F-14 Tomcat’s Decades of Awesome 

What a great shout out to the Enlisted crews and all they do, Bravo

This is great Ward!!

Part of Adm. Connelly's testimony to congress was approximately, ''All the power in Christendom could not make that aircraft - F-111B - a fighter.'' Pretty cool declaration out of a flag with a career to lose ... and he did lose it. Robert "Strange" McNamera burned him for it. And, McNamer's real middle name was "Strange."

Like the way you talk about maintainers, the least visible part on aviation, but a critical part of it.

I deployed on the WESTPAC of 1976-77 on board Enterprise (CVN-65), and I remember well VF-1 and VF-2. I especially remember VF-1's Wolfpack logo on both the horizontal stabs. I also remember the early morning incident when a Tomcat from VF-2 had control issues on final causing the crew to eject after boltering and barely avoiding crashing into parked A-7's. Later, I worked depot level maintenance on the mighty Tomcat for several years at the NARF at Norfolk. I worked the environmental control systems which provided AC for the crew, as well as cooling for the weapons systems. I spent hundreds of hours in the Tomcat's nose wheel well, where all the ECS lines intersected. The F-14 was one of the Navy's most capable and sexy warplanes ever, but she was hard to maintain, especially as the airframes got older. I still work for NAVAIR, but all of the young guys have worked on the Hornet. I am proud to be one of the "old timers" who was a Tomcat fixer.

I was on the roof of the JFK with all three of the Navy fighters. F-14's from VF-14 and VF-32, F-4's from VF-202 and F-8's from VFP-63. One night all three launched one behind the other: Two F-14's, Two F-4"s and Two F-8's. That was the greatest show on earth.

What the P-51 was for piston aircraft, the F-14 was for jets for me. What a truly phenomenal aircraft. Doesn't hurt that like the Mustang she was quite the looker too!!

Ending this segment by thanking the maintainers and flight deck crews for everything they did was gracious and thoughtful. Thank you for remembering them.

Outstanding sir! While stationed at Luke AFB, AZ I knew a Lt. Col. 'Four Quarts' Gallon who 100% showed his appreciation for the ground crews after every debrief. He would buy sodas or Gatorade for anyone who wanted one and would sit and talk about service life and what it was like in the Viper. Great officers don't need respect. They command with it.

Best looking plane we've ever built.

Most beautiful bird to ever grace the skies. I grew up seeing the Tomcat at numerous air shows and flying all over the Imperial Valley. Last time I saw one fly was at the Chicago Navy Pier air show at dusk in 2002. I’ll never forget those GE engines in burner and how graceful, and powerful that bird was in sky. Like many good things we have loved and served good, it was gone too soon. Still have the memories, pictures, and models that I build to this day. Thank you Cdr for sharing all your experiences and info on an aircraft we will eternally love and remember.

Sir, I just want to say thank you very much for the shout out and recognition. I am very proud to say that I was an avionics technician for this beloved jet, assigned first to VF-101 under Commander Hank Kleeman, and then VF-142 under Commander Mick Sumnick, and Commander Steve Letter, in the 1980s. I have come to realize that in spite of all my accomplishments since becoming a veteran, the highlight of my professional career was my time in the navy working on this jet. The men I worked with were just phenomenal, especially the seniors who were old Vietnam guys. They taught me how to handle stress and how to deal with adversity; advice I have used since and have passed on to so many others. Things like, "Work the problem, don't let the problem work you," and "Take care of those under you because you ain't nothing without them." Things like that. Honestly, to this day, there are men who I would run through burning walls under fire for, (although at my age it might take a bit longer). Again, thank you, Sir. Anytime Baby!! Long Live The Tomcat!!

Appreciate the shout out for the enlisted folks

As some internet rando: glad to hear gratitude to the support staff. No machine no matter how awesome can be fielded or come home without them.

Another great video! Thanks! And thank you for the shout out to the enlisted. It's greatly appreciated! A black shoe engineer, MM3, Engineering Dept. / Auxiliaries Division (A-Gang) / Aircraft Elevators / USS NIMITZ, 1985-1990. CAW 8 with VF-41 & VF-84 and CAW 9 with VF-24 & VF-211.

Thanks for the salute to the enlisted ranks. I served 72-76 when the Tomcat was brand spankin' new.

One thing that makes the F-14 great is that it just looks right. Standing still, it looks mean, fast, sleek and tough. There have been many great fighter planes, but one thing the F-14 really got right was how it looked both agile and strong - like a champion prize fighter. Phoenix, AZ.

"Mr. Chairman, all the thrust in Christiandom could not make a fighter out of that airplane..." ADM Conolly's response to Senator Stennis concerning the F-111B. Too bad the F-14 did not receive the engines it was designed for until the A+. There was no reason why the F-14 could not have been developed to the standard of the current Air Force F-15E(X).....

I grew up near the grumman factory . Loved visiting the Tomcat memorial as a kid , now with my own children. Shes seen better days but that aircraft will always have a special place in my heart. Great Video! I really appreciate all your content and channel!

12:24 I was at one of the Chicago Air and Water shows once when we saw this exact sight. People were watching the flight demos and slathering on sun screen and such......then along comes the Tomcat doing exactly what we see at 12:24. A knife edge pass while sweeping the wings. The crowd of hundreds of thousands got up on their feet and jumped up and down and cheered. It was totally amazing. No aircraft was ever as impressive as the F-14 Tomcat.

As a retired Air Force maintainer it's nice to hear what you said about maintenance. A running joke for us is "It takes a college degree to break it but a high school diploma to fix it". So often air crew did not bother to learn how their airplane works just what switches to flip. The good ones always do/did.

For those interested, there are videos out there from a previous Tomcat designer explaining some of the design choices that has been made with this airplane, notably some clever structural design to minimize dead stucture weight when not carrying the Phoenix missile. The airplane was huge but was highly manoeuvrable in all dimensions which was not a small task to acomplish at the design phase. The rest is history as brillantly shown in this video.

Thanks for recognizing the enlisted force in your video. From the maintainers to the top deck crew and the scope operators in the CIC, they are the unsung heros and backbone of accomplishing the mission.

Ward…….as a former weapons specialist that served in the Air Force ( circa 1980-84 )…..THANK YOU!!!!!!!! We’re all on the same team fighting the same bad guys.

thumbs up for the great call-out to the enlisted!

Thank you so much for the acknowledgment of all the people that support the carrier flight operations! My grandfather served on aircraft carriers during World War II and Korea as an LSO. Love your channel!

I love the F-14 Tomcat! The F-14 Super Tomcat would have been AWESOME! THANK YOU F-14 aviators, maintenence staff, deck flight crews, and the people who made it!

1969 brought us both the greatest band of all time, Led Zeppelin, and the greatest aircraft of all time, the F-14 Tomcat. What a year. Also, didn't know that about Cheney... add that to the pile of reasons to despise that despicable family.

Thank you for acknowledging and appreciating us former Plane Captains! We took pride in our job and believed we were crucial and essential to the pilots and planes mission success and sortie completion rate. I was the XO's PC in my squadron.

I’ve loved the tomcat since I first saw it at vf-124 in 1985. I remember hearing that the f18 cost $7m and the f14 was $35m and that also would have influenced things. If that was true at the beginning the cost sure changed quick. I wish the tomcat had been upgraded and kept in service. Thanks for recognizing those of us who maintained that aircraft. It was an honor and privilege to be a part of the community. My officers were some of the best role models I could have asked for. You guys were giants. Fly Navy

Great shoutout to the support crews :-)

Great response and respect for your support staff. Thanks for sharing.

During my 4 years onboard Ike, watching F14 flight ops from vulture’s row was my go to way to decompress! Will always be my favorite military jet!

F-14 Tomcat. One of the best fighters ever made. "Anytime Baby!"

Your tribute to the maintenance and flight deck guys was all class. Nicely done!

I agree with the airshow comment. In St. Louis for a 4th of July celebration one of the performances was by an AF F-15. The pilot did some maneuvers, all pretty nice. Then the Navy showed up. An F-14 just rocked the skies over the Gateway Arch. Unbelievable demonstration. Everyone was dazzled. You can imagine how we native St. Louisans who absolutely worship our hometown product the Eagle, were disappointed in our birds demo, but overwhelmingly impressed by the Tomcat *pilot's* show... 😄

"They led me more than I had led them." The true secret of leadership. Well stated Mooch!

40 year after seeing one, its still my favorite fighter!

Amen to the comments from the other posters about Ward's shout-out to the maintainers. Back in the '80's, I was an Aircraft Armament Systems Specialist (USAF version of a red shirt) in the Guard working on the F-105G Wild Weasel and the F-4D Phantom. Not long after we transitioned from the Thud to the Phantom, one of our pilots came back from the range complaining that his airplane malfunctioned because when he pulled the trigger back to the first detent, the M61 Vulcan cannon that was in a pod hung on the centerline station, started firing when he thought that was only activating the HUD camera. We would send them out with exactly 100 rounds of TP ammo in the gun pod, and he completely missed the target. Here I was a E3 Senior Airman explaining to a Major that while the Thud had two detents on the trigger (one to activate the gun camera and the second to activate the both the camera and the gun), the F-4 only had one detent that activated the camera and gun simultaneously. As our shop chief used to say, without us, the pilots were just a fancy flying club.

Great video Ward! Wonderful words of gratitude to the enlisted crew that took care of you and the jet!

Great tribute to the plane and the men and women who kept it in the sky. Thank you sir!

Thanks for speaking up for us enlisted guys!!!

My Thanks To You and Everyone in Naval Aviation. Your service, sacrifice and dedication is much appreciated! I watched the keel laying of USS Enterprise CV-80 video yesterday. Filled my heart with pride and awe. God Bless Our Navy and those who sail with it.

Although we saw many F14's in and out of Bethpage, the hydraulic failure crash happened out at Grumman Calverton.

Huge thumbs up for the recognition of the enlisted guys!!

I am one of the civilians who admire the F-14, and a neighbor of mine is a former Tomcat pilot

Thank you so much for your Cmdr. Ward, and for paying tribute to the whole team especially the enlisted men and women who worked tirelessly to make the Tomcats fly.

Thank you, I was In VF-11 maintaining the f-14D from 93-97 out of Miramar. I entered the Navy unrated a Plane Captian I struck for AT and passed the the test. I came to love the aircraft hydraulic leaks and all. I had skinny arms which made it easy for me to change the TID very quickly as i could get to the connedtors in the back without having to take everything out. when I was a PC my left arm becam very strong because of the many hours pumping the breaks handle to keep the pressure up for flight deck shuffels. I got sea sick once becaus they halted the AC move, I regretably watched the bow go up and down across the horizon for 30 minutes made my face litterally greeen.

So interesting and concise too. All killer no filler. Thank you for doing this. As a Brit who appreciates US Naval Airpower, always glad to have you guys as allies

BZ for the shout out to the maintainers...this officer get it.

Ward, great presentation. I had the privilege of leading a group of talented engineers and developed the proof of concept to demonstrate imagery transmission from an F14. 1993 had us wiring 2 F14's from VF102 and testing off the east coast. Later, that year when the ship went to the Med, the Tactical Airborne Digital Camera System was utilized to transmit imagery from the jet to the America. This project was one of the highlights of my career.

Excellent, Mooch! I love this series, and your storytelling is superb!

Thank you for thanking those that let you excel at what you do.

That was wonderful Ward, especially the ending. Thank you.

I love when a designer starts with "I have these cool things, I need to build something cooler around them." I knew about the radar and missile but not the engine. Also like the story of the A-10 "We got this gun what do we do with it?"

Proud to have flown the Cat in VF-111 the Sundowners from 1980-1983.

Seeing an F-14 perform would be awesome, but the F-22 demo team puts on a hell of a show.

Great idea on the series. Love the Tomcat. Nothing like watching the turkey on final from the landing zone plat cam. IKECATCC!

Always loved this plane To me it completely embodies what a fighter should be big Powerful strong and agile First saw it in The Final Countdown and it was love at first sight Really wanted to fly her but unfortunately my math skills were not good enough for flight school when I took the test in Boston in 1982 Thanks for your service as always and giving credit to the air crews who kept you flying God bless

Fantastic episode, per usual. I can tell this comes from the heart when you speak of the maintainers.

A great episode and again it just underscores the tragedy of the Tomcat 21 not being pursued that you did in depth Ward in another episode.

Thank you Mooch, this series is a great idea can't wait to see what is next, the F-14 was and all time best no doubt.⚓💪🇺🇸💗🍻

Great story! Great plane! Great teamwork!

In mid 60s, the F-111B joke was that everybody at GD had to bring a file to work. To be used to file weight off the airplane so it would safely land on carriers.

Nothing says "Raw Power" like the F-14 Tomcat. Hands down, one of the best machines to ever fly in the sky. I wish even our Indian Navy could get F-14s in our fleet. It would've been a dream. Would love to see an episode on the MiG-29 Fulcrum as well. Keep up the awesome work Ward!

Another super video - Thanks Mooch!

I remember the first time I saw a Tomcat up close aboard the Kitty Hawk CV63 in '72 during CQ. Such a big beautiful airplane it was! Good video sir.

An amazing analysis of an even more amazing aircraft. Thanks, Ward.

*Awesome f-14 tribute video*

It's the looks I'm tellin ya! To be specific, the hench shoulders which gives it a muscular look but also from head on it looks like an Eagle spreading its wings.

11:53 that's stunning...Great video, very appreciative💯

Thanks Mooch, really enjoy this series. I was 9 when Top Gun came out and it was central to my love of aviation.

@ 12:45 this makes me feel all warm and fuzzy 😆😆 Thanks Mooch! AT2 Allred "TEX" VAQ-139 1997-2001

In an alternate universe out there, somewhere, the Navy ditched the Phoenix along with the F-111 and went with the F-15 Sea Eagle instead. And they're still flying those F-15s off the deck today. :)

"You love a lot of things if you live around them, but there isn’t any woman, and there isn’t any horse, nor any before nor any after, that is as lovely as a great airplane, and men who love them are faithful to them even though they leave them for others. A man has only one virginity to lose in fighters, and if it is a lovely plane he loses it to, there his heart will ever be". - Ernest Hemingway, August 1944.

The F-14 joins my shortlist of weapons that look supremely serious, the open top Colt black powder revolvers and the M-4. Others are welcome to list their choices.

Great stuff, as always. I'm never bored when you decide to share your knowledge, Mooch. Keep it up!

The Tomcat was a "BadAss Fighter....Thanks, Mooch great information on the F-14...!

The AWG-9 radar hated those dam wave guides and it’s need for Chevron cooling liquid

Big Ward, another killer video bro..To any viewers in Florida, the Tomcat shown at 6:26 and marked with "105" is registration # 159619. It is still around and on display in Lakeland Florida at the Florida Air Museum. You can walk right up to it, kick the tires, and touch every part of it that you can reach. It's a bit worse for wear but still badass and a sight to see.. Catch you in the funny papers... FIGHT'S ON!!

A good video made into a great one by your gracious comments at the end - those planes could do fantastic things only because they had a fantastic team working on them...

Among other things, the Tomcat was the pinnacle of fighter paint schemes.

Love the Rick Beato reference!

I think the Tomcat will go down in history that nobody will ever forget like the uk 🇬🇧 lighting they is something that they make you feel WoW thanks for your video sir take care 👍👏👏

I watch you more than I watch the news now mate.

Wonderful vid Ward. Fantastic tribute!

Excellent video! They should've never cancelled this beautiful bird.

Keep it coming Ward. Thank you for everything you do.

Thank you for honoring the flight crews. I’ve come to appreciate the air wing with age.

Excellent Thank You!

Thanks dir Great work Ward! I I really enjoy every episode.

Mooch, you should see if some of the original Grumman folks are willing to talk about the original intended F14 program from A to B and then to C using the Derivative Fighter Engine. I'd love to hear about the original upgrades planned for the F14C's avionics!

saw this fly in the late 80s and 90s at air shows. Lovely plane.

So thanks to cheney's shennanigans, the Tomcat was hamstrung from staying a powerful force to be reckoned with for many years to come like the F-15.

To this day I feel this is the most iconic and sexy plane ever built. ♥️

Ashame the F-110 wasn't available from the get go !

Great tribute to a great aircraft!

What a great, great channel. I’ve been here since early and so glad I found it.

Mooch, just have to say I'm loving this new series! And there are enough great military birds to keep you going for a LONG time! :D

I went to the museum in Sacramento yesterday standing under the F-14 couldn't for the life of me figure out how that big rear landing gear fit in that fuselage.