Every time I see F-14's, I'm reminded of how I and my Rio got our butts handed to us while in our F-4's. As hard as we tried, we couldn't maneuver with the cats. They just had this intensity in a dog fight that almost always ended up bad for us. Oh our rhinos were fast, mean, totally capable of in and out type stuff, but inside tight maneuvers were almost all but impossible. I tried. Flying the F-14 is something one just has to experience in order to truly appreciate just how special she was. In the beginning, no one thought the Tomcat would amount to anything it was so big. Yet, in a matter of a few years, the F-14 was on every Naval Aviators short list out of Pensacola to fly. She was that popular. I remember when the Phantom was the new kid on the block. Very very popular aircraft in those branch of services that utilized them. The F-14, from my point of view, which, unfortunately for me, was a good kill....is the undisputed best dog fighting aircraft ever created..... Past, Present or Future The aircraft literally had it all. Size, weight, maneuverability, range, gun power, missile power, advanced radar, agility, thrust........everything. Any combat pilot, like me, who had the distinction of dog fighting the Tomcat knew it was indeed a very special aircraft. Grumman did their homework on this little gem. I go to airshows and watch the F-22 Raptor do flips and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter do flips and the MIG 29 do crazy ivans, but none of those aircraft can match the F-14. It was and in my opinion, still is, despite having been retired since 2006, the finest aerodynamically designed fighter ever manufactured in the United States and quite frankly, the world. I was pretty addicted to my F-4 while in the Corps. Thought nothing on heaven and earth could touch it. It was that fast and that loud. Then one day, I and several other pilots flew a training mission in which we were the bad guys. All three of our Phantoms were dispensed with in a matter of a few minutes. It was that quick and yes, we tried everything we were ever taught to do at the time, regarding dog fighting. All of us got on the ground and during our post discussion, if you will, thought seriously about retiring. lol....... I love the F-14. She is without a doubt the finest combat fighter ever created. As a former Marine Corps Aviator....... I tip my hat to every man or women who ever flew this awesome aircraft. 🇺🇸🍻
Last week I had my picture taken sitting in in the cockpit of a MIG-23, I was a Vulcan gunner in the Army in the mid 80's and never in my wildest dreams thought that would happen back in those days.
strangest moment for me was after the collapse of the soviet union. we were flying missions in the former Yugoslavia and landed at a former soviet air base.. talk about feeling like being in the wrong place.
I find it amazing that the commander of the mission was in the backseat but he still says the word I am going down to xxx when it is the pilot who is flying. That is just amazing teamwork.
In early summer of '83, I was assigned to the VF-101 Grim Reapers, an east coast training squadron based at NAS Oceana. Commander Hank Kleeman was my CO. Talk about intense! The man could shrivel you up with a look! He led the first battle against the Libyan MIG's. He was a no bullshit leader. Damn proud to have served under him! Yeah, this shit was for real! They faced an opponent who came to kill.
Thanks for subscribing! I'll have to set aside a copy of my forthcoming book, "Tomcat Fury: A Combat History of the F-14." I discuss Kleeman and the 1981 Gulf of Sidra battle at some length. Cheers, Mike
@@MikeGuardiaAuthor Oh, that would be awesome!! I would greatly appreciate it. He was a helluva leader. Can't wait to get my hands on it! Thank you. Manny USN 1982-1988
Never thought about that!... thinking of the wings as ears! Damn good analogy! Awesome plane!! Back in ‘89 I was 8 years old lol. Had a model die cast F-14 where the wings did sweep. Marveled at the engineering behind it!
And yet both air-to-air missile launches show the F-14 with her wings forward deployed. Is that just stock footage from a training exercise spliced in or what?
Wanted to hear a little more of something like this: “Bogey has janked back into me for the fifth time! If this guy wants to go, I’ll put him in the fucking drink!”
This legendary bird, of course, with major overhaul, advanced radar, increased engine power and increased interception and maneuverability in the powerful Phoenix missile, is still the first and best air fighter in the Iranian Air Force.
@@seanie002 The Iranians in the eight years of war that was imposed on them, and in those eight grueling years when sanctions were imposed on Iran by all countries and rich aid to Saddam's regime was provided by the superpower governments of the Western and Eastern blocs;Iranian byreverse engineering and opening parts of some aircraft Tomcat, which had less efficiency, and mapped all the parts, and then designed parts like them, and later made parts quite similar to them, as well as the similarity of the materials of the parts;Now we can be said, After the United States, Iran has the second largest hub for maintenance and supply of Tomcat aircraft parts in the world.So one hundred percent can replace aircraft parts and components with more advanced parts and components that are more durable and moreefficient by international standards. Let me give you an example: Suppose you are sanctioned by carmakers around the world and no one and no factory sells you cars, but you have two used cars in your home and warehouse, so you have to work on your cars. Start to be able to activate and use at least one of them, and after studying and examining two cars, you will definitely use one of the cars to activate your other car . The required parts of that car from another worn out car You will receive what you have. And be sure to draw a map of the location and placement of parts in the car engine, because if the parts are damaged, you will need it. And in the not-too-distant future, you will be making similar parts and replacing them with newer parts by the tools and machines and equipment you have (such as metal lathes, etc.). So you will gradually become self-sufficient in the automotive industry, it is true that at this time you have to endure many hardships and be patient. So when the Iranians were under sanctions, these sanctions were an opportunity for them to be forced to be a little self-sufficient in most of the military, defense, medical, and agricultural industries, which of course cost a lot and still does, one that is suffering. And becomes a family.
My dad went to Annapolis class of 53,I wanted to attend and fly F-14s but my parents shut it down.I was a hell of a lacrosse player they would have rolled out the red carpet for me but it wasn't meant to be.
Nah, F-15 is. The Air force with F-15's routinely beat the F-14 in joint training. And the F-15 was THE go to air superiority fighter in the gulf war. F-15 has the best, most impressive air combat record of all time.
not really. U.S defense budgets are astronomically high and wasteful. the NASA apollo program, however, was good tax dollars spent. pennies to get a man on the moon compared to defense budgets. and the many technologies that spawned from the space programs were priceless.
@@michaelhull63 Those kind of "incredile courageous and patriotic acts", and the mess US put in the gulf ACTUALLY MADE and is still making terrorists !
One of the F14's sit at the Udvar Hazy Center/National Air and Space at Dulles Airport. Is what I was told. I worked there From 1/2004 to 4/2009. Worth the Visit. Big Time
It’s 159610 - a remanufactured F-14A to D standards. In 1989, as an A model Gypsy 207 or AC 207, she shot one Mig down with an AIM-7 that ran straight and true!
Yeah the video footage is a conglomeration of cut and splice... my Squadron was part of Carrier Air Wing 8, along with Vf-41 the other F-14 Squadron and Vf-84 Jolly Rogers and we were attached to the USS Nimitz and our last deployment we had to go down around the bottom of South America and up the Pacific west coast where the Squadrons off loaded in San Diego and we all flew back to the east coast and were transferred/ assigned to the newest carrier CVN-71 USS Roosevelt because the Nimitz was going up to Brimmington, WA going into dry dock for renovation, upgrades, etc that was the back 1/2 of 1987...
I always wondered how much these guys fly weekly. God what a dream job. I’d do anything to be able to go back in time and not to have had 2 eye operations before my 6th B Day. It’s all I ever wanted to do. I knew when I was 6 years old i would tell people that I was gonna be a pilot like my dad but I was going to be a NAVY test pilot. That was what you would get from me if you asked this kid. It’s a bitter pill to swallow when your that age but it doesn’t mean that things are over. Unfortunately I let it dictate my life. Don’t let it ruin yours young men and women.
@@smoothcriminal7232 Yea, but it's only stock footage of the Jolly Rogers that the producers used for the documentary. The radio traffic is actually from VF-32 "Fighting Swordsmen."
The audio in this does not match up to most of the video for anyone that doesn’t realize the audio is from a real incident and the hud cam footage is available somewhere on youtube this video did have a short clip of that video but most of it was unrelated footage
@@jollyroger6135 Thanks for taking the words right out of my mouth. Also, the man calling out all the jinking by the enemy MiG is the RIO of the lead Tomcat (although the video is not the actual dogfight).
You are wrong. Tomcat in the this video are from vf-84. The tomcats who actually shot these migs down were from vf-32 swordsman. I was there in vf-14 there sister squadron who were also on station that day 1-4-89.
While the scenario did happen, the jets in this video are from VF-84. I was in their sister squadron, VF-41, on the Nimitz and we relieved the Kennedy group after this incident.
IINM, the audio is of Fighting Swordsmen However the Footage is of the Jolly Rogers. Love the how they painted those stabilisers! Still do it to this day on the super hornets too.
Great video. Incredible audio. I think the video must have been edited to match the audio. Who was filming the aircraft? Possibly some file footage. Either way it came together nicely. Radio chatter amazing.
It's important to note that its often highly trained American or Israeli pilots against poorly trained pilots from half-overstretched dictatorships. This isn't to say American planes aren't superior; they probably are. It's just that the numbers are skewed by the poorly trained enemy pilots.
@@joshuanishanthchristian5217 I don't disagree with you at on that point. No matter in aviation, or weapons training, the best training and most experience can often overcome many technological advantages. Look at China's first Aircraft Carrier failures, while it could be blamed on using an old Russian/Ukrainian ship, the fact is the Chinese have had no experience landing on a moving maritime platform, while the UK & US has been doing it over 100 years.
@@joshuanishanthchristian5217 The Vietnam War made established the MiG-21’s reputation. It was the Arab-Israeli Wars that blackened the reputation of the MiG-23. During air combat against Israeli F-15s and F-16s over Lebanon and Syria between 1982 and 1985, nearly a dozen Syrian MiG-23s were shot down. In Western eyes, the Flogger became a clumsy fighter that lacked the sophistication of Western designs. Fast forward to today, and opinions of the MiG-23 are all over the spectrum. Former 4477th Squadron test pilots were afraid the engines would blow up or the aircraft would kill them. On the other hand, the Israelis evaluated a MiG-23 handed to them by an Arab defector and concluded it had better acceleration than an F-16A. The Flogger is best characterized as a speeder rather than a dogfighter: in a NATO-Warsaw Pact war-the war that Soviet equipment was designed to fight-mass formations of MiG-23s would use their superb acceleration to zoom in, launch their air-to-air missiles and zoom away. MiG-23 fans also say that the aircraft exported to Soviet clients like Syria was “monkey models” lacking many capabilities that Soviet air force enjoyed, such as better radar and radar warning sensors.
I want to mention that its always the americans who fly the american fighters but the russian made planes were flown by third world countries like Irak. They dont have good pilots. Do you think if the iraki pilots were flying the tomcat and the russians were flying the migs, the iraki pilots would win? Of course not.
Loss of two lifes, and unsmeasured amounts of money in equipment, and resources. But hey! that's totally unrelevant here, those two Tom Cats are such beautiful and awesome machinery.
@What's on my mind you seem to have left out the rule of attempting to engage...... Also violation of carrier perimeter. 1) aircraft turns away from enemy. 2) enemy turns into aircraft In this contest this happened six times. I don't know what the carrier perimeter is but the enemy (Iranians) planes were way too close tho I'm sure the 14s were turning away from the carrier. At 4:50 "Master arm on" wing's back for maximum maneuverability the Iranians had sealed their fate. Seems like I heard 13 miles at that time. That would be pretty damn close to being inside the outer perimeter of warships protecting the carrier. The destroyer I was on severed as plane watch for carriers and as forward watch 10 miles ahead of the carrier watch Terrier surface to air missile system. You may have heard the forward ship say weapons yellow standby. You can bet they were tracking those Iranian planes as well but we on standby as the F-14s were in proximity.
Anyone Elsa out there Stationed @ Old George AFB, Cobra 39th squadron, or the 21st AMU, 1983-1986, , I’d love to hear from y’all, good and bad memories, I was a hot mess back than!!
I am an Iranian Electrical engineer. During IRAN-IRAQ war about 150 Iraqi fighter plane (MIG21, MIG23, MIG25, MIRAJE F1, SUPER ETANDAR- TOPOLOV, Soukous) was destroyed by IRANIAN TOM-CAT. I politely refer you to book which was written about Iranian F 14 Tom Cat during IRAN-IRAQ war by Tom Cooper.
