F-14A Tomcat

F-14 plane captain recalls when his Tomcat RTB from ACM training with 95% of its starboard stab missing. The pilot never knew it was missing and just used a little trim for the ACM mission.

F-14 plane captain recalls when his Tomcat RTB from ACM training with 95% of its starboard stab missing. The pilot never knew it was missing and just used a little trim for the ACM mission.

‘The pilot said he never knew it was missing and only used a little trim for the ACM,’ Ian Harrington,… Read More

2 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

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

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

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

F-14 Tomcat pilot and TOPGUN instructor explains how he was able to nail a MiG-29 Fulcrum in a 1v1 Dogfight

“I saw his two afterburners. He is probably doing 500 knots, straight downhill, with both afterburners. And I thought, ‘Gotcha!’… Read More

4 months ago

US Naval Aviator who flew both the F-4 and F-14 tells about the negative and positive attributes of the Phantom II and Tomcat during Carrier Landing

The approach speed of the F-4 was a little slower than the F-8, the view looking forward in the F-14… Read More

5 months ago

Libyan MiG-23 pilot tells the story of a memorable dogfight he had with US Navy F-14 Tomcats

“I pushed my throttle to full dry power while my aircraft went through the vertical and pointed at the Tomcats… Read More

5 months ago

US Navy Test Pilot tells the story of the F-14 Tomcat Fatal Flat Spin Mode That Was Never Supposed to Happen

‘Within seconds the F-14 Tomcat rotation rate shot up to 180deg/sec and g forces reached 7.8g eyeballs-out! My head was… Read More

7 months ago

Tomcat RIO Recalls when He and His Pilot had to Eject from their F-14 because the Arresting Gear Failed when They Landed Aboard the Aircraft Carrier

It was later determined that the mishap was caused by one of the four cables was not set to the… Read More

7 months ago

US Navy F-14 Tomcat RIO tells the story of when he and his pilot intercepted a Concorde during Operation Desert Shield

‘As we swung our nose in the direction of the vector we got, I got an immediate lock on an… Read More

9 months ago

Here’s how US Navy F-14As allowed USAF F-15Es to get the most out of their AAQ-28 Litening II pods during Operation Iraqi Freedom

The expertise and professionalism of the Tomcat FAC(A)s allowed Strike Eagle aircrews who worked with them to get the most… Read More

9 months ago

Tomcat RIO tells the story of Santa Brutus, VF-211 Fighting Checkmates F-14 featuring Christmas-Theme Markings

The tails of the F-14 Tomcat featured the character from the squadron logo, who we called Brutus, dressed as Santa… Read More

10 months ago

The story of the Iraqi MiG-23 Flogger that mistakenly shot down an Iranian F-14 Tomcat that was defecting to Iraq

The young lieutenant acquired a lock-on and fired a single R-24T. The hefty weapon detonated below the F-14A, setting it… Read More

11 months ago

“Splash the Zeros!” F-14 pilot who flew in The Final Countdown shares his personal notes on the movie that introduced the Tomcat to Hollywood

Six years before “Top Gun” prominently featured the F-14 Tomcat, “The Final Countdown” proved that Grumman’s twin-tailed fighter had star… Read More

12 months ago

The Great Shoot-off: US Naval Aviator tells the story of the huge DACT session where many F-14s faced many F-15s (Spoiler: The Tomcats scored a lot of simulated kills against the Eagles)

It was not just 1 vs. 1; it was to be many F-14s vs. many F-15s! It was a Wild… Read More

12 months ago
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