Here's Why the F-14 Tomcat Is Such a Badass Plane

The F-14 Tomcat is an iconic fighter aircraft renowned for its distinctive variable-sweep wings and versatile capabilities. Developed by Grumman Aerospace Corporation for the U.S. Navy, the F-14 served as a primary maritime air superiority fighter, fleet defense interceptor, and tactical reconnaissance platform from the early 1970s until its retirement in 2006. The Tomcat left an indelible mark on aviation history and popular culture, cementing its status as one of the most recognizable aircraft of the 20th century.

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[davidlangley]

Simply gorgeous aircraft. My personal favourite US fighter ever.

[paulmysliborski]

These fine aircraft were built in the Grumman plant in Calverton, Long Island, NY.
With the plant being only 26 miles west of my small LI town, I have fond memories of the testing they did over my school in the late 70's & early 80's.

Whenever we would hear them coming, all of the teachers allowed us to stop class and go to the windows, or outside to watch them. Most times, they would do maneuvers for a while, and then hit the after-burners. Being so low, they would rattle the entire building, and all of kids (and teachers) just loved it!

[RandoTark]

The F14 is what big and beautiful actually looks like =)

[seanchang]

Glad to see so many clips from “The Final Countdown”, my favorite “Tomcat” movie over Top Gun.

[bryanmchugh]

The F14 was sexy as f*ck. It was VERY fast, had good range and carried a LOT of weapons. They were very reliable. The bad side is that it needed a ton of work almost all the time.

[Jersey-iboz]

Can't believe they retired the F14 only to replace it with the F18 Hornet which couldn't hold a candle to the Tomcat

[oldskolacura]

My cousin was on the Nimitz and worked on these f14's he told me they were his favorite plane to work on.

[markhogan]

Nice to see my old squadron VF-41 the black Ace plane landing first on Nimitz cvn68. And sister squadron VF84 so called " Hollywood". Best 4 years of my life. I still to this day think the F14 is the best aircraft ever built.

[GeoffDoble]

They should have never put these planes in retirement. What they should have done was give all of them a serious up grade and keep them flying. There still a bad ass plane and should be back in the sky doing what they do the best, "raise hell and take no prisoners, "

[davidsmith]

My Favorite Fighter Plane For The U. S. Navy. Love The F-14 TOMCAT. Awesome Machine😊.

[waltmooredanwilson]

Great video. Thanks for sharing this. Take care and God Bless.

[luizvivas]

Beautiful machine! Greetings from Brazil.

[davidmccauley]

Almost got hired around 1995 by General Dynamics/McDonald Douglas to help build a new Navy stealth fighter. Congress canceled idea. F14 lived on by upgrades. My life direction changed to healthcare. Went to nursing school at age 45. ❤ 😂

[rmalmeida]

Was. At least for the US Navy. I think every squid was in awe the first time they saw a Tomcat in the hangar bay or on deck.

[ChrisLichowicz]

Um, because it rolled into service in 1972 and still gets kills in the air?
I mean the Tomcat is like the B-52 of fighter jets!

[williamanacker]

It was a huge mistake to send off the F-14 Tomcats to retirement and the reason why because of Dick Cheney. He retired them because of cost for maintenance, but Grumman had new plans for the F-14 to get major upgrades. Super Tomcat 21 would have addressed these issues like cost of maintenance better and more advanced radar and more thrust and, of course, bigger fuel tank bladders and definitely faster and more maneuverable than the FA-18 super hornet

[CSAFD]

3 things u don't say about the F14
"We don't know if that bag of ass can fly?"
"O my god this thing is so old."
"How are we gonna get this museum piece in the air?"

[bobbycv]

BOTTOM LINE (F14 was the BIG STICK): F14 - Fighter, Interceptor, reconnaissance, Attack. The AIRFRAME was incredible. F15 - Fighter, F16 - Fighter, Attack, F18 Fighter, Attack. F14 had AUG-9 (300 MILES RANGE) could launch ALL 6 AIM-54s at the same time at up to 24 TRACKS. AIM-54 was a HYPERSONIC MISSILE (5+ MACH over 100 Miles Range), no aircraft other than the F-111 had this advantage. Want a comparison. F15 / F16 / F18 would be DEAD, never saw the AIM-54. So there you go. You have a Platform (F14, AUG-9, AIM-54) RADAR - 300 miles, Track 24 Targets - Speed 5+ MACH over 100 miles and the Best was F15 with RADAR 100 miles, Track 1 at a time, AIM-7 50 miles max at 3 MACH. BTW, these are all the UNCLASSIFIED NUMBERS. The creators of the F14 said it simply, "By the time you realized you were under attack, you would be DEAD".

[LeviChavez-jy]

All good, only the rainbow can stay mix and match. The wheels

[meenamzx]

The reason it got retired wasn't because it was old or not capable. It still has two things that F35 doesn't have, speed of Mach 2.3 and of 1850 mile radius range.
The reason it was retired was that the Israeli spies that have infiltrated Pentagon and state department forced US government to stop the production so that the spare parts doesn't get to Iran.
In fact, they shreded every F14 except for one that is currently in aviation museum.
I hope one day we free ourselves from Israel and its influence.