Blog #11: 1/27/23: Historical aviation: Grumman F-14 Tomcat
Welcome to the next Brooke in the Air blog! Today, another venture in historical military aviation: Exploring the Grumman F-14 Tomcat!
F-14D “Super” Tomcat over Persian Gulf, c. 2005 belonging to VF-31 (carrier fighter squadron - 31) “The Tomcatters” of USS Theodore Roosevelt, Carrier Air Wing 8.
Source: (By U.S. Navy photo, Navy Archives, U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Rob Tabor - This image was released by the United States Navy with the ID 051105-F-5480T-005 (next). Public Domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8220824
I had numerous requests for an overview of this plane so while I wasn’t going to cover the F-14, not out of a lack of love, but more because what can I say that hasn’t already been said? But I’ll endeavor to give my best take on this beloved aircraft.
Developed from the US Navy's VFX or Naval Fighter Experimental, program and the collapse of that program's F-111 Aardvark (ironically beloved by US Air Force and would go on to serve 30 years in the USAF in multiple roles including the EF-111 Raven, while the Navy rejected F-111), the F-14 incorporated hard lessons learned in the wake of Vietnam. Debuting in late 1974, the early F-14As helped escort US personnel as they evacuated Saigon before it fell to the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese.
General Dynamics F-111B - navy testbed VFX Fighter
Designed as a true follow-up to the F-4 Phantom II, the navy was displeased with this result of the VFX program, and the F-111B never advanced beyond the prototype stage. She’s flying here over Grumman’s Long Island facility, 1965. The program was canceled in 1969.
Source: (U.S. Navy Naval Aviation News July 1965; U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation; photo No. 2011.003.299.002)
First deploying aboard the USS Enterprise, replacing the also-beloved McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) F-4 Phantom II, the F-14 was the ideal maritime superiority fighter and fleet defence interceptor from 1974 until it's retirement in 2006. Though it should be noted that the Islamic Republic of Iran still uses the F-14 in sizable numbers and made their presence felt in the 8-year long Iran-Iraq War. This mass order of F-14s, an acquisition order, was due to the short-lived alliance between the-then Iranian Empire under Reza Shah Pahlavi (prior to the Islamic Revolution), and the United States.
Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet of VFA-31 “The Red Rippers” of USS Harry S. Truman, Carrier Air Wing 3, Fifth Fleet Area of Responsibility
Source: (By U.S. Navy photo by Seaman Kevin T. Murray Jr., USN - This image was released by the United States Navy with the ID 071203-N-8923M-074)
US Navy F-35Cs
F-35Cs on the flight line at Naval Air Station NAS) Lemoore, Fresno/Kings County, California
Source: (By U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Manuel Tiscareno, USN - This image was released by the United States Navy with the ID 190227-N-WR119-0043.)
In the US, the F-14 was supplanted, eventually, by the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet (pictured above), and much later the F-35C Lightning II pictured immediately above).
McDonell Douglas (now-Boeing) F-4 Phantom II
F-4 Phantom II in USAF camo-colors over Holloman Air Force Base
Source: (By USAF - holloman.af.mil, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50920146)
The Secretary of Defence at the time, Robert McNamara, (c. 1970s) forced the two services, the US Air Force and Navy, to work together and buy a joint project to reduce cost and overheads. McNamara had already forced the Air Force to buy the large F-4 Phantom II which was originally designed for the Navy and Marine Corps. This led to the F-111B program which angered the navy to no end.
F(X)-14s in Flight over Grumman’s Long Island, New York complex. This was one of only a couple test flights.\
Source: (By U.S. Navy - U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation photo No. 2011.003.301.027, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26967925)
Vice-Admiral Thomas F. Connolly
Test pilot, naval aviator, father of the F-14 Tomcat, and Chief of Naval Operations for Air Warfare. Circa 1965.
Source: US Navy Archives (https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/nhhc/research/histories/naval-aviation/Naval%20Aviation%20News/1960/pdf/dec65.pdf)
Since General Dynamics didn't have any experience with naval aircraft they partnered with Grumman Aircraft Corporation to help design the navy requirements for the joint aircraft. But the F-111 was ultimately found by the navy to be ungainly, ugly, poor performing overall and rough on carrier landings. Around this same time, in response to the poor performance of the F-111, Chief of Naval Operations for Air Warfare, Vice-Admiral Thomas Connolly (see left), submitted his findings on the F-111 to Congress. Congress subsequently stopped funding for the F-111B program and allowed the navy to pursue their own independent fighter development with Grumman Aircraft Corporation who offered three potential designs, the leading candidate being the model 303, the designation for the designed prototype of the F-14A.
The winning design would be a standoff weapons platform, equipped to fire the new AIM-54 Phoenix standoff missiles, 6 in total, known as the "Six-shooter configuration" of a combination of AIM-7 Sparrow and AIM-9 Sidewinder air combat missiles. Open bids for proposals were submitted by Grumman, obviously, but also Vought (F4U, F-8 Crusader fame) General Dynamics (later making the F-16 Falcon/Viper), Rockwell (later producing the B-1 Lancer strategic bomber), and others, but Grumman already had a plan laid out and impressed the navy. Produced at Grumman's Calverton, Long Island, New York plant, a lot of the technology, avionics, equipment and weapons designed for the F-111B such as the AIM-54 Phoenix missile, was transferred to the body that became the F-14A Tomcat.
The navy skipped the prototype phase entirely, a plan the Air Force would copy when developing the F-15 Eagle a few years later, and went straight to development in order to avoid the chance of cancellation by the President.
An F-14D Super Tomcat firing an AIM-7 Sparrow Air-to-air missile.
If you look closely, a GBU-10 Paveway II bomb is also carried.
Source: (http://www.jcmd.jte.osd.mil/systems.htm)
Air-to-ground modifications were finally added in the 1990s, though the Marine Corps wasn't interested in the fighter by then though they had initially developed an interest but only if the Tomcat was outfitted for ground-strike capabilities. The Tomcat underwent substantial upgrades over the years, from the basic block 50 F-14A Tomcat, to the modification of the 1990s F-14B "Bombcat" and the F-14D Super Tomcat with superior engines and strengthened superstructure plus a glass cockpit, plus LANTIRN (Low-Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night) and TARP (Tactical Airborne Reconnaissance Pod) and later, TARP-DI (Tactical Airborne Reconnaissance Pod-Digital) modifications to allow it to do the job of the recently-retired (as of 2002) A-6 Intruder, also by Grumman. Additionally, to add in these modifications, the F-14D also had a digital flight control system (or DFCS) which helped the aircraft gain superiority in sharp angles of attack or other situations of Air Combat Maneuvering (ACM).
F-14D(R) with visible LANTIRN pod under main fuselage
Belonging to VF-213, “The Black Lions,” this Tomcat is on a mission over the Persian Gulf, based aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt. A Guided Bomb Unit, or GBU, can be seen on the far side of the aircraft.
Source: (This image was released by the United States Navy with the ID 051010-N-5088T-001. Photo taken: U.S. Navy photo by Lt.j.g. Scott Timmester, USN)
The F-14 was still the heaviest and most expensive fighter of it's time despite the VFX goals of creating a lighter and cheaper alternative to the F-111. The F-14 has arguably done more help the navy plus navy recruitment than any other element of piece of equipment. Nearly everyone has seen the original movie Top Gun, which prominently featured the F-14D Tomcat.
Closeup of an F-14D’s cockpit view. This F-14 has it’s air-to-air refueling probe extended to take on fuel from a US Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker. Two AIM-9 Sidewinders are equipped to the inboard pylons, along with one sensor pod and a fuel drop pod. Photo was taken by the USAF Refueling Drogue operator, credit given below.
Source: (By Camera Operator: SSGT MICHAEL D. GADDIS, USAF - ID:DF-SD-03-06180 / Service Depicted: Navy / 011107-F-5795G-006 / Operation / Series: ENDURING FREEDOM, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3318454)
Operationally, the F-14, in various configurations, oversaw the American withdrawal from Saigon in 1974, the Gulf of Sidra incidents, participated in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Operation Deliberate Force - Bosnia and Herzegovina air campaign, Operation Allied Force - NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, the second Iraq War, the early stages of President George W. Bush’s indefinite War on Terror, the war in Afghanistan for 3 years, and would achieve it's final kill in US service against a Soviet-built Mi-8 "Hip" helicopter with an AIM-9 short-range air-to-air missile in 2005.
Pictured is the very last F-14 Tomcat launch in history. This time off the USS Theodore Roosevelt on 28 July, 2006.
F-14D’s final takeoff near NAS Oceania, Virginia Beach. Taking off from USS Theodore Roosevelt. The crew would start transferring to the F/A-8E/F Super Hornet while the tomcat itself would go on to be scrapped or stored at the 309th AMARG (Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group) at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, commonly known as the airplane graveyard, where thousands of aircraft are kept in mothballs or various states of maintenance.
Source: (By Nathan Laird, Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class US Navy, USN - US Navy image page, high resolution image, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10818736)
Aerial view of the 309th AMARG - Aerospace Maintenance & Regeneration Group at Davis-Monthan air Force Base
