Tomcat Tales – A Documentary About the Real Top Guns!

[spazsinbad]

TOMCAT Tales Official Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTRoE6fbDB4


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Official Trailer 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZqrwhfByyw

[talkitron]

I watched Tomcat Tales and enjoyed it. It is certainly interview heavy; be prepared to watch retired aviators talking quite a bit. The first hour had a lot of stories about air to ground combat missions. The second hour had a lot about dangerous landings and mechanical failures. Anyway, most people on this forum would like the documentary.

[mixelflick]

I'm really excited to watch it, thanks for posting.

Incredible to see how versatile it is/was. Much like the Eagle, what started as a purely air to air machine successfully morphed into an air to groud thoroughbred. Ironic how it became the Navy's only long range "strike fighter" - no escort required. The F/A-18 not having the legs, and the A-6 being long retired.

It's a capability that frankly, needs to be brought back. The F-35C will help, but I'm really hoping the Navy's F/A-XX will fit the bill. Will be good to see a dedicated air to air machine flying from Navy decks once again...

[spazsinbad]

24 page PDF TOMCAT 50th Anniversary - various stories + pictures from Jan 2021 Combat Aircraft Journal Volume 22 No 1.

[spazsinbad]

F-14 TOMCAT 50th ANNIVERSARY - F-14 Tomcat Variants Crew Perspectives [20 page PDF]
Jan 2021 AVIATION News

"Still operated by the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force, the Grumman F-14 Tomcat is most famous for its US Navy service – and its role in the 1986 film Top Gun. To mark the 50th anniversary of its first flight on December 21, 1970, we present the first of three articles on this formidable fighter. Doug Gordon hears from a former F-14 pilot and a radar intercept officer about flying and operating different versions of the Tomcat...."

Source: AVIATION News Magazine January 2021

[spazsinbad]

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org ... eeae6.jpeg

[Corsair1963]

What could have been.....


https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/2 ... ooked-like

[spazsinbad]

Many technical details about the F-14A & proposed variants along with comparisons with F-111B & F-15 (Oz mentioned).

DOGFIGHTER SUPREME - THE TOMCAT Reprinted from Air Enthusiast International January 1974

http://aviationarchives.blogspot.com/20 ... omcat.html

A 12 page 1.3Mb PDF download with several URLs available but also attached below - text & graphic from it.

"The Grumman F-14A Tomcat, fast approaching full operational status with the US Navy, is gaining recognition as one of the West's most potent fighters. David W H Godfrey, P Eng, C Eng, AFRAeS, AFAIAA, describes the Tomcat's concept and characteristics.

[mixelflick]

Growing up, I was a big fan of McDonnell Douglas jets - especially the F-4 and F-15. At 17, I saw my first Eagle demo and was blown away. As I've aged though, the Tomcat really grew on me. I saw Snodgrass fly a "very low" demo at Pratt's HQ in East Hartford once, it was the single most vicious display of air power I've ever seen - and I've been watching them for 35 years. Once they got those F-110 motors, they could play in the vertical and no more compressor stalls. Provided the pilot was proficient, it was nearly unstoppable.

Had that engine been ready at the beginning, it may have been an even more successful aircraft. As it stands, its win/loss record is staggering - 160 kills to only 3 losses for the Iranians, and 4 kills and no air to air losses for the USN. That's 60 more kills the Tomcat had vs. the Eagle, which really puts it into perspective.

Thanks for the document, digging into it now..

[spazsinbad]

TOMCATTING [10 page PDF of article attached]
Mar 2021 Stephan Wilkinson

"U.S. NAVY AIRCREWS AND RECRUITERS LOVED THE GRUMMAN F-14 TOMCAT, BUT A CAREFUL REVIEW OF ITS RECORD SUGGESTS THE TOP GUN MOUNT WASN’T ALL IT WAS CRANKED UP TO BE..."

Photo "Two Grumman F-14D Tomcats from U.S. Navy fighter squadron VF-213 fly with swing wings fully extended off Virginia Beach’s Naval Air Station Oceana in 2004."

Source: Aviation History March 2021

[spazsinbad]

Via E-mail today source unk. Telephoto lens used puts the aircraft closer to the deck than it was in reality but GO LOW!

[spazsinbad]

BOMBCATS of AIR WING 8 [6 page PDF of article attached]
Feb 2015 Warren E. Thompson

"In June 1996, Warren E. Thompson spent time on the USS John F. Kennedy with Carrier Air Wing 8. As the aircrew conducted carrier qualifications, he spoke to some of the more seasoned pilots about their experiences at a time when the F-14 was taking on the ‘Bombcat’ role...

Source: Combat Aircraft Monthly February 2015 Vol 16, No 2

[spazsinbad]

BLACK KNIGHTS RULE VF-154 IN OPERATION ‘IRAQI FREEDOM’
Sep-Oct 2015 Tony Holmes

"Although built as a Cold War interceptor tasked with keeping US Navy carrier battle groups safe from attack by Soviet long-range bombers, the F-14 Tomcat was developed into a precision bomber in the 1990s. The jet performed this role to perfection during Operation ‘Iraqi Freedom’ in 2003, and veteran F-14 squadron VF-154 ‘Black Knights’ was in the vanguard of the campaign...."

Photo: "Still carrying its GBU-12s, ‘Nite 103’ (BuNo 161293) joins the recovery pattern overhead USS Kitty Hawk in early March 2003. This particular aircraft ended OIF as the high-time ordnance expender. VF-154 via author (Tony Holmes)"

Source: Combat Aircraft Monthly September-October 2015

[spazsinbad]

Battle of the Superfighters - F-14D Tomcat vs. F/A-18E/F Super Hornet [15 page PDF attached] [now OCRed]
Jun 2020 Bob Kress & Rear Adm. Paul Gillcrist USN, retired

“...Reported Super Hornet Problems
Although the Navy has been working very hard to correct F/A-18E/F OPEVAL problems, it is worth summing them up: the production F/A-18E/F is significantly overweight with respect to its specifications (32,000 pounds empty weight). This is far in excess of what one would expect for a variant of an existing F/A-18A, B, C or D. Aircraft weight estimation methods could, and should, have been much better; in fact, when we look objectively at the F / A-18E/F, we see an airplane with a brand-new wing, new fuselage, and new empennage--in other words, a new airplane. This is, therefore, what Congress would call a “new start.” Both Congress and the Department of Defense (DoD) had to be looking the other way when the Navy was permitted to slip this airplane by as a simple modification of an existing airplane. In combat maneuvering flight, the aircraft had severe wing-drop problems that defied resolution, despite the use of every aerodynamic analytical tool available. Eventually, one test pilot came up with a “leaky-fold-joint” fix that opened chord-wise air slots to aspirate the wing’s upper surface flow and thereby prevent the sharp stalling of one wing before the other. They stalled more or less together, but much earlier and more severely than before. This new fix is what the aerodynamicists call a band-aid. It causes aircraft buffeting, which is generally a source of wing drag. But a fix that combined “acceptable wing-drop” with “acceptable buffeting” had been achieved. One test pilot commented dryly, “I’d like the buffet levels to be a little lower so I could read the heads-up display!” [switch to an F-35C?]

Owing to its high drag and weight (and probably other factors), the F/A-18E is significantly poorer in acceleration than the F/A-18A. Also, its combat ceiling is substantially lower, and its transonic drag-rise is very high. We have stayed in touch with some pilots at the Navy’s test center and have gathered some mind-boggling anecdotal information. Here are some examples:

• An F/A-18A was used to “chase” an F-14D test flight. The F-14D was carrying four 2,000-pound bombs, two 280-gallon drop tanks, two Phoenix missiles, and two Sidewinder air-to-air missiles. The chase airplane was in a relatively “clean” configuration with only a centerline fuel tank. At the end of each test flight, the chase airplane was several miles behind the test airplane when the chase airplane reached “bingo” fuel and had to return to base.

• An F/A-18E Super Hornet was tested using the same chase airplane, an earlier model Hornet, in the same configuration. The chase airplane did not need full thrust to stay with the test airplane.

• An F/A-18E/F in maximum afterburner thrust cannot exceed Mach 1.0 in level flight below 10,000 feet, even when it is in the clean configuration (no external stores). At 10,000 feet, the F-14D can exceed Mach 1. 6.

• A quote from a Hornet pilot is devastatingly frank: “The aircraft is slower than most fighters fielded since the early 1960s.”

• The most devastating comment came from a Hornet pilot who flew numerous side-by-side comparison flights with F / A- 18E/F Super Hornets and says: “We outran them, we out-flew them and we ran them out of gas. I was embarrassed for them.”...”

Source: Flight Journal June 2020

[sprstdlyscottsmn]

Re hashing a ~2004 article in 2020?