by 1987 ALL at once.

I like how the discussion on when the glove vanes were deactivated just blew right past the SME who stated when it happened. The -135-GR we have in hand now would have had them bolted shut at time of representation (mid 90's), so the vanes won't be missed on this model. I'm apathetic as to whether they'll appear on the earlier versions, since I won't be spending much time in the flight regimens where they'd be deployed, so my opinions on whether they should be included end there.

Looks great, Isoko! Another one I was just in the beginnings of working on. Lol. Alright, what's next...

Cool. Guess I'll find another project, then. If you need a list of BuNos for the OEF deployment, I've got one. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

Oh, nice. Are you doing the whole squadron or just a few? I have JUST started lining up my tail decals and sorting the Modex/BuNo list. This is where I'm at so far...

BKR!

Nothing really to show yet, but I've started working on VF-211 1999-2002, covering two cruises aboard the USS John C. Stennis. As usual it'll be a full pack of 10 aircraft based around their OEF stable. WIP shots when I have them.

They did, but not with the livery seen in the trailer. That livery actually belongs on a -70-GR or a -75-GR. The VF-1 livery for the -135-GR we have would look more like this:

Both of the VF-1 and VF-84 skins in the trailer were never on the -135-GR as represented. But then again, neither was the VF-21 and VF-111...

That's very odd. The problem I get is that the new F-14A replaces the old AI model on OpenBeta.

Those are called glove vanes, and will probably only be with the -135-GR (Early) and the -95-GR if we get them at all.

Yes you can. Conversions aren't particularly hard... In your liveries folder, create a new folder called F-14A-135-GR and drop desired liveries inside.

On the upside, livery conversions are not particularly difficult...

Nope. Only VF-21, VF-111, VF-154, and VF-211 for right now.

Got it. Somewhat of a dearth of liveries just yet. VF-21, -111, -154, and -211. Took the Black Knights bird for a spin. Victory205 was right is saying that the engines won't just come apart on you, but I had to actively TRY to get an engine stall (tail slide from a vertical climb). The right engine stalled and gave me an alert, but an easy throttle back and stabilizing flight and the engine took it like a champ.

The -135GR (Late) that we're getting is a contemporary of the F-14B we already have. The mid-80's model and IIAF/IRIAF version are coming later, and if I read the road map right, options will eventually exist to, at least visually, represent even earlier Tomcat models. Looks like they're out to satisfy as many customers as they can.

I'm excited for it because it was the longest serving variant of the F-14, and even at the end made up 40% of the Tomcat fleet. VF-41, arguably the F-14's most historically significant squadron, only ever flew the A, and the F-14A was the first model to both shoot down an enemy aircraft and drop bombs in anger.

The F-14 fuel pylons on all models were not permanent and could be removed. By the 1980s it became fairly uncommon for deployed USN F-14s to fly without the external tanks.

This thread, first post, about 2/3 down listed with the upcoming features. https://forums.eagle.ru/forum/english/licensed-third-party-projects/heatblur-simulations/dcs-f-14a-b/7126047-dcs-f-14-development-update-enter-the-a#post7126047

The issue with the dynamic modex numbers is two fold. 1st,while there was a standard, most of the F-14 squadrons ignored this standard for some or all of their time in the Tomcat, with different variations on size, placement, and typeface used. To have even the most common options, there would have to be several entries on the .lua for each one and several placement areas on the models. That takes up data space. 2nd, dynamic numbers in DCS lack proper kerning. Not an issue with straight block numerals, but most of the time, the F-14 modex numbers were slanted. Without proper kerning to handle the overlap, the modex numbers will stretch out and look ridiculous. While some people might be okay with simple block letters to have dynamic modexes, at least half of the community will scream if their favorite liveries don't look right.

Apparently with enough optional details to represent further versions once the list is completed. Zero reason for anyone to complain that they didn't get the A they wanted by end of EA.

In the US Navy, four squadrons (VF-14, -41, -154, and -211) were still equipped with F-14As by 2000, with each squadron possessing 10-12, so 40-50 in fleet service, which doesn't include the As in adversary and training squadrons. By contrast, the F-14B equipped 5 squadrons (VF-11, -32, -102, -103, and -143) each with 10 jets, so about the same number in fleet service not including those in training and test units. 712 F-14s of all types were built, and of those, only 86 of those (38 new build, 48 remanufactured) were F-14Bs and only 55 (37 new, 18 remanufactured) were F-14Ds.

Based on carrier and CVW titles, this photo was taken no later than 1989. The post ODS period for Navy jets was actually a pretty dreary period with regulations allowing I think a maximum of two aircraft in full color, which was reduced to just one for a short few years later on. Several squadrons trying to do greyed-out versions of their high-viz liveries and it didn't work most of the time. VF-21 on their very next deployment in 1990 looked more like this: