042 - F-14 Tomcat

Of all the fighter planes to ever take to the sky, perhaps none is more recognized, more revered, than the venerable Grumman F-14 Tomcat. Made popular by movies such as The Final Countdown and, of course, Top Gun—not to mention real world heroics off the coast of Libya in the 1980s and Desert Storm in the early 90s—the F-14 is no stranger to attention.

But what was it like to fly? Why is it so big? Why did the A model have one brand of engine and subsequent models another…?

On this episode, former US Navy F-14 pilot and RIO crew Commander Roy “SYFH” Wylie (retired) and Captain John “Cosmo” DePree join us to address these questions and many more—including several listener questions, such as the rivalry between Tomcat and Hornet squadrons, bird strikes around the carrier, the procedures for when a weapon fails to release, and large explosions.

The in depth look at this illustrious aircraft comes just in time for the Heatblur Simulation F-14 release for DCS World.

For more information check out the Heatblur website:

or our DCS SME Jabbers’ YouTube channel:

Bumper music by Slater Aiello of Jam & Slate:

Episode artwork by Janek Krause, using original F-14 photograph by Rob Tabor.

[TOMCATnbr]

I'm listening this like the third time, and honestly, I don't think Jello was able to find better people than Syph and Cosmo to talk about the Cat. This episode is so cool to listen. So many detail about this amazing bird, so many personal stories, and so many funny anecdote.

The F14 is my favorite plane, but even without that, this episode is truly one of the best, maybe the best of the FPP series.

Greetings from France.

[lancet.]

So much Tomcat in my life right now.

These guys sound like Han and Chewie banging on the Millennium Falcon to get it working.

[nj]

In around 99 I took my daughter to a local Airshow at KHKY in Hickory NC. The spot light of the day was the Tomcat!!! It performed as expected, beautifully tuned After Burners stole the show!!! No ones head was down when that beautiful machine performed a max performance takeoff!!! It drew incredibly tight circles in the sky with those beautiful blue flames shooting out the back!!! Slow flight, aerobatics, didn't matter what it was doing, NO ONES HEAD WAS DOWN!!! Thanks to all who maintain & fly to protect our country!!! God Bless You All, and God Bless the U.S.A.!!!

[thebgpikester]

The stories about the unusual tweaks, modifications and the messing about and non standard stuff is the real charm of this. Thanks for the stories, so great to listen to them!

[LRRPFco]

A Fighter Pilot podcast interview with former F-14 maintainers would be an absolute riot. I've never heard such horror stories in all of my life compared to what those guys have seen. F-14s with brakes that didn't work attached to the tow car on a rolling deck backing up with inertia from the roll, hitting the little elevator edge and lifting the nose off the deck slowly up to 90˚ with the car still attached, crew chief jumping out of the cockpit, then seeing the TARPS pod underneath, as the bird slowly and gracefully fell backwards into the ocean.

Birds with the canopy open on the elevator in the hangar level, huge wave splashes over the aircraft, total write-off. The hours upon hours dealing with any system on the F-14, from avionics to power plant to the wing sweep mechanism, blown seals, AWG-9 connections pulling apart on cat launch and tits up in the air, reconnecting on trap so the avionics techs say everything is fine....it would be a great interview if you can locate the guys.

[jabonemalone]

"How did the bombs affect the Characteristics being in the tunnel" "To be honest it didn't care..." Best answer ever! LOL

[ronniemo_]

Thus was absolutely amazing! Top Gun came out when I was a freshman in HS. This insight gave me a little nostalgic window into my teens.

Thank you all for leading the lives you have AND for sharing it with us.

[hughlb]

"Moving poop bricks" - Now I know what to call those things ;) Great podcast!

[javaace]

Listen to this one again for old time sake. This may be the GOAT of all of ur shows. I still catch myself randomly quoting from this show…… would love to see a follow up episode.

[eplatel]

Besides the fact that the f14 was and still is my favorite plane… the chemistry between the two being interviewed and jello and sunshine great rapport as well… this is truly my favorite episode of the series ! I can listen to it many times … and always have a blast ! Thanks a lot for these series ! Cheers from Italy

[LegionOfEclaires]

Now the competition is tough these days but I still firmly believe the Tomcat is the best looking bird of all time.

[michaeljohn]

So nice you weren’t selling anything or boring the crap out of us with long intros.
Great pod cast. Thank for taking time to make this. Thanks to all you guys. 👍👍

[marktownsend]

This was Greatest podcast so far you all had me cracking up ! Outstanding dynamic I could invasion all the antics you guys got to experience through out all of your careers. Thank you for this it was just want i needed during my 16 hour shift patrolling the streets of America.
Please bring these guys back Freaking Hilarious.

[khaaehi]

Loved this episode, great job guys! I hope one day you can get an F14D pilot and rio on the show. In all the F-14 interviews and videos I've seen they mainly cover the As and Bs with only passing reference about the Ds. I know not a lot of them were built/rebuilt, and it wasn't around long compared to the As but considering it was the best version of Tomcat that was actually built I would like to hear from people who actually flew it.

[omally]

Oh, I get it now! "The Cat" ~= Tomcat
Just dropping by to say this was easily one of the best episodes! (in the first 50) Loved the banter as well as the history and how an ancient beast operated and evolved. Thanks to SYFH, Cosmo and the BVR team!

[vanionsteele]

Awesome! Thanks Jell-o & Sunshine for this podcast on the greatest Fighter of all time! In my humble opinion anyway.

[rodneypearce]

I really enjoy this show, it's well presented and the guests are always interesting and informative. The interviews are always good, in my opinion largely because the hosts know the right questions to ask. And, no sensationalism! Thankyou to Jello and Sunshine and the rest of the team for putting it together.

[ShamuXEagleDriver]

Very entertaining episode, learned a lot, well done gents.
I was priveledged to have flown several training fights against Oceana NAS based A/B model Tomcats while flying A model Eagles (48 FS) out of Langley AFB from 1988 to 1991.
- In the BVR arena, the AIM-54 WEZ posed a difficult, but not insurmountable, tactical problem.
We had to use the rope-a-dope tactics the heater only F-16A used against us to get to the merge back then.
- In the visual arena, the Eagle had the advantage; nearly 9G vs 6G, true HOTAS with four well designed and easily selectable auto acquisition modes, a power/turn rate advantage across most of the flight envelope, and a more automated/less demanding FCS.
- None the less, dissimilar BFM/ACM/ACT was always preferable to a like adversary.
The best hops were out-and-backs, where we landed at the NAS before returning to Langley. The sequence was; takeoff from Langley AFB, fight in the overwater ranges off of VA/NC, land at Oceana NAS, quick ACMI debrief (if lucky), and then takeoff to fight again on the way home; now that was a good day's flying 😉
A small detachment of Eagle maintainers would drive over to service/fix the jets, they were the best!

[JacobGramtorp]

Honestly the best episode so far in my opinion! You guys keep raising the bar! 👊

[cantonmotors]

I know I’m 4 years late to the show. But I had to share this. I was a Beaufort maintainer and from compass rose watched two of my squadron jets take strikes. The first was a goose strike down the intake. The sound was terrible and the smoke and flames from the exhaust pipe were nerve wracking to watch. Mr stick actuator handled it like a pro of course and brought it right back around for an emergency landing. Compass Rose incident two was a deer strike. Just after weight of wheels Bambi came running out of the woods and impacted the nose gear. Pink mist and body parts, and two FODed motors. He put it right back on the runway and rolled to the crash trucks. There was bio material everywhere. Anyway, I love the podcast.