The Need for Speed: The Grumman F-14 Tomcat

this video is brought to you by squarespace from websites and online stores to marketing tools and analytics squarespace is the all-in-one platform to build a beautiful online presence and run your business check out squarespace through the link in the description below more on them in just a bit [Music] before jumping into today's video let's all come clean by admitted that at least some point in the last three and a half decades each and every one of us is engaged in some or all of the following behavior referring to a spouse child friend co-worker or significant other as maverick goose or simply wingmen performing the cheesy high five low five hand slap like tom cruise and anthony edwards in the top gun beach volleyball scene uttering the phrase i feel the need for speed with that embarrassing i'm not embarrassed top gun's awesome out of the way we could probably all agree that one the 1986 blockbuster hit top gun was an awesome flick yes it was soundtrack hits take my breath away take my breath away performed by berlin and highway to the danger zone performed by kenny loggins are as poignant today as they were back then the movie made the venerable f-14 tomcat the most popular and recognizable military aircraft of the era alright so enough said well we're talking about the plane today because this is mega projects and not movie appreciation channel from simon let's go [Music] as far back as the late 1950s u.s navy brass saw the need for a high-tech high-performance fighter interceptor that would be capable of tracking enemy aircraft and being flown by tom not really i think i'll stop i will stop with the top gun jokes that would be capable of tracking enemy aircraft and missiles day or night in nearly all weather conditions and blasting them out of the sky before they posed a serious threat to the all-important carrier battle groups unfortunately for the navy however when robbo mcnamara became secretary of defense in 1961 he wasted little time instituting his cross-service aircraft standardization scheme officially called the tactical fighter experimental or tfx program the idea was to save money and hasten development by building aircraft that could be used by the air force the navy and the marine corps at around the same time the first mcdonald douglas f-borth phantoms were being delivered to operational units but though they were primarily carrier-based aircraft mcnamara pushed them to fly in the air force too years later in the skies over vietnam however a number of serious phantom issues would be revealed big heavy and unmaneuverable f4s were hopelessly outclassed in close quarter dog fights against smaller more nimble adversaries like mig-17s and 21s in addition early variants lacked guns and cannons which meant that when their air-to-air missiles missed their marks or malfunctioned altogether the phantoms were nearly defenseless dubbed f-1 the aircraft produced by the tfx program looked like a world beater that might just be everything to everyone the new multi-role swing wing warbirds were complex fast and capable of carrying large bomb loads for long distances now on the downside they were essentially low level penetration bombers and what the navy needed was air superiority fighter interceptors needless to say with a maximum takeoff weight exceeding 80 000 pounds the f triple ones would never fit that bill both the navy and the marine corps objected to having f triple ones thrust upon them against their will mcnamara and his cronies initially ignored their protestations but shortly after f triple one b's were introduced it became apparent that they'd never pass muster as carrier-based fleet defense aircraft to explore alternatives the manufacturer general dynamics partnered with grumman to develop a naval version but persistent weight and performance issues couldn't be overcome and grumman was awarded a contract to study new designs in 1966. the contract would ultimately lead to the development of the f-14 tomcat named partially as a tribute to admiral thomas f connolly and partly because grimman had a history of naming its fighters after cats to be clear the tom in tomcat has nothing to do with tom cruise even though we wish it did because in the late 1960s the future hollywood hunk was still just another youngster in syracuse new york it's crazy that tom cruise was young in the 60s he still looks young admiral connolly was among the f-14s biggest proponents largely because it personally phoned early f-triple ones after which he testified to congress that they were totally unsuited naval aviation were generally lousy aircraft that couldn't do anything particularly well then in may of 1968 congress officially defunded the f-1b and suddenly the navy was free to pursue aircraft a bit more to its liking just a few months later the naval air systems command issued an rfp for the naval fighter experimental vfx program which called for a supersonic twin-engine two-seat dogfighter interceptor and fleet defense aircraft bristling with rotary cannons and missiles of various descriptions general dynamics grumman and various other american manufacturers submitted bids many of which included variable geometry wings in december of 1968 grumman and mcdonnell douglas became the two finalists and the following january the former was declared the winner anticipating a drawn-out development process and big production contracts grumman immediately expanded its long island new york plant to reduce development time and to avoid the likelihood of the program being canceled the navy took the unprecedented step of skipping the prototype phase and proceeding directly to limited production grimes design incorporated pratt and whitney tf-30 low bypass turbofan engines from the f-11b though the navy ultimately replaced them with the company's f-401 400 engines which were then still under development at the time the f-14 was the heaviest and most complex carrier-based fighter ever produced but despite the inherent challenges and rush nature of the project development proceeded rapidly and the first aircraft flew just before christmas in 1970. flight testing over long island sound revealed a stable and capable aircraft but one with its fair share of flaws as well missile tests were carried out beginning in mid-1972 the most impressive of which resulted in an aim-54 phoenix launched from an f-14 purportedly hitting a moving airborne target 126 miles away in another six short-range missiles were fired at different targets in less than a minute four of which scored direct hits now just before we continue with today's video a quick word from our wonderful sponsor squarespace this is the age creation think about it everyone out there on the internet is making something we're no longer just reading blogs or listening to podcasts or watching youtube we're increasingly making them you've either got a great idea yourself or you probably know someone who does and when it's 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really everything you need is in one place so when you're ready to get started on the next project of yours big or small it involves a website it's got to be with squarespace right now you can go to squarespace.com for a free trial and when you're ready to launch your new site go to squarespace.com forward slash mega projects and you'll save 10 of your first purchase of a website or a domain and now let's get back to it [Music] assess periodic fighters and long-range fleet defense aircraft crews benefited from the f-14s high set bubble canopies which provided excellent visibility but the aircraft's most notable features were their variable geometry wings controlled by a central computer f-14 wings automatically swept back as much as 20 degrees during supersonic flight while sliding forward to 68 degrees at low subsonic speeds constructed from nearly 25 titanium the wings were exceptionally strong and relatively light partially offsetting the weight of the mechanical sweeping mechanism itself during testing and in a few real world mishaps f14 crews experience malfunctions referred to as asymmetrical wing sweep in which the wings became permanently oriented at differing angles even so in nearly every case pilots were able to maintain control of their aircraft thanks largely to the fact that like modern lifting bodies f-14 fuselages provided nearly 50 percent of overall lift and their twin tail setups offered greater lateral stability than traditional tails in fact f14s were so rugged and stable that one was able to land safely after a mid-air collision that resulted in more than half of its right wing being sheared off f-14s were housed in widely spaced nacelles and the large internal area between them was packed with everything from fuel and wiring to the motors that adjusted the wings rated at more than twenty thousand pound-feet of thrust each the tf-30 turbo fans produced enough power to propel fuel and bomb-laden f-14 to a maximum speed of just more than mach 2.3 but over the life of the aircraft early tf-30 engines were constant objects of scorn and criticism in the 1980s secretary of navy john lehmann testified before the senate that the f-14 tf-30 combo was among the worst airframe engine mismatch of all time and the tf-30s would generally just terrible power plants later statistics absolutely bore this out with more than 25 percent of all accidents being directly attributable to compressor stalls thrown turbine blades and other chronic and often catastrophic engine issues sadly turbine blade failures became so common that engine bay components had to be reinforced likewise compressor stalls could be caused by even modest disruptions in airflow like those caused when flying through another aircraft's exhaust so you might recall from top gun that the flat spin that ultimately killed goose during the botched ejection was caused by the f-14 flying through another aircraft's jet wash so in this respect the movie was actually super accurate compressor stalls could also result from engines ingesting the exhaust from the very missiles launched from the f-14 this dangerous issue led to the development of a system to temporarily shield air inlets immediately after missile launch thankfully most f-14s received new ge f-110400 engines as early as 1987. this f-14d variant also included a new avionics package improved cockpits and digital flight control systems or dfcs all of which improved performance and reliability unlike most previous navy fighters and interceptors f-14s crewed by a pilot and a radar intercept officer the latter of which was necessary to assist with operating the aircraft's advance but demanding systems at 62 feet 9 inches long and having wingspans between 38 and 64 feet depending on the sweep at 14 had a maximum takeoff weight of nearly 75 000 pounds each could store more than 16 000 pounds of fuel internally and externally mounted tanks were often added to increase range on later versions power came from the aforementioned ge turbo fans that produced 16 610 pound-feet of dry thrust each which increased to more than 28 000 when the afterburners were lit with light fuel and weapons loads f-14s had power-to-weight ratios approaching one-to-one which meant that they were capable of nearly vertical flight and climbing at a rate of nearly 45 000 feet per minute officially their service ceilings were pegged at just 53 000 feet but f-14s were capable of flying much higher other design features included robust double front nose wheels and large single main wheels in the back all of which were overbuilt to withstand the rigors of catapult takeoffs and high impact landings unlike f4s f-14s had powerful six-barrel 20-millimeter vulcan cannons that could spew out more than 4 000 rounds per minute or about 67 per second that said though the missile age had arrived and these missiles were the primary weapons since the wings pivoted during flight they contained no hard points for weapons or fuel tanks instead 10 total hardpoints were spread over the fuselage engine nacelles and wing routes and collectively they were capable of carrying approximately 14 500 pounds of stores including a tactical airborne reconnaissance pod system and weapons like rockets j dam precision guided munitions cluster bombs dumb and laser guided bombs as well as aim 54 phoenix aim 7 sparrow and aim 9 sidewinder missiles during the 1970s and 80s f-14 weapons loads typically consisted of two aim-54s two aim-9s three aim-7s and 700 rounds of cannon ammunition which collectively allowed them to engage targets at various ranges [Music] f-14s began replacing navy f4s in september 1974 with squadrons aboard uss enterprise but the first kill by a naval aviator wouldn't be logged until mid-august of 1981. in what became known as the gulf of sydra incident when two f-14s encountered a pair of libyan sukhoi su-22s just off the coast of north africa in the ensuing melee one of the sukhoi's fired a heat-seeking aa2 atoll missile which the f-14s evaded before firing their own missiles and downing both aircraft in early january of 1989 another similar incident in nearly the exact same location occurred when two f-14s engaged and shot down to libyan mig-23s despite these successful engagements however many f-14s were relegated to photo-reconnaissance missions using tarps and in this role they ultimately replaced rfhg crusaders and ra-5c vigilantes the latter of which we recently featured in a mega projects video by the way in operation desert storm in 1991 f-14 participation was generally limited to combat air patrol c.a.p over the persian gulf and red sea as well as overland missions consisting of strike escort and reconnaissance because by then air force f-15s were the most capable dogfighters in america's inventory in addition f-14 hues radars emitted powerful and detectable signals and when they lit up iraqi fighters they usually accelerated out of harm's way the navy suffered its only f-14 loss from enemy action in early 1991 when an f-14a was downed by an sa-2 surface-to-air missile while on an escort mission near al-assad air base in iraq both crew members survived ejection but while the pilot was rescued the radio intercept officer was captured and remained a pow until the end of the war additionally f-14s participated in operation deliberate force operation allied force operation desert fox operation enduring freedom operation iraqi freedom and opera you get the idea [Music] though it may seem like a far-fetched notion now decades ago america sold iran dozens of f-14s and hundreds of air-to-air missiles that together may have downed more than 150 iraqi aircraft these claims were largely unconfirmed but whatever the real numbers f-14s usually fared well against their adversaries during the iran-iraq war and as many as 50 air-to-air kills may have been made with phoenix missiles between 1980 and 1988 alone during the conflict iran lost 16 tomcats nearly half of which was due to non-military accidents later however thanks to souring relationships and far-reaching sanctions iran began running low on missiles and spare parts to keep their planes armed engineers attempted to modify russian-made r-27r bvr missiles for use on f-14s but they were never able to pull it off [Music] by the early 1990s pretty much everyone but tom cruise knew that f-14s were flying on borrowed time in 1994 grumman proposed a number of upgrades that could conceivably have kept tomcats in the air for another two or three decades but each was rejected in favor of the entirely new aircraft that would replace them the mcdonnell douglas fa-18 hornet that said f-14s continued to serve as the navy's main air superiority fighter fleet defense interceptor and tactical aerial reconnaissance platform into the new millennium the last american f-14 combat mission took place in early february 2006 when a pair of tomcats landed on board the uss theodore roosevelt after a bombing run in iraq american tomcats were officially retired in september of 2006 and though some were shipped off to museums most were flown to the boneyard at davis monson air base near tucson arizona where they'd spend their remaining days baking under the brutal desert sun even today some air-14s are still in service with iran's air force and in recent years a few have been spotted escorting russian bombers and reconnaissance aircraft on missions over syria so i really hope you found this video interesting if you did please do hit that thumbs up button below don't forget to subscribe and as always thank you for watching [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Megaprojects

Views: 350,354

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Id: NEreK6LSIIA

Length: 17min 54sec (1074 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 04 2022