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Posted (edited)

Recently found this book by CJ Heatley called The Cutting Edge. Really good read and some great pictures from the first couple Tomcat deployments. This gem shows a CLEAN cockpit, no scratches at all. I personally like my dinged up HB pit, but would be interesting to see what it would be like in a brand new jet.9ec8ab88cdd89d46f25982a5c9326b74.jpg

 

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Edited by cjladd11
  • Like 2
Posted

I work on Rhino's and my XO recommended this. Had to take him up on it and was well worth it.

 

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Posted

I used to covet this book in the 80s, but my jr high/high school budget couldn't afford it which was like $40 for the hardcover and Kroch and Brentano's at the time. But then a few years later they had a soft cover version of it for $20 so I finally got to buy it and the problem with it was being paperback, my drool on it could wrinkle the pages.

 

 

As it went out of print, the hardcover version became affordable too, so I bought that also. Loved it ever since and Heater was my real life hero back then. I was so excited when Desert Shield started and there was a picture of a VF-21 Tomcat on the deck of the TR that had Heater's name on the canopy rail. I was like, woohoo! a Top Gun instructor is in theatre!

 

 

Still love to look at those photos. Another great book from that time is "Top Gun: The US Navy's Fighter Weapons School" by George Hall. Another great journalist and photographer (RIP, George).

 

 

More recent books of this type that you must check out for the F-14 are "Tomcat! The Grumman F-14 Story" by Admiral Gilcrist, "Bye-Bye, Baby...!" by Dave Parsons, George Hall, Bob Lawson and "Anytime, Baby..." by Erik Hildebrant. All have great photos and anecdotes.

 

 

v6,

boNes

"Also, I would prefer a back seater over the extra gas any day. I would have 80 pounds of flesh to eat and a pair of glasses to start a fire." --F/A-18 Hornet pilot

Posted

The book looks like a good one, I'll have to see if I can find it. I too, while enjoying the nearly unserviceable dirty pigpen, would be happy to see something that was more maintained and clean.

Sorry, no cool signature here.

Posted

Just repeat my opinion.

 

Every module should come with two cockpit liveries by standard.

1) Factory New

2) Slight weathering after like 3-5 years of operational use.

 

And then as bonus:

 

3) heavily weathered by decade or two active duty

4) museum piece level dirtbag

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Posted

Thanks CJ, just bought the hardback from amazon for 3 pounds. Looking forward to reading it

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Posted

This! Even old jets got their cockpits "refreshed" when they came out of depot maintenance; I remember collecting an F-4E from Hill AFB in the late 80's that looked brand new - and it had been built back in the early 70s and been to war!

 

And OT - clean canopies, please! No self-respecting crew chief would let his jet fly with the filthy canopies we get in DCS...

 

Vulture

Posted (edited)
Kirk66 said:
And OT - clean canopies, please! No self-respecting crew chief would let his jet fly with the filthy canopies we get in DCS...

 

All good, fortunately crew chief has no business for Navy's jet :thumbup:

Edited by draconus

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  • 10 months later...
Posted

Hi,
I'm looking for THIS Hi-res picture of the Tomcat to create a wallpaper for my self,
I understand it is from the book by C.J. Heatley.

f14headon.jpg

I do own this poster, bought in the Smithsonian, but wanted a digital copy of it, as a nice HB F-14 theme...
If would appreciate if you could help me find it.
Thanks!

Callsign   SETUP

Posted
4 hours ago, ron533 said:

Hi,
I'm looking for THIS Hi-res picture of the Tomcat to create a wallpaper for my self,
I understand it is from the book by C.J. Heatley.

f14headon.jpg

I do own this poster, bought in the Smithsonian, but wanted a digital copy of it, as a nice HB F-14 theme...
If would appreciate if you could help me find it.
Thanks!

 

 

I have that poster on my wall, but it says "National Air and Space Museum Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC" on it.

 

v6,

boNes

"Also, I would prefer a back seater over the extra gas any day. I would have 80 pounds of flesh to eat and a pair of glasses to start a fire." --F/A-18 Hornet pilot

Posted
16 hours ago, Blaze1 said:

One of the first aviation books I ever bought.  The photography is outstanding!

The Cutting Edge right? That was one of my first books too! Great book!

DO it or Don't, but don't cry about it. Real men don't cry!

  • 3 weeks later...
Posted
On 2/1/2021 at 6:15 AM, bonesvf103 said:

 

 

I have that poster on my wall, but it says "National Air and Space Museum Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC" on it.

 

v6,

boNes

I've bought that poster in the Smithsonian too, also got the book now. looks amazing!
Is there a digital copy of it??
I would really love to have some of those picture as my DCS theme! 
Thanks for helping

Callsign   SETUP

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

Awesome, thanks for this idea.  Just ordered one in good condition for AU$28 from World of Books!

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  • 3 years later...
Posted (edited)

wake up thread... :))

I thought I'd revisit and share my custom DCS wallpaper with you 🙂

and also, another screenshot inspired by "The Cutting Edge" book, here :

 

image.jpeg

Edited by ron533

Callsign   SETUP

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