Anyone who hasn't seen the movie Top Gun has missed what are probably the best opening 60 seconds of any aviation film made before, or since. The Top Gun Anthem echoes through the steam and mist of a carrier in the morning. Aircraft start up, and the deck crews begin their dance. The F-14, the movie's star, taxis onto the cat, and is shot off the deck...and into history. The 1986 blockbuster brought the F-14 into the public spotlight, and for a while, every boy and girl in America wanted to be a Naval Aviator flying the Tomcat. From then, captured in America's hearts and minds, the F-14 carried on its legacy of being the best interceptor in the history of the United States Navy, competing with the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom. From beginnings during the desperate days of the Vietnam War, to becoming a symbol of the Navy, the F-14 remains to be the public's idea of a fighter, and now, it is going extinct. The aircraft that American kids (including myself) grew up around, those aircraft that we wished someday to fly, are being retired, the A-6 Intruder, A-7 Corsair, A-4 Skyhawk and now the F-14 Tomcat are passing into history, and leaving gaps in the Carrier Battle Groups that are going to be very hard to fill.

1971: The Vietnam War is raging; Apollo 14 and 15 land on the moon; and Grumman unveils a large, swing-wing fighter that is bound to change America's carrier decks forever. The F-14 was designed from the outset as a large, carrier-borne interceptor to replace McDonnell's F-4 Phantom that had proved itself over the hostile skies of Vietnam. Using the same crew of two, Grumman's initial design used two problematic Pratt & Whitney engines that were mounted far apart in tunnels underneath the aircraft's fuselage (in later models, Grumman opted for the GE engines). In the space between the two engines, JDAM's, missiles, or ECM gear could be carried. The swing-wings were fitted with full-span single slotted flaps that were deployed on landing and takeoff. For roll control, Grumman used the same spoiler system as was utilized on the A-6A Intruder attack platform. The main landing gear were mounted on the flanks of the air intake ducts, A-6 style, and used the same basic retraction geometry, moving forward, and then rotating 90 degrees to lie horizontally in the wing box. The nose was a twin-wheeled unit that was (unusually for a carrier based fighter) fitted with nosewheel steering, it retracted forwards. For carrier ops, the Tomcat was fitted with the nose tow bar system pioneered by Grumman's A-6. (As you should be seeing, the F-14 and the A-6, although the two couldn't be more different, used similar systems and design principles.)

Instead of using a bridle and hooks, like the F-4, the F-14 had a hinged bar on the nosewheel strut, shaped like a T on the end. This was placed in the catapult shuttle, and a hold back bolt was attached to the back of the nosewheel strut. When the fighter was at full power, and the catapult began its forward travel, the hold back bolt snapped in half, and the aircraft was flung off the deck and into the air. On the back end, a long tailhook was mounted underneath the beavertail that housed ECM equipment and a fuel dump pipe. A crew of two was seated beneath a long, two-piece bubble canopy that sat high above the fuselage, giving almost unlimited visibility. The twin tail fins were seated far apart and protruded straight up, and were fitted with rudders. Grumman also decided, using lessons learned in Vietnam, to nestle a M61 Vulcan cannon on the left side of the nose.

The F-14 was continually updated to meet the needs of the US Navy after its conception in 1971. Here is a short list:

The F-14D was the definitive Tomcat version. Its F-110 engines could be jam accelerated at high angles of attack, and it was the only version of the Tomcat that didn't have to use afterburner during cat launches (from the factory, soon F-14B's and C's received engine upgrades that allowed them to takeoff without full AB). The F-14D was also the first that was fitted with an under nose sensor package that allowed it to track and kill targets more efficiently. There are almost no A models left on US carrier decks due to replacement by the B, C, and D models.

The Grumman F-14 excels at long range, carrier borne interception. Designing a fighter with the high speeds necessary and still have acceptable slow speed characteristics meant that the wing had to be relatively straight, or VG (variable geometry). The full-span single slotted flaps and leading edge slats reduce carrier landing speed to 125 knots compared to the 145 knots of the F-4. One major gripe that carrier pilots noted about the aircraft was the fact that the engines had quite a long lag time for the compressors to spool up. Grumman solved this problem by placing a thumb-operated switch on the stick, which operated the spoilers on the wings. This way, the pilot could approach with higher power settings and maintain the 'ball' by using the spoiler system. This eased pilot workload on the approach many times over.

F-14D Specifications:

• Role: Long-range fighter/bomber
• Manufacturer: Grumman Aircraft
• Powerplant: 2 General Electric F-110 Turbofans with 27,800 lb wet thrust
• Wingspan: 64' 1.5" (wings fully spread)
• Height: 16'
• Length: 62' 8"
• Top Speed: 2.4 Mach (1544 mph )
• Max takeoff weight (full ordnance load): 74,000 lb
• Combat Radius: 403 nm
• Crew: 1 pilot, 1 RIO

The New Guy

It is a simple fact; the Tomcat is a dying breed. The US Navy only operates about 200 Tomcats as of 2004. So, this begs the question:

'What's the replacement?'

The answer might surprise you...the F/A-18 Hornet. Not the same Hornet that has proved itself over and over again in combat, but a new version, the "Super Hornet" E and F models. Although the F/A-18E, and F may be great aircraft in their own rights, they are no match for the abilities of the Grumman F-14. I believe that the original F/A-18's, the A, B, C, and D models, are great aircraft and compliment the F-14 in the fleet interceptor/fighter role very well, however I doubt the ability of the Super Hornet to take over the F-14's role on carrier decks.

The F-14 and the F/A-18E were born from different philosophies, and their performance shows that. First, the Tomcat is a big, heavy, two-place fighter. The Super Hornet is a small, lightweight, single seat fighter. The Tomcat has a variable geometry wing that can adapt itself to almost any flight regime, while the Hornet uses a fixed geometry straight wing. The straight wing is excellent for slow speed, carrier performance, and fuel conservation, however, to be used as a fighter wing, painful compromises must be made.

1. All flight characteristics must be built into one wing planform.
2. To go supersonic with a straight wing, it must be low aspect ratio, and be razor thin...thus, slow speed operations (carrier ops and dogfighting) will suffer.
3. Also, the Super Hornet ran into a problem with weight...it tries to use a fixed geometry wing to lift bomb loads like the Tomcat. The (comparatively) small wing can't lift all that weight with an acceptable wing loading. The original Hornet, which was used as a lightweight, fighter/bomber, was very successful with that wing, but the Super Hornet can't work with the same wing and still meet the supersonic and ordnance load requirements as well as the Tomcat's VG wing can.

Farewell to an American Legend

Tomcats hold a spot not only on US carrier decks, but also in the heart and soul of America. Whenever trouble arises, the US carriers will be deployed and the brave young men that are in the military will be called upon to fight America's enemies. Losing the Tomcat means losing the ability of two excellent aircraft. It means losing the fighting capabilities of the F-14, and also losing the all-weather bombing ability of the A-6E Intruder, which the F-14D was designed to accept after the retirement of the venerable Intruder. No longer will the USN have the ability of power projection. Also, with the loss of the Grumman Tomcat, there will not be a Grumman fighter on America's carrier decks, something that hasn't happened since the 1930's. The legend carried on by the Wildcat, Hellcat, Tigercat, Bearcat, Panther, Cougar, Tiger and Tomcat has finally ended. The F-14 carried the legend of American fighting aircraft that rolled out of the Bethpage plant of the "Grumman Iron Works". As they say though, all good things must come to an end.

Now on a sleepy evening when you hear the high-pitched scream of jet engines in the distance, and strains of the Top Gun Anthem run through you head, remember the best and last of the dogfighters...the mighty Tomcat.

Want to Fly A Virtual Tomcat?

Flightsimmers have a variety of Tomcats to fly, easily downloadable from our file library.

To view available F-14s: Click here

For those wishing to try the Tomcat's replacement, there are also a number of good Super Hornets available.

To view available F/A-18Es: Click here

Evan Levesque
evanlevesque@msn.com