F-14 Tomcat

Cradle of Aviation Museum unveils newly restored F-14D ‘Felix 101’, the last US Navy Tomcat to ever fly

F-14D BuNo 164603 ‘Felix 101’ had the distinction of making the final flight by a Navy Tomcat on Oct. 4,… Read More

3 days ago

[Video] That time a US Navy F-14 Tomcat shot down a USAF RF-4C Phantom II during a war game

The RF-4C was performing a simulated recce mission on USS Saratoga when the F-14 pilot became confused and launched a… Read More

4 days ago

170 F-14s could provide the same level of Defense as 290 F-15s but USAF bought the Eagle instead of the Tomcat. Here’s why.

The Phoenix missile system alone was far more capable than the Eagle’s AIM-7 Sparrow. Studies indicated 170 F-14 Tomcats could… Read More

3 weeks ago

US Navy F-14 Tomcat pilot who fired a Phoenix missile against an Iraqi MiG-23 explains why the AIM-54 missed its target

Using their F-14 Tomcat (much-improved) Link-16 datalink, LCDR Coby 'Coach' Loessberg and his RIO obtained their targeting data from the… Read More

4 weeks ago

Blooding the Bombcats: the story of the first air-to-ground sorties ever flown by US Navy F-14 Tomcat fighter jets

‘The F-14s dropped while the F/A-18s lased. We egressed the target area having achieved absolutely superb results from direct hits,… Read More

1 month ago

F-14 Pilot tells the story of when Air Traffic Controllers asked him to buzz the tower so that they could see for themselves a Navy Tomcat

‘Iowa the Air Traffic Controllers could not believe that they had an F-14 Tomcat under their control and so very… Read More

1 month ago

The day 70 Libyan Fighters were Scrambled to Intercept US Navy F-4 and F-14 Aircraft that Crossed the Line of Death in the Gulf of Sidra

On Aug. 18, 1981 no less than 35 pairs of Libyan interceptors, including a total of 70 MiG-23MS’s, MiG-25Ps, Mirage… Read More

1 month ago

Tomcat Vs Foxbat: when US Navy F-14s outmanoeuvred Gaddafi’s MiG-25s over the Gulf of Sidra

Although MiG-25 Foxbats are not particularly manoeuvrable aircraft, their aggressive manoeuvring during approach, ‘painting’ of US Navy aircraft with their… Read More

2 months ago

‘It’s not risky at all with practice:’ legendary US Navy F-14 Tomcat pilot Dale “Snort” Snodgrass recalls his famed super low Banana Pass

“It’s not risky at all with practice… it was my opening pass to a Tomcat tactical demonstration at sea,” Dale… Read More

2 months ago

During Operation Desert Storm the F-14s RHAW gear went crazy because of the EA-6B ALQ-99 jamming pods emissions

An investigation revealed that EA-6B jamming pods emissions were one of the principal reasons for communication problems experienced by multiple… Read More

2 months ago

Here’s how Soviets were able to publish this F-14 “booklet” for their top fighter pilots although Russia never received any (Iranian) Tomcat

Obtaining quite good intel on the F-14 Tomcat – from the USA – proved quite easy for the KGB. No,… Read More

2 months ago

The Marine guard that inadvertently jettisoned the canopy from a parked F-14 to sit in the Tomcat cockpit. The missiles aboard (1 AIM-54, 1 AIM-7 and 1 AIM-9) did not have the pins but were not damaged.

Key explanatory text within the message was encrypted in "aviator acronyms” - "GF," YGTBSM," WTFO,” and "HS," and other coded… Read More

3 months ago

From the Wildcat to the Tomcat: remembering the last aviator to fly All the Grumman Cats

The last living member of the all Grumman Cat driver’s club is Glenn Tierney — a true icon in Naval… Read More

3 months ago

US Navy Tomcat pilot recalls the Ramp Strike where this F-14A Split Into Two Pieces

‘I watched the mishap live on the ship’s closed-circuit PLAT TV and will never forget the sound of the scraping… Read More

4 months ago

The story of how all Miramar Tomcat squadrons got the funds to purchase riflescopes to attach to the HUD of their F-14 fighter jets

The Black Lions F-14 Tomcat pilots completed a tactical assessment that found that against a MiG-sized target, the VID range… Read More

4 months ago