In this article:
The USAF F-14 Tomcat that never was
In January 1969, the US Navy selected Grumman Aerospace Corporation to produce a new fighter for air superiority, fleet air defense, and precision strike capability against ground targets. That fighter became the F-14 Tomcat, the last in a long line of Grumman cats for the Navy.
The F-14’s first flight was on Dec. 21, 1970, at Calverton, New York. The first Tomcats deployed with Navy training squadron VF-124 on October 8, 1972, at NAS Miramar, California.
In the same year the F-14 was also offered to the US Air Force, as the photos in this post show.
ADCOM interceptor
Taken at the Grumman Calverton test facility in the summer of 1972, the interesting images in this post show the mock-up of the so called “ADCOM F-14” created by Grumman in response to an US Air Force (USAF) proposal to replace the Convair F-106 Delta Dart as an Aerospace Defense Command (ADCOM) interceptor in the 1970s. Note the simulated “Buzz Code” and Aerospace Defense Command livery and emblem on the tail.
To meet this need, Grumman developed an F-14B Tomcat Interceptor variant, with a single example in mock-up form produced in 1972. The modifications included changes to the missile launchers and increased internal fuel capacity, but little interest was shown and the project quickly died.
Actually the USAF tested the F-14 but the USAF opted to purchase more F-15 Eagles. As told by David F. Brown in his book Tomcat Alley: A Photographic Roll Call of the Grumman F-14 Tomcat, when comparing the air defense capabilities of both, the purchase of the F-15 seemed foolish.
Phoenix missile far more capable than the Sparrow
The AIM-54 Phoenix missile system alone was far more capable than the Eagle’s AIM-7 Sparrow. Studies indicated 170 Tomcats could provide the same level of Defense as 290 F-15 Eagles. General Daniel `Chappie’ James, the former Commander of NORAD, personally evaluated the Tomcat. He recommended that it be purchased by the USAF.
Today it is the F-15 Eagle which guards the sky over the continental United States; the F-14 was defeated by interservice rivalry, by politics and…… by its high cost.
Tomcat Alley: A Photographic Roll Call of the Grumman F-14 Tomcat is published by Schiffer Military and is available to order here.
Photo credit: U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy
