F-14A had 42,000 lbsf of thrust, but the airshow F-14s weighed only around 48,000 lbs slicked off with 50% fuel. It was the B/D with the GE-F110 engines that made 56,400 - 60,000 lbsf (mach 0.8) of thrust.
In 1999 I was deployed on the Kitty Hawk and we had VF-154 aboard. It was my first taste of an airpower demo, an airshow where they go all the way putting on a show that would have any civilian in awe, for most of us it's the first hint that "Hey all those official numbers I read about in my time as a civilian were conservative. " When they did their supersonic run by the ship I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I had heard things from others but some things were hard to believe. It was surreal the only time I've known of a Tomcat not making any sound is when it was chained down to its parking space on the flight deck. Watching this cat rapidly approaching the ship without a sound and seeing it compressing the ocean underneath it had me entranced. I had been a fan of this bird since I was a child and finally I was really getting to meet it. It felt like a second almost 2 of silence the sound of the cheering crew had stopped as they too were fixated. That's about the time the hand of God came down and smacked us all in the chest pushing us back an inch or so from where we stood while simultaneously jiggling our balls. The cat decided the people who did not come out and watch it fly were disrespectful and would not simply get away from it. You could feel the 87 thousand odd ton carrier get picked up ever so slightly then shoved down. Since you could always count on at least one person too damn lazy to bother dogging the hatch it reached inside to scatter papers around. For the people who were in the ship and hadn't experienced that before had the crap scared out of them. Now about that supersonic run. The pilot had performed his dirty approach beforehand, so he creeping by REALLY slow, gear down, flaps down, hook down etc.... As soon as he passed the bow he started the run, zone 5 plugged in cleaned the jet up and made a real small circuit you never lost sight of him. They really should have let the poor short bus of a jet also known as the f-18 go first. His "supersonic" pass was right after its alleged high speed pass. The f-18 took a much longer circuit where it was no joy for a good minute then he flies past and is heard the entire time... FAIL, he sets up again, FAIL the third times he climbs up a bit to add a shallow dive, by now most non aviation rates where laughing. I remember thinking "wtf is this? Did we go back to 1950 where you had to dive a bit to go supersonic??" Well like they say third time was a charm, which amounted to an anemic pop compared to the KABOOM super carrier shaking roar that is Tomcat.
What was the name of the song that was playing in the background? The same song was also played in the Farewell To the F-14 Tomcat RU-vid video (at the beginning before the other 2 songs).
I love the F-14 Tomcat one of my all time favorite fighters but the announcer guy said it was the largest US fighter it isn't the Eagle bigger and still is
Beyond the end of the known universe. (Jk, I think he said 2010 which was the original retirement year, before the Navy realized most of the Tomcat fleet had too many hours on them, or something.)
Damn the idiots that killed this plane. The F15 and 16 are still flying with upgrades but you couldn’t do the same for the Tomcat?? Horse crap. The Tomcat still would have whooped the F15 and 16 and they are just as old!
