Moose135 From United States of America, joined Oct 2004, 2020 posts, RR: 12 Reply 1, posted (4 years 5 months 1 week 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 10155 times:
Here is a pretty good graphic of the inner workings of the swing wing.
In normal operations, it it controlled by an air data computer based on airspeed (Mach number), to provide the optimum L/D ratio. The pilot could switch to manual mode and position the wing as desired. In normal operations, the wing could sweep between 20 and 68 degrees, but when parked, could move to an "oversweep" of 75 degrees (where it would overlap the stabilators) to reduce the footprint for carrier parking. In an emergency, the aircraft could land with the wings swept back at 68 degrees, or with asymmetrical sweep.
An interesting side note the box beam and the wingbox were both titanium. That's one of the reasons the structure of the F-14 was able to take the punishment of carrier ops. In fact in most crashes the box beam was relativley undamaged.
Lemmy From United States of America, joined Dec 2004, 256 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (4 years 5 months 1 week 3 days 19 hours ago) and read 9871 times:
Does anyone know what type of bearing was used in the pivot? Was it a roller bearing, or some kind of bushing? How often did it have to be serviced?
(Sucks talking about the F-14 in the past tense ...)
KFLLCFII From United States of America, joined Sep 2004, 3263 posts, RR: 33 Reply 5, posted (4 years 5 months 6 days 12 hours ago) and read 9476 times:
Moose135 From United States of America, joined Oct 2004, 2020 posts, RR: 12 Reply 6, posted (4 years 5 months 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 9460 times:
Yes it was intentional. That was Tomcat #3, one of the test aircraft used by Grumman. It was done during a series of test flights to see if the aircraft could be controlled and landed in an asymmetrical condition. The right wing was locked in the 20 degree position, then they varied the sweep angle of the left wing to determine handling characteristics. They determined that with the wing swept back to 60 degrees (just short of full sweep) the aircraft could still make carrier landings. That aircraft now resides at the Cradle of Aviation Museum on Long Island.
And no, it could not be swept that way in normal operations.
LMP737 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 7, posted (4 years 5 months 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 9124 times:
The wing sweep actautors were interconnected on teh F-14. Obviously this was in case a hydraulic sustem failure. I remember the airframers would get in a tizzy if you moved the wings with only one hydraulic system running. Puts a lot of strain on the crossover shaft.
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