At 11:55, i put on screen that my loadout was 6 Phoenix and 2 Sidewinders, but it was of course actually 2 AIM-54 Phoenix, 4 AIM-7F, and 2 AIM-9H Sidewinders.
Just so you know Orange, as a US Navy vet of 30 Years.. (started my journey in Aug 1984) there was no F-14A "Early". It was just F-14A, F-14A+ (later renamed F-14B after they started fresh build Tomcats) then the F-14D (which was the only model to carry Air-Ground Ordinance). The three most common weapons load outs were... 1) 6-2 Heavy, which was 6 Phoenix and 2 Sidewinder. 2) 6-2 Light, which was 6 Sparrow and 2 Sidewinder. 3) 4-2-2, which was 4 Phoenix, 2 Sparrow and 2 Sidewinder. #2 was the most common since the AIM-54A wasn't designed for Dogfights. It was designed to remove Bombers, Tankers and AWACS and large body planes. #3 was also used when it was unknown what the mixture of enemy formations would be. #1 was strictly a wartime load out when they absolutely knew there was bombers on the way to attack the CV. (The wieght of the Phoenix was stressful on the wing pylons during landing with them on and would require a special maintenance inspection on the mount bolts for the pylon.) As always I totally enjoy your videos, especially the "First 10". Good to know what your getting into before you have to drive it. On a side note... Phoenix missiles have to be guided by TWS until the missile is within 8km of it's target where the missile will activate it's own radar for the terminal attack. The AWG-9 used a Data Link to transmit updated target speed, altitude, range and direction of travel. Once you go OUT OF TWS you loose connectivity with the missile and it goes "Pitbull" looking for any target in front of it... The first one it sees it will go after.
Another note to add: the higher the altitude you launch your missiles from, longer it will retain energy while being guided to the target. The denser air at low altitudes severely hamper the range of missiles.
