F-14 Tomcat: Designed For Superiority | Grumman Rare Original Footage Of The Pitch For The Aircraft

Rare and upscaled color footage of the presentation of the Grumman F-14 Tomcat.

The F-14 flew on December 21, 1970, and was first deployed in 1974 with the U.S. Navy aboard USS Enterprise (CVN-65), replacing the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II. The F-14 served as the U.S. Navy's primary maritime air superiority fighter, fleet defense interceptor, and tactical aerial reconnaissance platform into the 2000s. The Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night (LANTIRN) pod system was added in the 1990s, and the Tomcat began performing precision ground-attack missions.

In the 1980s, F-14s were used as land-based interceptors by the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force during the Iran–Iraq War, where they saw combat against Iraqi warplanes. Iran claimed their F-14s shot down at least 160 Iraqi aircraft during the war (only 55 of these confirmed, according to historian Tom Cooper), while 16 Tomcats were lost, including seven losses to accidents.

The Tomcat was retired by the U.S. Navy on 22 September 2006, having been supplanted by the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. Several retired F-14s have been put on display across the US. The F-14 remains in service with Iran's air force, having been exported to Iran under the Pahlavi dynasty in 1976.

Beginning in the late 1950s, the U.S. Navy sought a long-range, high-endurance interceptor to defend its carrier battle groups against long-range anti-ship missiles launched from the jet bombers and submarines of the Soviet Union. They proposed a Fleet Air Defense (FAD) aircraft with a more powerful radar and longer-range missiles than the F-4 Phantom II to intercept enemy bombers and missiles at very long range. Studies into this concept led to the Douglas F6D Missileer project of 1959. Still, this large subsonic aircraft appeared unable to defend itself once it fired its missiles, and the project was canceled in December 1961.

General characteristics

Crew: 2 (Pilot and Radar Intercept Officer)
Length: 62 ft 9 in (19.13 m)
Wingspan: 64 ft 1.5 in (19.545 m)
Swept wingspan: 38 ft 2.5 in (11.646 m) swept
Height: 16 ft (4.9 m)
Wing area: 565 sq ft (52.5 m2) wings only
1,008 sq ft (94 m2) effective area including fuselage
Airfoil:
Grumman (1.74)(35)(9.6)-(1.1)(30)(1.1) root
Grumman (1.27)(30)(9.0)-(1.1)(40)(1.1) tip
Empty weight: 43,735 lb (19,838 kg)
Gross weight: 61,000 lb (27,669 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 74,350 lb (33,725 kg)
Fuel capacity: 16,200 lb (7,348 kg) internal fuel; 2 × optional 267 US gal (222 imp gal; 1,010 l) / 1,756 lb (797 kg) external tanks
Powerplant: 2 × General Electric F110-GE-400 afterburning turbofans, 16,610 lbf (73.9 kN) thrust each dry, 28,200 lbf (125 kN) with afterburner
Performance

Maximum speed: Mach 2.34 (1,544 mph, 2,485 km/h) at altitude
Range: 1,600 nmi (1,800 mi, 3,000 km)
Combat range: 500 nmi (580 mi, 930 km)
Service ceiling: 53,000 ft (16,000 m) plus
g limits: +7.5
Rate of climb: 45,000 ft/min (230 m/s) plus
Wing loading: 96 lb/sq ft (470 kg/m2)
48 lb/sq ft (230 kg/m2) effective
Thrust/weight: 0.92 at gross weight (1.07 with loaded weight & 50% internal fuel)
Armament
Guns: 1× 20 mm (0.787 in) M61A1 Vulcan 6-barreled rotary cannon, with 675 rounds
Hardpoints: 10 total: 6× under-fuselage, 2× under nacelles, and 2× on wing gloves with a capacity of 14,500 lb (6,600 kg) of ordnance and fuel tanks, with provisions to carry combinations of:
Rockets: 7x LAU-10 rocket pods (for a total of 28 rockets)
Missiles: AIM-54 Phoenix, AIM-7 Sparrow, AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles:
Bombs:
JDAM precision-guided munition (PGMs)
Paveway series of laser-guided bombs
Mk 80 series of unguided iron bombs
Mk 20 Rockeye II cluster munition
Other:
Tactical Airborne Reconnaissance Pod System (TARPS)
LANTIRN Targeting System (LTS) pod (AN/AAQ-14)
2× 267 US gal (1,010 l; 222 imp gal) drop tanks for extended range/loitering time
Avionics
Hughes AN/APG-71 radar
AN/ALR-67 radar warning receiver
AN/AAS-42 infrared search and track, AAX-1 TCS
AN/ASN-130 Inertial navigation system
Remotely Operated Video Enhanced Receiver (ROVER) upgrade

#f14 #f14tomcat #aircraft

[tumbullweed]

Excellent channel this I’ve watched it for ages i find these documentaries good to fall asleep to in a good way thanks for your work again

[ronaryel]

Mig-23 is not the Foxbat. The Mig-25 is the Foxbat; its successor is the MiG-31 Foxhound. Also, it is notable that, while the Navy predicted an effective intercept range of 54 miles for the Phoenix, in testing the Phoenix successfully shot down a target drone while traveling a distance of 75 miles. The timelines proposed by Admiral Connally were optimistic. The Tomcat did prove itself, but it took until the late 1970s to fix all the software and hardware bugs. The TF-30s were great engines - for a strike aircraft. Thus, with the F-14A, you "flew the engine, " whereas with the F-14 B and D models, you flew the airplane. Regardless, the Tomcat was the world's most-feared fighter jet well into the early 2000s, and it took until 2016 for the US Navy to replicate its long-range interception capability, when the extended-range AIM-120D Amraam was loaded onto the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.

[johncashwell]

I have seen most films on this and other US aircraft, but this was a new one for me! I love that "Missile Control Officer" term instead of "RIO-Radar Intercept Officer". You see, in the military, acronyms must be capable of being said as a word & "MCO" or "Em-Co" just wasn't cutting it."

[geemanbmw]

This was a GEM! Thank you for uploading this and thank you Admiral Thomas Connolly for who the F-14 was named the Tomcat ❤

[mamarussellthepie]

Holy omg! Thank you for finding this epic film! 😊

[ronaryel]

Great film. Thank you for providing it.

[wfo]

The love that this World Class Fighter receives is absolutely amazing & deserved. A designed, engineered, built, and born War Bird...without a War. But I would like to take the time to appreciate the video from the surface level. I mean LOOK AT the Showroom Quality, NEW Jet Smell of an aircraft on your screen right now, time capsuled in all of its glory.

[LIONTAMERD]

The Jolly Roger's logo is too sick for words