F-14 Flight Ops on CVN-69 

I always thought the Prowlers were worse.

@@Inspadave Yeah, I know! That P & W J52 P408 had an extremely irritating whine! I should know...I spent 6 + years around them in the Marines {Douglas A4M}

I was with ya on the '83 cruise. VF-143 Airframes from '81 to '84. Did two cruises: '81/'82 and '83. There was nothing in the world like a cat shot at night with a F-14A. I never got tired of it. I retired in '98.

@@Duetmaster2 We had some good times in those days didn't we? Wish I had been smart enough to do the full ride. Biggest regret of my life hands down.

@@oldgoat142 Yes, we did. Worked hard. Played hard. Enjoyed most of it. 😊 Those kinds of decisions are hard to make when you're in the middle of it and it's easy to second guess later.

@@Duetmaster2 I do take some comfort in that pov, but if I had listened more and talked less, I would've definitely made better decisions.

Yes, absolutely. Make sure it's the variant Super Tomcat 21 way more powerful, fast, and more advanced than the older variant tomcats.

stealth cessna would be more badass

@@jankan4979 I submit my tax money to that idea. It has full backing.

*2nd most beautiful fighter to grace the sky..the F-4 is at the top of that list!

You even get the squeaks of the ships radar zapping my camera...

Well, it was the '90s when this video was shot...

@@AirTales I love the original audio.. not everything needs shitty music :D

@@stijnvandamme76 yes, Music ruins history.

Hi Jim, what shop were you in? I might have you on video some where. I think this video is work up's, but I do have some video I shot on cruise too. I wasn't very good about putting dates on the videos, so I am saying 'about 1999' for example. If you recognize any of the maintainers, could you add their names in the comments?

Anytime baby! Love it

Thanks for the catch, what year is it now?!?

@@AirTales lol

The F-14B and F-14D did not take-off on land or the carrier in afterburner because they had more powerful engines than the F-14A. If the B or D lost an engine on take-off while at slow speed and in afterburner, the differential thrust could not be compensated by the rudders and the jet would lose control and crash if the pilot did not react fast enough. So they were 'prohibited' from using AB on take off.

IKR!!! Hero to zero in 5..4...3..2..1...DAMMIT!!!🤣🤣🤣

These are all a/c coming into the break except for the 2 F-14s at 1:50 that were making a spacer pass before they strafed and bombed the wake, their hooks were up. For all the other aircraft, the hooks were down for landing. It is standard practice to lower the hook when the mission is complete and you are returning to the ship even though you may be far away from the ship. You will see a/c doing fly-bys of the ship with their hook down. They are either about to recover, or lowered the hook to look cool. A lowered hook also lets other aircraft know you are returning to the ship for landing, that helps the 'launch' aircraft sort out the 'recovery' aircraft, and in the rare case you lose your radio, you can join up on an a/c with a lowered hook and they will bring you back to the ship.

We would routinely have mixed sections; 1 F-14 and 1 F/A-18C for operations over Iraq and Afghanistan, that would allow us to take advantage of the different systems on the different airplanes and make a more effective fighting force. We would also train in dissimilar air combat; dogfighting. So you would see a 14/18 section coming back to the ship after training. And, if there were 'singles' overhead the ship waiting to land, they would join up to come into the break together, it made the landing pattern easier to manage.

This was CVW-7, which was VF-143 and VF-11.

@@AirTales thanks for the reply. I appreciate your service.

No, aiming for the 3-wire was the standard