Top Gear US title page question

bryanbeachboy1970

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By title page, I refer to this:
top_gear_usa_season_2.jpg


So, anyone have any idea when we get to see the F-14? Or the motocross dude, or the red (looks like a) Olds Cutlass? Or is just generic imagery? Just wondering...
 
^^what, you're going to stop watching if they don't?
 
I fully expect them to race an F-14 at some time in the show's run.

Or, maybe, if they do an episode with TGUK, they'll arrive in Tomcats, like TGUK did with Spitfires for the D Motor episode.
 
And it'll be disrespectful if they do stand on an American flag. Catch-22 right there.

Actually, if its painted to the surface, I'm not sure that counts. I think it's only if the stand on an actual giant cloth flag. However, it is a violation of the flag code to use the flag for advertising: http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/flagetiq.html Note the flag code is advisory only.

I fully expect them to race an F-14 at some time in the show's run.

That would be a hard race since the Tomcat can hit mach 2+. Hmm. Where would they race? Perhaps if a Tomcat is being donated to an air museum, the guys could race it from its naval air station to the museum.

On a side note, I finally saw a Tomcat at the Tulsa Air and Space Museum. Never realized just how friggin' HUGE they are!
 
It'd be more a Drag race, like the Veyron vs Eurofighter. Venom GT vs Tomcat? I'd rather have it against the F22, but the Tomcat's a viable alternative.

Also, if it were an actual race, the Tomcat wouldn't be able to go above Mach 1 over land (by law), and they are notorious gas guzzlers.
 
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It'd be more a Drag race, like the Veyron vs Eurofighter. Venom GT vs Tomcat? I'd rather have it against the F22, but the Tomcat's a viable alternative.

Ah! Good idea! And it avoids that whole false advertising thing.

Also, if it were an actual race, the Tomcat wouldn't be able to go above Mach 1 over land (by law), and they are notorious gas guzzlers.

A short race over Lake Michigan then? A gas guzzler? Why worry about economy in our interceptors? Isn't that what the F-16 is for?
 
A short race over Lake Michigan then?

When I was commuting every week from Chicago to Ann Arbor and back, it'd take me two hours to get from Chicago to Benton Harbor, and that's with me doing 90 on the Indiana Speedway (aka I-94). Somehow, I think a Tomcat can beat that.
 
Well if they ever want to film a current flying F-14 the producers are going to have to go to Iran. The only F-14s left in the US are museum pieces never to fly again. The imagas are more iconic US machines then anything else.
 
Actually Herc, the plane at the Tulsa ASM (according to the guide/host I talked to when I was there three years ago) is capable of being flight ready in 24 hours (apparently this is common practice); the Navy actually sends a tech regularly to do routine maintenance. Why? I do not know, and since the last active unit flying Tomcats was deactivated/reassigned in 2006 and I saw that particular plane much later, I wouldn't even hazard a guess as to why.

Like I said, it has been three years and the program may very well have ended. Since my curiosity is now aroused, I sent an e-mail to the TASM to ask about it. Will update when I find out.
 
There're probably a bunch of mothballed Tomcats all over the place. The military doesn't want to scrap them because the risk of Iran getting a hold of the spare parts is too great.
 
Why would they race a Tomcat though, the F-15 was made more famous by the first Gulf "war" and the F-22 thing is a great one. On that note, i dont see a flying challenge in the near future. IMO
 
The F-14 has more media fame. To my knowledge, they haven't made a Top Gun... Hold that thought. Top Gear. Top Gun. I just now made the connection.

Anyways, they haven't made a big movie in the vein of Top Gun for the F-15 or F-22 like they did for the F-14.
 
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The mothballed Tomcats were put through a metal-shredder on-site at Davis-Monthan AFB in about 2008, to make certain that there was *no* way Iran could get their hands on parts.

The only remaining ones in the US are either in museums, or at the Aircraft Survivability Center at China Lake NAS, as permanently-grounded test targets to see what damage new warheads do to them.
 
Got back a pretty quick response from the Tulsa ASM. They told me their Tomcat is no longer flyable (engines and most major electronics removed) and that I had been misinformed. It's too bad; it is a truly awesome plane with a lot of monster engineering involved. As an aside, the development of the F-14 Tomcat is an interesting story in and of itself and well worth reading about.
 
The mothballed Tomcats were put through a metal-shredder on-site at Davis-Monthan AFB in about 2008, to make certain that there was *no* way Iran could get their hands on parts.

The only remaining ones in the US are either in museums, or at the Aircraft Survivability Center at China Lake NAS, as permanently-grounded test targets to see what damage new warheads do to them.

You beat me to it.
 
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