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(Tangent, in praise of the F-14)

Before the F-14s were retired (2004-ish?), I attended an air show at the Quonset Air National Guard Base [0] .

As part of the show, an F-14 took off from the runway and then went vertical (I assume on afterburners). It stayed vertical until it disappeared into the clouds.

It felt like I was living in some sci-fi future, watching a spaceship launch. I was in awe. It was like some Stewart Cowley [1] book [2] come to life.

IMHO it's still one of the coolest-looking fighter planes ever, up there with the YF-23 [3] and Su-35 [4].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quonset_Point_Air_National_Gua...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stewart_Cowley

[2] https://www.amazon.com/Spacecraft-2000-2100-D-Authority-Hand...

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_YF-23

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_Su-35

⬐ ethbr0

The first time I saw an F-22 do this out of Dobbins (north of Atlanta) completely changed my art-of-the-possible physics understanding.

Seeing something going vertical and accelerating is fascinating.

⬐ wil421

I used to live very close to Dobbins when they were still rolling F-22s out of the factory. Lots of times they wouldn’t be fully painted and would have F-16s flying next to them to spot any issues.

My dad and I had to chance to see the maiden flight of the first F-22 up close. Still have a pin and t shirt somewhere.

⬐ sedatk

I agree about the coolest looking. It has a very muscular look from the front. I'd also add F-4 and Mig-29 to the list. F-22 isn't bad either although not as cool as YF-23.

⬐ YZF

The F-15 can also do that. I guess they don't operate from carriers though but otherwise they're probably the ones that took away a lot of the F-14's niche.

⬐ rootusrootus

AFAIK, the F-15 was in fact the first fighter that could accelerate vertically. I'm not sure the F-14 ever had enough power to do that. IIRC some newer variants of the F-16 can do it with the improved engines, as well as other modern fighters.

I miss watching F-14s at the airshows. It was always a good show. Though I have to say, having recently watched a solo F-35 demo and having modest expectations, I was impressed. It may be a boondoggle and massively overpriced, but it seems to have the performance now.

⬐ foldr

> I'm not sure the F-14 ever had enough power to do that.

It might have with a tiny amount of fuel and no load out (at an air show). In a realistic operational configuration, definitely not.

⬐ fivefifty

I don't think the F-15 would be the first to accelerate vertically, the English Electric Lightning was also known for incredible climb performance even in the vertical and it's a much older design of aircraft.

⬐ dragonwriter

> As part of the show, an F-14 took off from the runway and then went vertical (I assume on afterburners). It stayed vertical until it disappeared into the clouds.

The F-14 is impressive in many ways, but ISTR this being something the relatively humble F-16 was (at least one of) the first fighter to be noted for.

⬐ EdwardDiego

Ah Chris Foss cover art, God I loved his space art when I discovered a book of it as a kid.

⬐ xionon

I have a vague childhood memory of looking through a large illustrated book about spaceships in our public library and being in awe. When I came back on another trip, it was gone. I never knew the name or author, but the memory surfaces every few years. It always made me a little sad, because I couldn’t remember enough to find it as an adult - just the vibes I got as a child.

I am now 99% sure it was Spacecraft 2000 - 2100 AD. Thank you so much for posting the name and helping me solve this mystery.

⬐ CoastalCoder

You're welcome! One day when I was pretty young, my dad brought that book home from the local library. He didn't often do stuff like that, so it's a really nice memory.

I couldn't remember much about the book either. I did some digging a few years ago when I wanted to get a copy for one of my kids.

Tangent: the spaceship designs in the Homeworld games [0] remind me a lot of that book.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeworld

Maybe this one? I got it when I was a kid, and it's still right there on my shelf:

http://www.amazon.com/Spacecraft-2000-2100-A-D-Authority-Han...

⬐ gpjt

Wow, that takes me back. I was at school with the kids of the guy who wrote that, his study was full of awesome designs and tons of similar stuff.

⬐ rralian

Thanks so much redler! That's totally it! I found a number of photos of the book on flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/erice/sets/72157625355578461/) and they really brought me back to my childhood. I had the first two as listed here: http://www.khantazi.org/Rec/TTABooks/TTABooks.html

I'll have to see if I can pick up the whole series. Thanks again!