The F-14 Tomcat: The Ultimate Fleet Defender and the Grumman's Ultimate Cat 

Thank you, glad you enjoyed the video!

That's not what your boyfriend tells us ;P

@@PilotPhotog One thing you missed is that due to Iran becomes an enemy after the Tomcat was retired, all parts and most planes were scrapped and shredded, to ensure that Iran wouldn't get their hands on any. That's why there are no flyable Tomcats anymore other than Iran.

@@TreeBarkSide great point and thanks for commenting!

@@TreeBarkSide (un)fortunately, the Iranians still flying!!!

Classy! Same With Mirage.🫡

Not technically a fighter, but if it's an A-10 I kinda wanna know about that.

*Tomcat

@@SouthWaterlooArea AH YESSSS, THE *TOBCAT* A LETHAL FIGHTER, INDEED! *SPEECH 1OO*

🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦

Can Canada afford to maintain them?

@@Joshua_N-A prob yes if we dont waste money on f18s

@@Joshua_N-A If we don't buy F-35's

@@Joshua_N-A no. They probably be retired without replacement before 2003.

Ummmmm okay then

Riiiiight

I'd argue the Hornet family is pretty badass as well, that jet's nose authority is nothing to overlook, it may not be the fastest, it may not have the greatest thrust to weight ratio, but it is a monster when it gets slow. The Super Hornet gets even more dangerous in WVR with JHMCS and the AIM-9X. The jet is a workhorse and does its jobs well, but admittedly, the Navy could use a more competent deck based air superiority design to make up for the Rhino's deficiencies in the air superiority role.

@@roberts9095 Eh I'm warming up to it. Going to depend on Top Gun 2's volleyball scene. Lots to live up to. lol

@@Krystalmyth lmao

The vf-2 bounty hunters looks great too, but yeah, Jolly Roger anytime.

The Jolly Rogers later adopted a low-vis grey on grey scheme that also looked amazing.

Or the playboy scheme

Sundowners > all

@@DirtNastyCivilian for me it's the grim reapers baby. Best decal set of all time followed by jolly rogers sets and black knights

Same - it looked surreal watching the F-14 fly, such a large fighter and very maneuverable for its size. Thanks for commenting!

I saw an F-14 at an air show at Dover AFB years ago. It didn’t do much but I do recall feeling a bit uneasy seeing that huge fighter approach doing a high speed pass.

Too bad we never got to see the f14 in the blue Angels color scheme

​ @the O.D.S.T spartan You see those Angels when you die and go to heaven.

Saw the blue angels at Dayton in the late 90s. One flew low speed past the replica of the Wright flyer, as another came overhead from behind and scared the crap out of everyone. Too bad it wasn't supersonic.

100 % AGREE! Goes to show the mistakes that people CONSTANTLY make.

Couldn't agree more!

So many fan boys , the f-14 was hated by it's ground crew . Hours to fix it

Opa is een bericht via Spanje laat de andere helft van de andere kant is good morning at de

Yeah the nose wheel height could be adjusted - I should have mentioned that in the video

The kneeling prior to the cat shot was to ensure proper airflow over the airframe. ✌🏽

@@tumakbaluk Actually, it was just the way the catapult launch bar worked.

My favorite was watching them break into the pattern with the wings fully swept, then gracefully transform into carrier planes.

@@PilotPhotog Nah, the video was exceptional! This is not really important, just something I have always loved to see.

Some vehicles just have that look: e-type Jaguar, E body Mopar, P 51 Mustang and Supermarine Spitfire. The frontal view of an F 14 has to be the sexiest lines of any fighter jet that I’ve ever seen. Too bad they couldn’t have upgraded the power plants and avionics. I’m sure the Navy would have some use for them still? It’s a shame they shredded all those airframes. Heard they were worried about parts getting to Iran?

Agree , what a bird ! , hey we may see future birds on Mars , electric ofcourse , I mean designs of merit , that stoke the aviation creativity

Indeed and I just got to the point where a 30 minute video was going to be too long - but it would make a good topic for a future video!

@@PilotPhotog Sounds like a part 2 to this video

@@PilotPhotog if you ever make a part 2, could you also talk about the Super Tomcat 21 (ST21)? Few people know about it, it was an evolution proposed by Grumman at the time, but never was built due to the fact the F-14 was already expensive. (Edit: just finished the video ans saw that you did cover it, sorry)

@@FRGBlackBurn no worries, and I also mention it here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8luPq3K2_jE.html

@@PilotPhotog I'll watch it, thanks

True

Not really, the AIM-260 is basically an AIM-54 with the size and maneuverability of an AMRAAM and is planning to be carried by the F-15EX and F-35s.

Well, you might get your wish, the Navy's list of specifications for their next fighter is basically a description of the F-14.

سلام درست گفتی بخاطر ایران بود آمریکا متحد خوبی نبود ♥️🇮🇷

Why you are aware the super hornet has performed its role very well and at a fraction of the cost also technically they did create super tomcats the f14d

@@spartanx9293 because we lost range and capability at the expense of a few dollars that easily could’ve come out of plenty of areas. If we had made an e/f Tomcat we could’ve had actual loiter time for CAS mission with increased payload, range for intercept, and even super cruise engines were discussed. Had the Navy gone the f14 route they could’ve easily stuffed new tomcats with more electronic warfare equipment as to make the Growler unnecessary, and upgraded the capability to carry AARAMs.

@@fathead8933 it wasn't a few dollars the f-14 had horrendous operational costs and super Cruise we haven't even been able to get the f-15 to super Cruise as the parasitic drag caused by weighing down the aircraft makes it impossible(the reason an F-22 can super cruise is because of its internal weapons Bay)what makes you think the f14 a navel aircraft would be able to do it the super hornet performs the role just fine and as I said before at a much lower cost it also comes with the benefit of being able to use the amraam and harm missiles as well as an incredibly small RCs for a 4th Gen fighter not enough to make it a stealth aircraft mind you but noticable there were good reasons to opt for the super hornet why modify an extremely expensive platform to perform a role a much cheaper one can already do effectively that doesn't make a whole lot of sense and currently the only aircraft with the avionics equipment to come even close to matching The growler is the f-35 a fifth generation platform you think a little bit of a refit would be able to get the f-14 up to that level

the AWG-9 was good for it's day but is nowhere near as capable as an APG 73+. ahh yes tell me more about making an airframe super-cruise capable by just stuffing new engines in it. had the navy gone the F-14 route, squadrons wouldn't be able to have as many aircraft. F-14s are fucking huge compared to a Super platform. Also, to make an "EF-14" you would have to keep the assembly line open, to figure out how to replumb avionics, as well as either develop or figure out a way to retrofit ALQ pods and a nerd pallet. But please tell us more, onhow we lost a lot of capability by retiring Tomcats

@@musicon1197 personally I think this guy is arguing the wrong points if you were to make interception in fleet defense for all more evident he might have a valid argument the issue is there hasn't really been a power that we would need to feel the f-14 against since the fall of the Soviet Union even the Chinese aren't that much of a threat

سلام من از ایران هستم عاشق خلبان‌ها سرزمینمان هستم. و تامکت f14. اگر ممکن هست نام پدرتان را بگویید خوشحال میشوم ♥️🇮🇷🦁🇮🇷♥️🦁🇮🇷♥️🦁🇮🇷♥️🦁

Ah ok that's really cool. Even tho the f14 is more manuvarable knowing what your opponent is going to do is a better advantage.

I never thought of that either, thanks for pointing that out!

Well, it has been used intentionally to deceive opponents too :)

@@burningpotato9447 Actually the f15 might be more manuerable than the tomcat

@@danieledelfino6527 I've heard that before but that it's something that really only works once.

Thanks for commenting and indeed - I wanted to go into how the GE motors were ready well before the F-14B made its debut, but the engines kept getting shelved. Ultimately I decided not to go into that detail as this was meant to be a broad overview of the airframe as a whole, but it can be the subject of upcoming follow up videos on the F-14. Thanks for commenting and an excellent summary of the Tomcat's engines!

@@PilotPhotog There were 2 different F-14Bs. The first one was the intended Tomcat/engine with the F401-PW-400 that never got produced in the 1970s. The A models were supposed to be a stop-gap. The 2nd F-14B was the A+ re-named with the F110-GE-400 engines.

Very cool!

F-35C has 100nm more radius and endurance compared to even the F-14D with 2 tanks, with the F-35C using internal fuel. Has far greater detection and tracking range with cooperative fleet air defense, simultaneous Maritime patrol/ISR, and sea surface scan capabilities the F-14 never even dreamed of. Some of the best F-14D test pilots worked on developing the Navy’s JSF, and have praised it.

Just imagine if the F-14 wasn’t suffocated by lack of funding fir major upgrades. Imagine the Tomcat with AESA radar, replacing all those those high maintenance hydraulic lines with lower mainentance modern hydraulic technology that now exists, or even electric motors to swing those wings. And if the same tech that went into the F-15EX wings went into the internal wing structure of upgraded Tomcats, that would drastically increase the number of flights hours the plane is capable of flying. Now imagine if that same F-35 sea surface scan capability was adapted for the Tomcat. Basically the Navy’s F-35C would rally out of front of the upgraded Tomcats where it can feed the Tomcat targets. The Tomcats would hang back safely behind the stealthy F-35C and fire off all its missiles creating a FORCE MULTIPLIER effect. Oh, and the Tomcat is the only carrier based fighter that has the real estate and trust to carry any hypersonic missiles.

@@LRRPFco52 with all that tech advancement; the F-35 is still among the ugliest aircraft ever to fly.

@@robertfaust9406 Frontal, planform, bottom, and rear aspects look great. It's the side view that requires a mother's love. Same with F-22. F-14 just looks great from all angles, but the beauty contest is in the eye of the beholder of brutal capabilities that only the JSF series possess.

The newer ones wouldn't have been, while also being versatile and easy to upgrade.

Thank you for your service and all the work you did to keep these incredible aircraft flying - VF-84 will always be my favorite squadron and I tried to feature them in the video as much as I could.

@@PilotPhotog I enjoyed the video very much, I actually wanted to stay in, even did a re enlistment in the RIO seat with CAG but my re enlistment got cut short when budget cuts came around, man the times I had on board ship was so much to take in, especially being young and fresh out of high school back in the 80's, ahhh, those were the days...

@@SurfnTurfdfl I remember those budget cuts very well. You did get some actual F-14 time which is AWESOME! If I did that I’d end every debate with “yeah but I flew in an F-14” and then drop the mic 🎤

@@PilotPhotog ha ha, 🤣, yeah it was a blast, had some friends that got it hooked up and it also helps when you can know some higher ups that can get things done. I will say that not too many of my friends can say they went supersonic and I classify that as a once in a lifetime experience, gonna have to go thru my photo albums to relive some of those days....

Glad to see another sailor on here that served during that time. I never got to get close up and personal with the Big Cats, but we did rescue and recovery operations with the Carl Vincent. I absolutely loved the flybys they did. This is a sore subject I’m sure for most of her fans if not all, especially if you served in that time period, having to retire these fine works of art, but I try to keep the memories good.

On the USS Intrepid - I've been there and when you see the Tomcat that close you really appreciate how they flew that thing off of carriers!

You are my least favourite American president

How can you remember that?

What generation do you think the asf-14 would have been regarded as? 4,4.5?

@@kingdomofvinland8827 no idea, Mayne 5th gen or 4.5 who knows

@@F22raptor46 I think 4.5

@@kingdomofvinland8827 yeah possibly

The fact that it looked "intimidating and sexy" is completely irrelevant. You fan boys crack me up. It's like arguing about who possesses the most impressive genitalia.

I can't unsee that - but we should call it a Tomcat Kitten 😎

It really is a baby tomcat

Unfortunately, it's engines had all the thrust of a propane heater :D

The aim 260 is coming in to existence which has fairly great range

Modern AIM-120s have the same range as the AIM-54, better radar, better maneuverability, and weigh less so more can be carried.

F-35C with any AIM-120C/D variant out-classes what the F-14D/AIM-54C had by quite a bit. Same with detection and tracking ranges, multi-TGT track, with cooperative networked detection and tracking across multiple spectrums. F-35C with SPY-1/SM-6 networked, as well as SLCMs and surface-launched cruise missiles is a different world. F-35C brings things the S-3B Viking couldn’t do in the ASW role as well. Navy just increased their planned force structure for carrier air wings to make the F-35C squadrons 16 unit entities, while Super Hornet Block IIIs will be 12 birds per. F-35C increases the mission radius over the Tomcat by 100nm, which is a huge capability enhancement to the air wing.

@@LRRPFco52 : Which brings us to the two main problems with the F-35. 1) It costs a mint, each. The Navy may want 16 aircraft squadrons, but to do it they'll have to halve the number of squadrons OR drop a carrier. 2) It's mother-naked in IR... and the Soviets had pretty good mid-to-long rage IR detection back in the '80s. Who knows how good Russian and Chinese long-range IR detection is now? We may go to war and find IR missiles downing F-35s like lemmings. Or worse, tankers and AWACs, leaving the F-35s stranded and short on fuel deep in enemy airspace. Oh, and 3) It only carries, what, two AIM-120 internally? Four? An Su-37 carries a dozen missiles. Russian and Chinese forces can run the F-35 out of ammo and then swamp it with dozens of older but cheaper designs. Yeah, MiG-21s will die like flies going up against F-35s... and then once the F-35s are out of ammo the Su-37s and who knows what else shows up for the real fight. Now if you have an F-35 bird-dog for a squadron of F/A-18s, or better yet F-15EX with 14 missiles each, now THAT's a terrifying capability...

@@andrewszigeti2174 One if the most overlooked, misunderstood aspects of VLO is the IR stealth on all the JSF variants. If you look at Lockheed's generations of expertise in this field, then look closely at the F-35, you'll start to notice some things. There are at least 4 layers of IR signature concealment systems integrated into the F-35's surfaces, fuselage, wings, and engine nozzle. There are large air scoops that take ambient air (which is anywhere from -20 to -60°C) and flow it over and through the LOAN engine nozzle. The massive fuel volume is used as a heat sink to pull aerodynamic heat off the wing leading edges, and heat exchangers are integrated into the cool air bypass fan stage on the motor. Then there are things integrated with the RAM to virtually eliminate solar radiation from the surfaces. The engine exhaust spirals within the cool air flow mass since the afterburner flame holders are angled and concealed in the RF spectrum, so there is a synergy of RF and IR concealment that is revolutionary from a signature reduction perspective. So all the assumptions and claims you see about F-35 IR signature being huge are very uninformed and opposite of the truth. It's an extremely cold TGT in the IR spectrum. The presence of IRST on the MiG-29 and Su-27, plus IR sensors on Russian mobile IADS platforms drove the IR signature reduction program within JSF. They were given billions to solve that problem, with test ranges and expertise that dwarf what any other country has at their disposal. So the IR spectrum is a place the JSF and ATF dominate. JSF has more sensors that are fused with each other to detect, track, and PID at BVR better than anything out there. If you wanted to configure a certain number of F-35Cs for A2A focusing on Fleet Defense, you could load them with 4x AIM-120C/D, and 2x AIM-9X Blk III. F-14s typically only flew with 2-4 missiles because of loading time for ordnance across several squadrons, weapon wear from carrier ops, and bring-back limits. With F-35, you get more kills due to higher pk than with legacy fighters because there is no mutual detection timeline, counter-moves, and re-attack sequence common to 4th Gen. That's why the F-15 and Flankers have the magazine depth that they do, because they were envisioned in a mutual detection BVR scenario where the initial missile releases are usually posturing for who will be offensive first. 5th Gen fighters don't play in that space. They hunt from the shadows on their terms, with extremely unfair missile WEZ parameters that immediately go into NEZ with no missile approach warning.

All fair points and thanks for commenting!

@@PilotPhotog Thanks for the effort put in your videos! Came here from the F-5 videos! Will definitely be looking for the next upload!

@@varrunningtrains4112 you've been here for a long time then, thank you and more videos on the way!

You are indeed, first.

respect man! we are the first 3

Thank you and yes it was an interesting "what if"

I believe they do have a few operational Tomcats and yes that is very ironic :)

It is rumored that Iran has overhauled and replaced a number of systems with their own equipment, and that they may have over 30 actively flying.

There is credible evidence that the Iranians received under the table assistance from the Israelis.

Thank you!

Great catch and thanks for commenting!

Great point and thanks for commenting!

Great point and thanks for commenting!

Thank you so much for sharing, and thank you for your family's contribution to the Tomcat and other Grumman aircraft...and thanks for being a subscriber!

خداوند آنها را رحمت کند 🇮🇷♥️

Indeed

Started flying in 1970, whereas F-15 was 1972, F-16 1974, and Hornet in 1978. Carrier-borne operations increase wear-and-tear on them so it makes absolute sense to start retiring airframes, especially from the early production blocks throughout the 1970s. They crashed or dumped so many of them as it was, with 173 airframe total F-14 losses. Some of those simply fell off the carrier or got splashed with salt water, immediately dead-lined if they still had the airframe aboard. Of all those, even though it came later, the Hornet would be the next fastest airframe type to see boneyard storage due to carrier ops, saltwater, and just being run hard. They lost 100 of them in its first 10 years of service with 20 fatalities. They quickly started making changes to the Hornet with the C model even before Desert Storm, and put the A Models into Reserve units as fast as they could. F-16A had a pretty rough start too, with wiring harness chaffing, hydraulic issues, engine problems with F100-PW-200, EPU failures after engine failure, control surfaces popping up when they should be down, several GLOCs, and multiple fleet groundings in the A models from 1978-1985. It took a while to work out the Viper, but they got it ironed-out very well. F-15 is the unique 4th Gen fighter in terms of safety with very few total losses and fatalities. They also skimmed the absolute best pilots into Eagles, but that was also true with the Tomcat, with bringing it to the boat being the thing that separated pilots into other airframes that were much easer to bring back. The mishap rates are really eye-opening when you look at all of them. Harrier has the worst of all in the 4th Generation timeframe, even though it never gets mentioned as a 4th Gen aircraft.

@@LRRPFco52 excellent analysis and thanks for commenting!

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it and thank you for all you do on our discord!

😂😂😂

I was not aware of that, thanks for mentioning. Imagine RAF Tomcats

Couldn't agree more!

Sort of - it was a demo/test flight of the F-14B with the new engines

@@PilotPhotog it sure took off like a bat outta hell!

That must have been an incredible sight - and sound! Thanks for commenting

I wasn't aware of the RAF going for the Tomcat, I could have done some footage of an RAF 'cat flying around....thanks for commenting!

I also saw the super tomcat Myself it's a beautiful plane . That you need to see also. Go to the intrepid museum It's on deck along with a Sr 71

Most definitely!

Great catch and thanks for commenting!

Glad you enjoyed it!