The End of a One of a Kind

The F-14 Tomcat is the most widely and commonly known symbol of the United States Navy. The Tomcat, immortalized for its dogfighting capabilities by the movie “Top Gun,” took its first flight December 21, 1970. However, it was not given operational status until 1972.

The two seat, twin engine fighter jet has a max take off weight of 72,900 pounds; no more then 13,000 pounds of that is the armament. The F-14 can track up to 24 targets simultaneously and attack 6 while continuing to scan the airspace. The Tomcat is the only U.S. plane capable of carrying the long range Phoenix missiles, which can fire at targets from distances of about 80 miles.

Nose to tail the tomcat measures 61 feet 9 inches, it is 16 feet tall, and has an unswept wingspan of 64 feet and a swept wingspan of 38 feet. It has a ceiling, or max altitude of 52,900 feet, a little over 10 miles. The Tomcat can reach super sonic speeds of almost two times the speed of sound, or mach 2. It has a cruising speed of mach .72. On approach to a carrier, a Tomcat must travel at 125 knots, about 150 mph, and catch one of three trap wires, and slow from 150 to 0mph in 200 feet. If they miss or snap one of the trap wires, they’ll crash into the deck, the carrier, or the ocean. A Tomcat is literally catapulted off the deck of the carrier from 0 to 180 mph in 200 feet. When the F-14 Tomcat is catapulted off a deck the wings are automatically swept back to a 60 degree angle as the two after-burning engines each kick out 27,000 pounds of trust. Takeoff and landing is both brutal on the pilot and the fighter jet.

The F-14 Tomcat was designed and built in the 1960s, by what was then Grumman Aircraft Corporation. That is why you’ll see them referred to as Grumman F-14 Tomcats. The original purpose of the Tomcat was the protect carriers and battle the Soviet Union of the Cold War. They also replaced the F-4 Phantom II, which was retired in 1986. After the end of the Cold War the Tomcat was armed with precision bombs and a targeting system.

Throughout the thirty plus years of service the Tomcat has become increasingly difficult to repair, upgrade, and to keep in working condition. The F-14 is notorious for breaking down and malfunctioning. The Tomcat requires 50 to 60 maintain hours for every hour it flies. As a result the Navy began planning for the retirement of the three versions of F-14 Tomcat; the F-14 A, F-14 B, and F-14 D. The only difference between the models is the upgrades. The plans were to retire the F-14A by 2003-2004, the F-14B by 2007, and the F-14D by 2008. However, the planes got ahead of schedule. The F-14 Tomcat took its last flight on September 22, 2006. The retiring Tomcats had three choices. Be turned into a 80 million dollar pile of scrap metal. Be sent to various aviation museums across the country. The select few had the chance to be sent to Arizona to sit in storage, “mothballed” under desert conditions, until the day the Navy needs them again, that day may not come, they may be scrapped sometime in the near future.

633 Tomcats were produced for the Navy at last count 165 went to the scrap yard to be scrapped. Through out the history of the Tomcat 69 crew members were killed while flying the jet.

Today the F-14 Tomcat is being replaced by the two versions of the F/A-18 “Super Hornet.”