Mach 2.2 F-14 | Mike “Scar” Vizcarra (Clip)

Former F-14 RIO, Mike “Scar” Vizcarra, shares a story of taking an F-14D to Mach 2.2 and some DACT stories!

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[KLRGTKR]

How do you compete at 6.5g with something that can pull 9g?" Huh? Well, pilots did that. Not all, but the likes of 'Snort', 'Okkie', 'Paco', 'Digger', "Heater', 'Shoes' etc. Many pilots have come forward on it. It is not realistic to say pilots never exceeded that when there is video evidence. It is the same as saying Tomcat pilots never exceeded the Mach 1.6 limit when most did. How many pilots actually kept the Tomcat at 6.5g and would not exceed it? I can bet not many. In Vizcarra movie 'Tomcat Tales' there is HUD of an F-14D pulling/sustaining 9.4g near supersonic until it is out of blower. Against something that could pull 9g, pilots used to go all-out in Tomcat at Nellis. How else would 'Snort' be called 'master of spank' ? Arguably, the best Tomcat pilot and one of the very best pilots of all times said 'That is what I loved about the Tomcat that you could do things with it that you simply could not to others, which made the Tomcat a BFM monster'. 'Jungle' in the Tomcast podcast who was BFM SME at Top Gun and flew all variants of Hornet and the Tomcat (and Navy Vipers) said 'I would never take the Hornet over the Tomcat unless it was for close air support (air to ground)'. 'Snort' spanked the cr*p out of the adversaries even winning 1v3 against 3 F-5E Tigers in his F-14A in 1984. All in all, Tomcat's incredible turning capability came from its airframe design. Like Jungle said, 'once you understood how those mechanical surfaces worked and what they were designed to do, you were very tough to beat'. It was because he maximized the mechanical stick/rudder and moving control surface (slats, flaps etc.) advantage of Tomcat over the 'digital' controls of the opponent. 'Snort' is on video swapping ends of an F-14A pulling 9 - 10 G in an airshow. He used to do Pirouette turns full flaps, slats where he intentionally departed the plane cross controlling it full rudder and whacking the stick in the opposite at high AoA and he would whip the nose around at 45 - 60 degree/second instantaneous suddenly the nose of the Tomcat staring at the opponent for a kill shot.

[ZZGE]

Funny I read in BIO's book 'Top Gun Days' that F-14 being called 'Interceptor' landed people in hot waters in Top Gun with instructors. In 1987, there was this marine Hornet instructor who kept bad mouthing F-14 as 'just an interceptor' and it irked the Tomcat instructors that one of them setup a 1v1 with the F-18 Hornet instructor and the Tomcat instructor took the F-14A, swept the wings back manually. Went into the merge with wings swept back at 300 knots (to fool the other guy into thinking he was going 450 knots) and switched to auto in the turn after merge. The Hornet bled all of its energy/knots in the one-circle fight trying to get the nose-on and the Tomcat instructor lit the burners up and pulled into the vertical. Came back down and gun the brains out of the F-18 Hornet guy.

[slowhornet]

Somebody who claims to be a real F-14 pilot said that F-14Bs (and D's?) got a new radar warning gear and that was the only reason the F-14B was Mach limited to 1.66.
Mark Frost:
"The ONLY reason the F-14B was Mach limited to 1.66 is the new RAW (Radar warning gear - and trust me, well worth it) gear installed required removal of the glove vanes just to the side and above the intakes. These were in the original design to make the longitudinal axis less stable so the Tom could turn better at high Mach numbers due to center of lift shift behind center of mass. The B could go much faster in a straight line, it was a prohibited maneuver by NATOPS.
Regarding performance, the GE F110 engines out performed the absolutely crappy P&W TF-30s in every aspect. I have personally taken off in formation with an A as wing and the A had to use zone 3 and 4 of 5 zones of afterburner (reheat for you guys across the pond) just to keep up with the B in full military power (no afterburner). Another prohibited maneuver in the B was takeoff in afterburner. The F110s had so much thrust, as soon as we broke ground, we would accelerate past gear speed (250 kts) in just a few seconds in A/B. The A could use all five zones of A/B on takeoff."
Sometimes it is so confusing / contradicting what different real life pilots say.

[KRGruner]

Awesome interview. Very objective assessment of F-14 capabilities. Regarding ejection at Mach 2+, that's where the ejection capsule was great. No issues ejecting that fast. It did have some disadvantages in other ways, though.

[TOYSOLDIERREVIEW]

Good assessment of the tomcat fantastic honesty

[LRRPFco]

Other guys who flew the F-14D said they had compressor stalls at Mach 1.8, but I don't recall if they were configured with 2x EFTs.

I've said the same about the Typhoon and Gripen E: What are the parasitic drag effects on the placard limits and transonic acceleration when the IRST is added to the nose?

Aerodynamics tells me there's a trade-off.

[dougstitt]

You can tell it wanted to LoL good giggle after.

[mikesmith-wkvy]

limited to 6.5 g, ive seen tomcat pilot interviews from desert storm where he said he pulled a brief 12g maneuver in a tomcat

[elnach]

This guy doesn’t strike me as a very skilled Tomcat pilot. Listen to Okie, Snort, Slammer, Jungle, and a number of other pilots who champion the Tomcat as a BFM monster, especially down low.

[mikesmith-wkvy]

the new proposal f14 super-tomcat 21 would have been a great dogfighter

[PR-xmgi]

Would be nice to see John Hutchinson again

[alexanderwingeskog]

F-14 is just such a good looking aircraft! Every confined plane have it's shortcomings, but the F-14 had more up's then downs I would think. And you can not compare it with the allied/NATO things. You have to compare it with the enemy at that time. I mean the A6 was an awful plane but still lasted so long because of it's "other" capabilities" and support.
F-14 was a confined cousin of the F-15 even if they are not comparable...

[richxrp]

Pull on the brakes...he'll fly right by!!!

[-cf]

Is this part 2 great video really entertaining