F-14A Tomcat

“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

“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

1 year 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

1 year ago

F-14’s first air-to-air kill was a gun kill. But it wasn’t scored by a US Navy Tomcat.

A US Navy legend maintains that a few older F-14 pilots promised to erect a monument to the first individual… Read More

1 year ago

Tomcat RIO tells the story behind this famed F-14 Cockpit Selfie

'Here’s the story behind one of my selfies that has gotten much more exposure than I ever expected. (Exposure, get… Read More

1 year ago

A Life-or-Death Experience: Former F-14 pilot tells the story of when he and his RIO had a Tomcat single-engine cat shot

“As I quickly found out, the F-14 could fly single-engine, even with full fuel and a typical loadout. Our Tomcat… Read More

1 year ago

IRIAF F-14 Tomcat crashes near the central city of Isfahan. Both crew members eject safely.

The IRIAF Tomcat involved in the accident is believed to be F-14A serial 3-6054. An Islamic Republic of Iran Air… Read More

1 year ago

There was a Real-Life Goose RIO who was Killed during an Ejection Accident too: but Instead of the Top Gun Character He Ended Up with five total Ejections, the Last being Fatal

Goose (Maverick’s Radar Intercept Officer, RIO) provided an emotional spine to Top Gun when he is killed by accident and… Read More

2 years ago

F-14 RIO explains how a Tomcat Crew could Outmaneuver a Hornet, why in some Mission Profiles the F/A-18 is a better Air-to-Air Fighter than the F-14 and why the Super Hornet is Worthless against China

‘As for which would have been a better air-to-air platform, it depends on what specific mission profiles you’re talking about,… Read More

2 years ago

The story of why the Israeli Air Force Picked the F-15 Eagle over the F-14 Tomcat

The requirement was for around 50 4th-generation fighters to see the Israeli Air Force (IAF) through to the 1990s —… Read More

2 years ago

F-15 Vs F-14 Vs CF-188: the Eagle in Dissimilar Fighting against legendary Tomcat crews and why Eagle Pilots liked the Fake Canopies painted on Canadian Hornets

F-15 Vs the other 'teen' series of US fighters Much was made of the F-15 Eagle's prowess as an air-to-air… Read More

2 years ago

The epic story of the F-14 Tomcat pilot who disobeyed the order to return to the carrier to provide CAS support during the Battle of Roberts Ridge

Ordered to return to the ship by the AWACS after dropping all of his bombs, Lt Sidbury told everybody -… Read More

2 years ago

Vintage Video features VF-124 Gunfighters F-14 Tomcat landing without its port wheel at NAS Miramar

Taken on Nov. 28, 1973 the video in this post features a Grumman F-14 Tomcat belonging to the “Gunfighters” of… Read More

2 years ago

F-14 Tomcat pilot and TOPGUN instructor tells the story of when he nailed a MiG-29 in a 1v1 dogfight

Captain Sam “Slammer” Richardson forced the MiG-29 pilot to call “Knock it off.” Afterwards, he said the Fulcrum pilot could… Read More

2 years ago

That time Air Traffic Controllers asked to an F-14 pilot to buzz the tower so that they could see for themselves a Navy Tomcat

‘The ATC guys apparently really liked it and thanked me profusely as I continued on to my destination,’ John Chesire,… Read More

2 years ago

US Navy F-14 Pilots explain why a non-RIO must be trained ‘in doing several things’ to fly in the Tomcat back seat

Although only the F-14 pilot has flight controls in the front seat, there are a lot of things that are… Read More

2 years ago

[Video] When a US Navy F-14 Tomcat Shot Down a USAF RF-4C Phantom II

The F-14 that shot down an RF-4C The shocking video in this post features the Head-Up-Display (HUD) footage of a… Read More

2 years ago

The F-14 Tomcat posed such a serious threat to the Soviets that they once tried to fish one that fell off the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy

The Soviets tried to go fishing for an F-14 that fell off the USS John F. Kennedy in 1976 - after the… Read More

2 years ago
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