F 14 Tomcat Defender of the Fleet Documentary 2

at the height of the Cold War the ladies greatest threat came from the Soviet Union's long-range bombers and fighter escorts the f-14 Tomcat with its phoenix missile stood as the first line of defense today it's legacy continues as defender January 15 1989 for naval aviators the dawn of a new day differs little from the last except perhaps serving a fresh reminder that they are still away from home however today is different aboard the carrier John F Kennedy there is a clear sense of urgency not because the ship is entering its final month of deployment but rather because it is steaming only a hundred and twenty miles off the coast of Libya such a passage is not a territorial violation however Colonel Qadhafi had made it clear that it would be met with aggression Gaddafi had said this before and as Tomcat pilots depart the ship they have no idea that this time he means it [Music] [Music] while flying a routine caps or combat air patrol mission is supporting the a6 intruders off the coast the air groups early warning radar pick up two Libyan fighters crossing the beach 70 miles to the south immediately the a6 is aboard north in the Tomcats veer south to meet the planes at on [Music] 2:07 61 miles now during 1 8 0 angels 8 heading 3 3 0 it had been the experience of six fleet battle group commanders that when a curious Libyan fighter gets painted by a Tomcats radar it decides to turn back this time they do not speed okay let's take her down now we're going down as the Libyan fighters maintain a collision course both Tomcats plunge down in a dogfight it is best to be looking up at your adversary so that the surface of the water does not interfere with your radar [Music] 49 miles now some be 450 angels 9 I'm going down to 3 [Music] at 11:59 the air warfare commander broadcasts warning yellow weapons hold meaning that hostility is emilie any action taken in self-defense is now authorized alpha Bravo from 207 [Music] [Music] [Applause] after the downing of the two Libyan Jets Colonel Qaddafi charged America with unprovoked aggression he claimed that his jets acted peaceably and were unarmed the US then made its case to the Security Council producing enlarged photographs from f-14 cockpit video these photographs revealed two Libyan mig-23 flogger x' fully loaded with live weapons the series of events that left two Libyan pilots parachuting into the water was not the first taste of combat for the f-14 community eight years earlier two Tomcats down two Libyan Jets under similar circumstances although there is no way to fully simulate the chaotic experience of live combat elite fighter pilots practice here in Miramar California fighter town USA for over 20 years the f-14 Tomcat has come to symbolize naval air superiority throughout the year select pilots are chosen to hone their skills at the naval fighter weapons school administrator known also as top got 140 knots and a mile half of a beam look at the tapes on lieutenants Warren Christie and Rob field our instructors at cop gun school both men are former Top Gun students who have reached a level of performance which enables them to pass on their knowledge to other fox2 what you see at that point is despite the visual technologies of today one of the primary tools of instruction is still the model airplane at this point you need to decide whether you're going to continue to stay pure pursuit maybe close to take a follow-on shot or are you gonna pull lead pursuit maybe close to try to turn the gun on and gun him the green model is a Russian mig-29 fulcrum although Russia is no longer considered a hostile country Tomcat pilots now trained against the tactics of countries like Iraq and North Korea max Jeep returned as you brake around to establish yourself in the control zone it's slide to the outside of snakes turn circle which is what you should see the Tomcat is considerably larger than most modern tactical fighters the only other fighter comparable in size the Russian su-27 that is often simulated by instructors flying the f-14 that vertical airs feces gonna have to come off to the right and we're gonna establish ourselves into a roller the snake starts pulling at you do a nice job unloading here getting underneath them the spectacle of wielding model airplanes on the end of a wooden stick understates the unnatural and often physically punishing effects of forces six and a half times that of gravity such g-forces are a routine part of aerial combat to be able to withstand the G's while predicting your opponent's tactics and coolly executing your own is the acid test of the fighter pilot roars we'll go through that for two different for two tries looks like you're doing a real nice job up here I'm using that rudder and actually getting the jet the pure one on one while 1v1 who is the most romanticized ideal of a true dogfight however it is by no means the primary focus of Top Gun in training nor is it the most representative of a real-world situation a more likely scenario is two on two engagements as seen in Libya or even a three on tools or four on four however the most engaging dogfight remains the one bead was able to get a clean against flame because of violence against Pilon to do the same the essential pre-flight routine of perusing the maintenance reports and checking the fuel loads was not a highlight of the Hollywood feature Top Gun in fact any instructor will be quick to note that there are no Tom Cruise's here the movie had a lot of Hollywood in it and I think that's something that perception we're trying to get away from where our staff and the individuals that come through this course are much more professional than what you saw in the movie as far as knowing the rules and regulations of flying Navy aircraft we say here Top Gun is our job is to teach the teachers so though a guy comes here it goes to a lot of flight training a lot of academic training he's gonna be much better when he leaves but his main goal is to go back to the squadron that he came from or back to the fleet at some time and teach the new guys in his squadron the tactics and the information that he has learned here Warren and Rob represent the most skilled group of Fighters to graduate top gun school in essence they are the best of the best the students at Top Gun represent the best in the fleet success in Fleet combat training and other critical flight operations has brought them recommendations from commanding officers however in the f-14 community the pilot is not the sole player in successful flight operations the radar intercept officer or Rio who sits in the back seat plays a critical role in the acquisition and targeting of the enemy effective communication between the pilot and his Rio is vital to carrying out an effective mission in an f-14 despite the need for such teamwork the business of flying fighter planes tends to breed pilots with an enhanced sense of confidence this is especially true for those elite pilots chosen for top gun training however once at Miramar any arrogance is quickly humbled when a student comes through and they think they're the best that they could ever be when they show up here and they may have some kind of an attitude problem the guys I usually go out and and do some pretty good work against those guys during the 1 v1 phase and they find out fairly quickly that maybe they have a little bit more to learn however confident the student is in his own abilities knowing that he or she will be flying against the best in the Navy and then carefully scrutinized makes the pre-flight a time of focus I'm speaking from when I was a student yeah the the nervousness is there the adrenaline starts flowing just just knowing you're going out and flying against a an instructor and he's kind of watching you and you're in the back of his mind in your own mind you're being evaluated so there's definitely a little bit of pre-game jitters going on for the instructor pre-flight anxiety is more ambiguous the sharp edge of competitiveness has been dulled by their inherent duties as instructor their job is to beat the student not for the sake of beating them but rather for teaching them however there remains a strong desire to win well at this point right now I'm compartmentalized I've already thought about all the tactics and everything I'm going to do out in the air so now I'm taking it one step at a time make sure the gear is on right go out and make sure the airplane is okay and make sure that I'm going through all those procedures so everything goes smoothly out into the area and then when I get out there I'm gonna execute what I've been thinking about earlier on in the brief I say it probably it comes closest from the time soon when you're playing football from when you'll leave the locker room and you're walking out to go to the kickoff it's the same kind of thought process is going a little bit of butterflies at times and just getting ready for the the kickoff the start of the game [Music] once in the air the f-14 pilot has one distinct advantage that very few other fighter pilots in the world enjoy the ability to have the wings of his plane sweep or change angle in relation to the fuselage aircraft with conventional wings have a given set of parameters in which they perform their best the wing is by far the greatest factor dictating such parameters [Music] an aircraft with a low angle of sweep and a large wing area can maneuver well at low speeds however this large wing area compromises speed on the other hand an aircraft with a high angle of sweep in the wings tends to have less drag enabling it to achieve much higher speeds again there is a compromise greater wing sweep means that the aircraft cannot perform well at low speeds for a navy aircraft good low-speed handling is essential for one reason the naval aviator must be able to operate on and off a carrier with the difference between success and disaster measured in feet and inches the pilots only savior is good low-speed handling however to intercept an enemy fighter the pilot needs a plane that is fast the f-14 pilot enjoys the best of both possible designs the Tomcat is the only operational plane in the world which features an automatically sweeping wing that can undergo high g-forces while sweeping fast enough to keep up with the ever-changing demands of aerial combat the Tomcat crew can put their plane through an intense series of aerial combat maneuvers without any concern about wing sweep because they know that a computer is continually providing the optimum wing position while though wing sweep can be controlled manually most fleet air crews conduct combat exercises with their wing sweep control button in the automatic position many instructors and students at Top Gun school now fly the f-18 Hornet the Tomcats advantage over the Hornet is its sheer speed and ability to locate and destroy its adversary and long-range the Hornets advantage lies in its smaller size and greater maneuverability [Applause] despite all of the differences in design and variations in the level of technology the focus at Top Gun remains the skill of the pilot in the proud tradition of Rickenbacker and Immelman Top Gun serves to perpetuate one simple notion it's not the plane you're flying it's how you fly your plane we used to fly a force here very unsophisticated airplane actually designed back in the 1950s and before guys got proficient in flying their own aircraft the a4 it was a very difficult adversary and it was because it was in the hands of very well trained individuals time and time again it comes down to it's not so much the machine the guys and it's the guy sitting in the cockpit and if he is knowledgeable and he has good hands we say then even though he may be in a older aircraft or something with not as advanced technology if he's a good performer within that airplane then he will come out on top another way pilots train for real-world situations is the simulator we're here at the instructors console and we're gonna run a crew through a syllabus hop right now we're not sitting on the aircraft carrier and we're going to launch them off go do an intercept and do a little strafe on a ship in an airfield then we'll do an intercept and then back to the boat let's go ahead and let's launch them in the simulator every attempt is made to recreate deck activity even the catapult officer with the yellow shirt has a role in this computer although it may seem like a frivolous detail aligning the nosewheel with the catapult box must be done quickly and with precision there is no way to truly simulate the carrier takeoff accelerating from zero to 150 knots in less than three seconds is an unmistakable feeling that is only realized during a true catapult shot okay now we're going to throw a couple bogies out there and Roach here is going to fly against them and we'll see if we can get an intercept and possibly a kill with the press of a button the instructor can also take to the air and if he so chooses can try to attack the Tomcat first an air platform list is activated this reveals a short list of russian-built fighters from the mig-21 fish bed to the su-27 flanker for this engagement the instructor chooses the mig-29 fulcrum within the software is contained information about the MiG's flight characteristics fuel loads and armament when the air platform is activated the MIG summary switches to a tactical display screen now the location of the two aircraft can be monitored the two pilots are already on a collision course the instructors only cues are the simulated heads-up display in front of him and the tactical grid to his right simulator instructors are Tomcat pilots privy to the tactics employed by the trainees sitting in the other room every time the trainee makes turns to gain a tactical advantage the instructor counters with a turn of his own inside 10 on a large screen in the center of the console is the heads-up displays seen by the trainee sitting in the simulated cockpit with this point of view the trainee can acquire important location and targeting information while still looking at his horizon reference twelve miles as the instructor turns back into the trainee he too checks his heads-up display for targeting information both planes are now closing at over a thousand miles per hour whether simulated a real the longest period of aerial combat is the time leading up to the point when the planes are within missile range of one another once they are within range events unfold rapidly the outcome is usually decided in a matter of seconds [Music] the advantages of using a simulator to train for aerial combat are many there is no danger of entering a fatal spin aircraft maintenance is unnecessary and fuel is not burned however the tactics employed are the same [Music] [Applause] with the dogfight in progress the console operator will change the azimuth on the tactical display now he has a three-dimensional view of the chase the lines protruding down from the planes give the instructors an indication of the true distance between them with each grid representing 100 square miles the mig is now within visual range as the Tomcat pulls a 6g turn the instructor takes evasive action in such a close combat situation the weapon of choice is generally the heat-seeking Sidewinder missile however by unleashing a stream of twenty millimeter cannon fire the trainee is attempting a more traditional style of attack the instructor manages to evade the onslaught of bullets and continues ahead of the Tomcat with this the trainee decides that a Sidewinder is needed to finish off the MIG trainee obtains a lock on the Sidewinder missile represented by a small green cross this seen heading directly into the hapless me the heads-up display tells the rest [Music] having finished the job the trainee must still complete the final step of the equation getting back aboard the ship most pilots agree that this can be even more difficult than the dogfight itself the trainee Boulter's meaning that he has missed all four wires and must try again although the trainee has Boulder the instructors are determined to make his second approach even more difficult the trainee will no longer have the benefit of a clear sunny day a cloud ceiling of 300 feet is chosen and visibility disappears to make life even more difficult the instructors decide to throw some fog into the mix foggy conditions are even worse than clouds because it hinders the pilots visibility all the way down to the ship to add still further to the trainees predicament the instructors decide to add lightning and rain now the trainee must land the plane in a full-blown thunderstorm with the pitching ship barely visible and the winds lashing the plane a poor weather landing is a nightmare for naval aviators in this situation the trainee can take comfort in the fact that he is in a simulator rather than attempting this landing on a real ship coming back to the ship and being able to trap aboard a ship and not optimum weather is is an incredible rush you you work and you concentrate so hard while you're doing it you don't realize what's going on around you until finally you come to a stop and you're just you're just happy and sometimes you get out your knees are shaky and in your are oh is this wedding just as hard as you the pilot is not the only player in the carrier landing the delicate approach of a navy aircraft into the wire is monitored and directed by the LS OS or landing signal officers modern-day LSO's are descendants of the man who stood at the stern of the ship directing in the planes with a flag or a paddle in each hand the LSO is a veteran pilot who has proven to excel in the delicate art of carrier landings he has seen thousands of landings and he knows what to look for each approach and landing is graded and pilots are often critiqued later [Music] on the LSO platforms of the modern carrier the paddle has been replaced by the pickle the pickle is a switch held in the right hand of one of the LSO s and it is used to tell the pilot to abort the landing the landing signal officer must have incredible vision many LSO's are capable of spotting a mere 5 foot glide path diversion from a half a mile away early in the approach the LSO must identify a problematic trend and help the pilot correct for it if a problem is not caught early on it will only get worse one of the LS OS must keep an eye on the deck while the next plane is approaching after a plane traps aboard the ship the wire must be fully retracted until this has happened the next plane cannot land with one man watching the deck and the other directing the incoming plane communication and timing are crucial if the wire is not fully retracted it will snag the plane with disastrous results a decision must be made the plane is waved off and the rapid chain of events are critiqued by the senior LSO [Applause] there is little time to think about that rapid chain of events that led to the wave of carrier ops do not take time out another plane must be guided to the ship one level below the flight deck is the man very interested in the activity going on above this is commander Mike gal transit the Brazile Fighter Squadron 230 let's check them out because of his interest in power lifting his squadron affectionately refers to him as flex the former Top Gun instructor flex is now the commanding officer of the only Fighter Squadron aboard the USS Lincoln well you know it is the best job in the Navy when it comes you know the a lot of privileges you know all the kids obviously look up to you and I'm not just talking my art career you talking to the 300 the kids that work for me and I call them kids that's really what they are I don't have any children of my own because I have 300 enlisted in 38 officers but the the responsibility is is very weighty in other words there's you know when these stuff hits the proverbial fan the phone call comes to you and you have to answer it and you have to explain why aircrew did something or why something didn't go as advertised but when you wait privileges versus responsibilities it's still the best job it's still best job around [Applause] as the soul fighter squadron aboard the ship the f-14 pilots carry with him a certain mystique over the years the Tomcat has adopted a reputation as being the only true fighter plane in the Navy this reputation was hard earned in 1981 to Tomcats down two Libyan fighters over the Gulf of Sidra almost immediately bumper stickers proclaiming US Navy to Libya zero emerged on cars throughout the country eight years later two more Libyan MiG's were down by Tomcat cruise along the way these fighter jocks found themselves intercepting the plane carrying the Achille Lauro terrorists and flying in support of US forces in Lebanon despite the Tomcats success in enforcing the power politics of the Middle East flying against Colonel Qaddafi was not its intended role at the height of the Cold War the greatest threat to the US Navy came from the Soviet Union's long-range bomber force most notably the tu-95 bear capable of flying at extremely long range these bombers were equipped with large anti-ship missiles which could be fired at targets from a great distance [Music] the implications of such an attack did not go unnoticed by the Navy the mighty carrier was clearly vulnerable enter the Phoenix missile at over two feet in diameter in 13 feet long the Phoenix is one of the largest air-to-air missiles in the world when built it had only one purpose to destroy a Soviet bomber the f-14 Tomcat was designed to accommodate the Phoenix it was for this reason that the entire f-14 program hinged on the success of a test on 1 November day in 1973 at the Naval missile test center at Point Mugu California six drones were launched from six different locations the Pentagon had required that any new fighter-interceptor be capable of destroying six targets with six Phoenix missiles such a requirement was stringent to say the least however the motive behind the Navy requirement was that if Soviets attacked a carrier they would do so with a large formation of bombers it was deemed that a carrier could only survive such an attack of each fighter interceptor could take out multiple targets the Phoenix missile can operate in several modes in a short-range situation it becomes an active homing missile utilizing a small radar for guidance either an impact or a proximity fuze are used to detonate the warhead the missile also has a launch and leave capability in a long-range situation the missile fires off the launcher ignites the rocket motor then climbs to over 80,000 feet when it reaches this point it is flying at over four times the speed of sound at this altitude the rocket motor burns out in the missile operates off its own momentum now the missile uses its momentum to plunge downward and make any last minute maneuvers as it closes on its target in the skies over Point Mugu California each of the six missiles hurtled towards their selected target one by one the lethal Phoenix ruthlessly hunts down its prey only one of the missiles malfunctions one aircrew has taken on six targets in five have been destroyed the Pentagon is impressed with this new capability the aircraft carrier can suppress an onslaught of Soviet bombers the Tomcat would henceforth be dubbed fleet defender [Music] [Applause] the job of defending the fleet holds special responsibilities unlike attack aircraft whose missions are orchestrated around planned assaults the Interceptor must always be ready for the unexpected visitor time air support a mission our threat is gonna be the mig-29 simulated with the Tomcat out there tonight working to to and gun simulated load out of the tin out for the archer in the gun off the coast of San Diego the men and women of Fighter Squadron 213 continue to prepare for any threat posed to the battle group the squadron is currently involved in a phase of work ups aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln this work up phase gives the entire Air Wing a chance to work together in preparation for their six-month cruise during this phase the Tomcat squadron is engaged in a variety of exercises to enhance readiness as part of this training they will fire live ordinary on the right wing via the lead aircraft will be flying a ACL last night [Applause] three zero off the coast of Southern California is a naval missile range that is used for live weapons training during this cycle drones are used as air-to-air targets for a naval fighter pilot firing live missiles is the ultimate in combat training you see this huge million dollar missile fly up in front of your nose and it's it's the bottle rocket of the century it goes up to about 45,000 feet and you're just watching two white contrails zoom in on two targets it's about the most impressive thing I've ever seen today missiles are not the only weapons available to the Tomcat crew old-fashioned gunnery is still a common practice once in a while we either shoot air-to-air with our guns which was designed to do or also air-to-ground with the gun strafing and both are again an incredible rush Baird airs once in a while we'll practice with a banner and you'll have tracers every every so many rounds and fire at about 6,000 rounds per minute and you score your hits on the banner and try and try and get your maximum it's at that gun is it's just like in the movie seeing the tracers fire out in front of you there - air-to-ground is usually over in the desert or on a target that is trailed behind the ship here we also do that and the gun is is a blast at least for a pilot that so that's the ultimate way - in my book to get a kill using the twenty millimeter cannon to attack targets on the ground may seem like an unusual way for a fighter pilot to be spending his time the use of cannon and bombs have allowed the Tomcat crews to adopt the multi mission role that is so important in the austere physical environment of the 90s this lesson has already been learned by the Tomcats younger ship me the f-18 Hornet [Music] since the mid-80s the Hornet has assumed the mantle is the most advanced multi-mission plane on the carrier the intended role of the Hornet is to fight its way into the target attack the target then fight its way out [Music] during Desert Storm the Hornet proved effective is both a fighter and a bomber when the Iraqi Air Force all but disappeared Hornet pilots turned their energies to attacking land targets watching their shipmates get most of the action the Tomcat crews were forced to take a fresh look at their ground attack capabilities I think for the most part in again in the early eighties before the air-to-ground mission came about we were the we were strictly a fighter and that way and we've newer the early game in town well it's the Hornet kind of came online and particularly with the Hornets success throughout the desert storm that multi-mission aircraft really came in to be state-of-the-art and now with again downsizing being what it is we need aircrafts that can both perform the bombing mission pour the air-to-air mission so the Tomcat guys we're getting a little slow out shocks but ultimately now have we do carry the majority of air-to-ground ordnance and now so that we're all some multi mission as well so I guess we view ourselves as yes as fighter guys let's say big f little a fighter guys first and then little a for a little attack where I think most of the Hornet squadrons view themself as little F big the life of a naval fighter pilot is not all glamour and glory six months away from home can to say the least Shep away one's enthusiasm for his job there's there's definitely days when you're halfway through deployment and it just seems like there's there's no end to that to cruise you know cruise being six months long and United with you not over the hump yet you've been to some real seedy ports and flights are getting a little monotonous at times especially when we're doing that southern watch hops the real routine mundane yeah you wish maybe for a fleeting moment that you might have chosen another profession many pilots call the deployment Groundhog Day referring to a movie in which a disgruntled weatherman wakes up into the same routine day after day however flying seems to make it all worthwhile there's an incredible incredible amount of energy in this business side it's associated with with all kinds of things that we do there's a lot of just obvious the trap land on board carriers is an amazing rush day or night and night it's it's a really frightening it's an adrenaline rush it's the most exciting thing I can possibly imagine doing coupled with moments of sheer abject terror and then exhilarating moments with great people just a real blast aside from the sheer thrill of flying off a boat the Tomcat airman enjoys a sense of camaraderie that comes only with flying together as a team you think good crew coordination is essential and I forget 2% of these click it's just that much better say we've been hitting since one in about two years now we're always in situations where one of the calls that one of us makes in any any given situation could mean life or death you know I may give him information that's gonna gonna you know make him put power on the airplane or whatever to to make us come in safe for landing and then I'm always depending on the pilot to to operate the airplane safely so it's really we're really putting ourselves in each other's hands and it really forms a real tight bond between Arizona's having been in the fleet now for over 20 years the f-14 is one of the oldest planes in the Navy however to a veteran fighter pilot old does not necessarily mean tired well obviously it's it's one more antiquated aircraft you know the f-18 and the f-14 D with the new digital data bus is basically digital fly-by-wire type of situation good analogies comparing the Tomcat to a cassette the newsstand er weapon sir it'd be more seedy like but it's a big jet still has a big radar has a big weapon a big bullet that could go very far as we mentioned before you know we we still have the biggest stick around we can shoot guys well beyond their ability to shoot us so it's a good crew I take this jet anywhere [Music] before the USS Lincoln an intense week of training is coming to an end the carrier will now return to San Diego so that final preparations can be made for the cruise for the men and women of the Lincoln the upcoming deployment is filled with uncertainty perhaps they will be called upon to enforce a trade embargo or a no-fly zone the events of the next six months cannot be predicted however what is certain is that a pilot and his REO will be keeping an eye on the horizon [Music] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: WAR - HISTORY - DOCUMENTARIES

Views: 39,387

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Keywords: History of wars, world war, documentry, battleship, wwII warships, warships documentry, war history, documentry films, Battlefield

Id: J3at8cYZA2g

Length: 44min 32sec (2672 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 18 2019