Summary
The Grumman F-14 Tomcat’s history dates back to the 1950s, initially designed for both the Navy and Air Force.
The F-14 Tomcat entered service with the USN in 1972. Its unique features include a swept-back wing system and a Mach 2.2 speed capability.
The F-14 Tomcat’s first confirmed kill was in 1981 against Libyan Su-22 fighters, and it served until its retirement in 2006.
Despite being criticized overseas for promoting American jingoism, when the movie Top Gun hit the silver screen in May 1986, it jettisoned the Grumman F-14 Tomcat to be the plane every naval aviator wanted to fly. What many people do not know is that the F-14 had been around for a long time before Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchell and his Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) Lieutenant Junior Grade Nick “Goose” Bradshaw made it a star.
The Grumman F-14 Tomcat’s history dates back to the 1950s when the United States military was looking for a plane to protect its carrier battle groups from long-range anti-ship missiles. To share the burden between the Navy and the Air Force, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara wanted an aircraft that would suit both requirements. He had already done this with the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, an aircraft that could be used as an interceptor and as a fighter bomber.
Grumman liked to give their planes feline names
Under the “Tactical Fighter Experimental (TFX) program,” General Dynamics partnered with Grumman to build an aircraft suitable for both military branches. Grumman already had a history of giving its aircraft feline names like Hellcat, Wildcat, and Bearcat and went with “Tomcat,” as it was the nickname of Admiral Thomas F. Connolly, a man heavily involved in the program.
During the Vietnam War, the Americans learned that while their Phantoms were good as fighter bombers, they were not as maneuverable as the Soviet MiGs they were up against. When Admiral Connolly flew the prototype aircraft, he discovered that it had difficulty flying supersonically and had characteristics that would make it difficult to land on aircraft carriers. Connolly told them his concerns when testifying before Congress, and they immediately stopped funding.
The Navy wanted a plane that could protect carrier battle groups
Now, not tied to having an aircraft that would suit both the Navy and the Air Force, the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) requested proposals. One of the criteria was that the plane had to be a tandem two-seat, twin-engine air-to-air fighter capable of flying at Mach 2.2. After studying all the proposals, the Navy selected McDonnell Douglas and Grumman as the finalists.
In January 1969, Grumman’s 303E design was declared the winner. To speed up entry into service, the Navy skipped prototype testing, and Grumman began production. Seeing what the Navy had done, the United States Air Force did the same thing with the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle.
The F-14 could identify enemy aircraft more than 100 miles away
The F-14 Tomcat has two crew members: a pilot and a radar intercept officer in charge of the plane’s AWG-9 weapons control system. The all-weather F-14 Tomcat can detect enemy aircraft from over 100 miles away and simultaneously launch six air-to-air missiles at six targets.
The F-14 Tomcat can carry as many as six AIM-54 long-range missiles, six AIM-7 medium-range missiles, and up to four AIM-9 short-range missiles. When used in combat, the F-14 Tomcat is armed with a mix of the weapons above. Internally, the aircraft is fitted with a M61A1 Vulcan rotating cannon with 675 rounds of ammunition. The Grumman F-14 Tomcat can also deploy various laser-guided bombs using its LANTIRN targeting system pod.
The F-14 was fast and agile
Despite being a large aircraft, almost 63 feet long with a 64-foot wingspan, the F-14 could fly faster than the speed of sound at sea level and over Mach 2.3 at altitude. The F-14 had a range of 1,600 miles without air-to-air refueling and a combat range of around 1,000 miles.
Related Grumman F-14 Tomcat: Top 5 Historic US Forces Missions The Tomcat was in service between 1974 and 2006 and carried out a number of combat missions for the US Navy.
One of the F-14’s unique features was its swept-back wing system, which automatically adjusted for the plane’s optimal performance. This helped to make what otherwise would have been a bulky aircraft into an agile, nimble fighter. From the back seat, the radar interceptor officer could detect as many as 24 aircraft using the F-14’s AWG-9 X-band pulse-doppler radar.
The F-14 entered service with the USN in 1972
The Grumman F-14 Tomcat made its maiden flight on December 21, 1970, at Grumman’s Calverton, New York facility on Long Island. The Grumman F-14 Tomcat entered service with the United States Navy (USN) with Navy training squadron VF-124 on October 8, 1972, at Naval Air Station Miramar, California. Navy pilots were first trained to fly the F-14 Tomcat at Miramar before the plane was deployed aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise in September 1974. It provided air cover for the American withdrawal from Saigon in April 1975.
The Grumman F-14 Tomcat gets its first confirmed kill
In 1973, Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi claimed the Gulf of Sidra was a part of his country’s territorial waters. Other countries, however, did not agree and, under the Freedom of Navigation (FON), opposed Gaddafi’s claim. When Ronald Reagan became President of the United States in 1981, he authorized the USN to sail into the Gulf of Sidra as a statement that it was international water. Leading the American flotilla were the USS Forrestal and USS Nimitz.
On August 18, 1981, three Libyan Air Force MiG-25 Foxbats approached the carrier groups and were immediately escorted away by USN interceptors. Undeterred, the Libyans launched other aircraft to try and learn precisely where the American ships were. On the morning of August 19, a USN Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye tactical airborne early warning detected two Sukhoi Su-22 fighters taking off from Ghurdabiyah Air Base.
The Navy responded by sending up two F-14s to intercept them. One of the Libyan planes fired a Soviet AA-2 Atoll air-to-air missile at the Tomcats but missed. Given that they had been fired upon, the F-14s were permitted to shoot down the Libyan aircraft, which they did with AIM-9L Sidewinder air-to-air missiles.
By the late 1980s, the USN was looking for a naval equivalent of the Air Force’s Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) to replace its F-14s. However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991, military budgets were cut, and programs were axed. The F-14 went on to serve during the Gulf War and was eventually retired on September 22, 2006. During its production run between 1969 and 1991, Grumman built 712 F-14s.
Specifications and general characteristics of the Grumman F-14D
Crew Two Length 62 feet 9 inches Wingspan 64 feet 1.5 inches Height 16 feet Wing Area 565 square feet Empty Weight 43,735 lbs Gross Weight 61,000 Fuel capacity 16,200 lbs Engines 2 × General Electric F110-GE-400 afterburning turbofans
Performance
Maximum Speed Mach 2.34 Range 1,600 nautical miles Service Ceiling 53,000 feet Rate of Climb 45,000 feet per minute
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