If you've ever seen inside a fighter cockpit, with the overwhelming number of switches, dials, levers, knobs, buttons, handles and gauges... you'll be even MORE impressed with the maneuvers carried out at speed and reaction times involved. The intense training, the flight capability recall and reaction instincts have to be conducted perfectly and synchronized within microseconds.
@@jamesc9001 That's cool to hear. I can understand how his swagger would transfer over to great leadership skills. Thanks for replying. Were you a RIO or driver? How long did you fly the tomcat? Thank you for your service.
@@johnp2110 well you're kind to thank me for the service. Thank you. I think all young men and women who serve are owed such gratitude. And I share your appreciation and have much gratitude as well for those who served before, during and after my short time in the Navy. I was not a pilot nor a RIO. I was in avionics technician (AT rate). I was in VF-101 and VF-33 during my 4-year enlistment. During that time I had several commanding officers in VF-33. Of which Snort was the most noteworthy and famous. I'm very proud to have served in that particular squadron and on that particular airframe.
No wonder other pilots said that no one could maneuver the Tomcat like "Snort". There are some great anecdotes in the book, " Grumman F-14 Tomcat Bye-Bye Baby...!" It is my favorite book about the Tomcat, and now this is my favorite video about the most magnificent fighter plane ever built!!!!!!!!!!! Please post part 2 soon! Thanks for a great job! 10 Stars!
Snort was God piloting an, F14. Didn't matter if, Snort was flying an A model. He knew how to control that A model beast without compression stalling it and or losing the aircraft
tony3461 not the B & D models some 15000 pounds more thrust than the A’s..... Even the A’s had powerful engines, just dangerously temperamental engines.....
'Snort' did a 1v3 in 1985 in an F-14A ACM against 3 F-5E Tigers. All three tigers on him. He methodically took all of the three F-5s out. The guy was absolutely insane.
@@JohnDoe-ho7pd why insane? Poor choice of words from someone who certainly came under a hell of a lot of scrutiny and oversight. Yes the 80's / 90's were different from our risk adverse society now but I don't understand how one person who basically was the US Navy's primary recruiting tool should be 'insane.' Any sources or information to back this up?
@ dfgiuy22 Risk averse society now? The same one in which he was killed in a rather pedestrian aircraft for forgetting a control lock and to do a control check? Insanity combined with luck often equals becoming legendary. Until your luck runs out.
@@EstorilEm Snort himself detailed that the F-15 truly is a higher performance aircraft than the Tomcat was. He also detailed how the great fighter pilots "cheat" the situation to come out on top. In any contest between two planes such as the Eagle and Tomcat, the pilot will be the deciding factor. The Eagle CAN beat the Tomcat....but in the right hands and with the right situation, the F-14 can beat the Eagle as well. Snort is in a video on youtube talking about his fini flight in a Tomcat, it was A2A against an Eagle. He said that in ACM they would usually knock it off around 5,000 AGL, and this flight went down to 500 AGL. He landed that plane with broken slats and other issues as a result of the flight. But he makes it clear that the Eagle is, especially at higher altitudes, a better plane.
@joe150_ Pretty sure I'd take the word of the highest time Tomcat pilot in US history over yours. Snort Snodgrass has himself repeatedly said that the 15 is and was a higher performance airplane compared to the Tomcat. He has also said that he had to configure his F-14B in "prohibited" configurations in order to do well against Eagles in mock air combat. You're also not understanding some other aspects of these comparisons either. Example, Snort went up against the brand new F-18 Hornet back at that time, and intentionally stacked the deck in his favor with such considerations as starting with low fuel on board so as to give himself as much advantage as possible. In a real combat situation, you don't get that luxury. You're loaded for combat, and so is your adversary. You don't get to structure the exercise so that you have given yourself weight advantages, etc, against enemies in actual combat. Plus, you're also incorrect about your claim regarding performance "in any other part of the envelope". F-14D max rate of climb is 45K feet/minute. F-15C is 67K feet/minute. Eagle has better thrust to weight, double the combat radius, higher G-limits, lower wing loading, and much more. These factors provide better performance at far more than just high altitude. And speaking of high altitude, the Eagle's service ceiling is 12K feet higher than the Tomcat.
@@jonnycomfort9271 the G limits on the turkey were Navy determined, not Grumman Engineering determined. By design the Tomcat had at least the same G abilities as the F15. And there is no way the original F15 Eagle had double the combat radius you are basing yourself off Wiki which shows later data with conformal fuel tanks
1:10 Wonder what his ground speed was before he pulled back on the stick. Also wonder what max ground speed the tires on the F-14 were rated for, I appears he may have been there, or beyond.
Lessons learned 1. Don't become a fighter pilot with a name like Snodgrass. 2. Should you ignore #1 be the very best pilot on the planet in your aircraft so the F_&$&$ up call sign they give you becomes a badge of honor.
Flying either the F-14A or B, would Snort be able to gun down an F-16 Falcon piloted by a decent USAF pilot? or its Russian MiG-29 counterpart flown by a pilot of the same skill level? opinions anyone?
Colm VD too many variables. My money would be on snort tho. He knew more about a b and d cats than about anyone in the navy. Nothing is a certainty but i would bet that cat with snort and a good rio would beat the shit out of a viper most days.
Yeah, 'Snort' was just too good. He killed 3 F-5E tigers in a 1v3 ACM in his F-14A in 1985 when all of them came at him at the same time. Snort with the F-14, he could move those big moving surfaces that could really trap F-16 or MIG-29 pilots where they simply could not unload and the computer blocking them. He said that himself. In the 'Fighter Fling' series of videos, you can see several HUD videos of F-14s having gun kills in ACM against MIG-29 and they were nowhere near 'Snort' in their skill level.
@@KLRGT500KR You could at least point out to a video... Not sure about Tomcats killing Fulcrums, but I certainly did found a HUD video with F-14s catching a few simulated rounds from Viper pilots.
@@getsideways7257 Read the book 'Black Aces High'. The F-14s were able to get Luftwaffe MIG-29s every time in the engagement that took place in Spain. Videos are in the Fighter Fling videos. You can also search 'F-14 vs everything' and it has the 6 MIG-29 kills in the Tomcat HUD. There are also 2v2 of 2 F-14s and an A-4M, F-16N (Navy stripped out version) and the 2 F-14s getting kills on the F-16N and A-4 in turning fight. Here is a short clip of two of the 6 kills. The F-14 kills the MIG-29 in a vertical and then a right hand turning fight streamable.com/vywg42?fbclid=IwAR0nIQQMOQrKtYm1WjfT1nTLJvDNpylU9hbJoNHCCBz2J-K83llNG-8TiOo
@@KLRGT500KR To be honest, even the Rafale vs. F-22 had more footage than that. Also, as I said above, there is a video of exactly opposite to what you are saying: two F-16Ns killing the Tomcats. But at the end of the day I guess both sides scored wins, which is normal. There should be cases of any fighter jet winning a fight with some other type. But in case of F-14 it seems that there is less chance of scoring a win in one against anything more or less modern. And Snodgrass, while making such a big deal of winning against either the F/A-18 or especially the F-15, only reinforces this opinion in me. He just happened to be a fan of Tomcats. And fans won't stop at anything trying to make the object of their affection look better than anything else.
Sure its a beautiful aircraft, but its really doing nothing special with its maneuvers compared what Russians can do with their aircraft. I know F-14 is a lot older that SU-27, its just a Top Gun aircraft that a lot of flyboys became flyboys.
