The story of F14 Tomcat | Jet fighter documentary | F-14 Topgun airplane | F 14 Tomcat

the original f-14a had two pratt whitney tf-30 engines capable of producing a total of 41 800 pounds of thrust later models of the f-14 incorporated two general electric f-110 engines which in afterburner mode produced a total of 54 000 pounds of thrust the f-14 tomcat is considered a large fighter it's 63 foot long 16 foot high and has a maximum wingspan of 61 foot 1 inch the f-14's cruise speed is approximately 610 miles per hour and it has a maximum speed of 1540 miles per hour or nearly mach 2 twice the speed of sound the tomcat is the military's second swing wing jet fighter the first was the f-111 the tomcat carried a wider range of armament than any other fighter before it the two 20 millimeter cannons were for close dog fighting [Music] sidewinder and sparrow missiles were for targets between the ranges of two and a half miles to 13 miles with an 80 mile flight capacity the new phoenix missile took care of long-range targeting grumman's 303 airframe was extremely innovative for its time however the engines weren't as advanced grumman decided to fit engines that had a proven record they chose the tf-30 unfortunately during the late 1970s some f-14s experienced very substantial engine problems they were serious enough to consider the prospect of developing entirely new engines for the aircraft this would have been an enormously difficult and costly exercise it was decided that it was possible to make improvements to the tf-30 the improved engines were adequate and effective and continued to be used in the f-14a model but they were still worrisome to the point that the navy installed a low-cost but very effective alert system of impending catastrophic tf-30 engine failure later f-14b and f-14d use two general electric f-110 turbofan engines with afterburners regardless of the initial engine problems the tomcat was revolutionary and the pinnacle of what had been learnt from the early beginnings of building carrier-based aircraft the difficulty with the advancement of carrier-based planes was that every step forward in aviation required changes to the actual carrier the development of the jet engine rose substantial problems jet aircraft were getting heavier and heavier with every new model they also got much faster this meant that their landing and takeoff speeds were higher and they required longer runways to overcome this the angle deck was employed the angled runway permitted pilots who missed the trap wires to accelerate and go round again this improvement also freed up the deck space to allow more planes to be flight ready or prepared the steam catapult was another carrier addition that assisted the plane to achieve take-up speed over a very short distance an f-14 requires about one mile of runway to take off on a carrier this 30-ton plane is catapulted to 170 miles per hour in three seconds over a distance of 300 feet although these carrier features were employed before the tomcat's arrival it's interesting to note that the tomcat was built to excel all other aircraft and it had to be created within the limitations of that day's carriers [Music] this is the tomcat's second test flight test pilot miller is in the rear seat and smythe is the pilot the first test flight was a simple see if it flies affair and it was really only a takeoff short straight flight and landing it was uneventful the second flight was more performance and handling based unlike the first flight this one was eventful the chase pilot noticed smoke coming from the rear of the tomcat [Music] a closer inspection revealed that it was hydraulic fluid [Music] within a few minutes the plane started losing functions it was basically bleeding to death [Music] at about a hundred feet above the ground and not far from the runway the pilots were forced to eject and the plane prototype one was lost [Music] from the ground it looked like this [Music] this is aircraft number 12. it was redesignated as one x to replace the lost one this plane was to continue the test program and included the high speed tests smythe miller and the other test pilots were just coming to grips with the tomcat and although there were problems it was fast becoming apparent that the top cat was superior to anything before however at this time the navy and congress were not convinced one of the factors for their hesitation was the cost the tomcat wasn't cheap and it still had problems throughout 1971 testing was still in progress and the aircraft were performing better than anticipated [Music] the teething problems were being ironed out and the plane's sail ability was looking good this is prototype 2 going through a routine [Music] several tomcats were built with no intention of flying them they were simply created to be destroyed in destructive testing experiments it wasn't until june of 1972 that the first carrier tests were performed after a series of touch and goes a landing was completed by aircraft number 10. another problem arose number 10 suffered a hydraulic leak with the nose landing gear this is not what grumman needed as the navy and congress were still not entirely happy with the tomcat this film and the result of the carrier test was to be flown to the navy for its final decision regarding the purchase of the plane a hydraulic leak was definitely the last thing grumman needed as it turned out congress endorsed the plane that became an aviation legend if congress were to have made their decision the following day it may all have been a different story as plane number 10 and its pilot miller were both lost the program continued and in the later half of 1972 production began and the f-14 entered service in 1973. the tomcat has undergone many revamps since in november 1987 the f-14b was released and it incorporated new general electric f-110 engines which solved the engine problems of the a variant b c and d variants followed and most of the changes in these models were the weapons and defense capability of the craft the tomcat was the first fighter to have the remarkable phoenix missile system the test operation was called six on six if the test was successful the system would prove to be a quantum leap in fighter ability the objective of the test was for the tomcats pilot to attack and down six targets simultaneously the targets included two drones that flew at supersonic speed three training aircraft which simulated slower moving targets such as bombers and another ground launch drone to imitate a supersonic missile on the radar the six targets were identified and designated a prefix from that point on the pilot just pressed the firing button as the targets became locked on [Music] two's in here one time all six missiles were in the air tracking their targets this was due to the 50-mile range of the phoenix [Music] it was determined after receiving the test data that with some slight modifications the tomcat phoenix combination would under combat conditions give the pilot an 80 hit rate with the tomcat phoenix missile combination flying off aircraft carriers the u.s navy was very much at the forefront of carrier power however landing the planes was still a high risk operation in this incident the front undercarriage collapsed when this tomcat attempted a landing on the uss4 stall the plane is still fuel laden and probably armed the other problem is that the crash tomcat is blocking the runway for other planes to land in a combat situation this could be devastating as planes returning from a mission could be low on fuel and the removal of the crash craft would be a priority in world war ii planes like this would be immediately pushed over the side in another incident during 1976 two other airmen experienced a different problem their plane simply lurched itself over the side of the carrier john f kennedy at the time the tomcat was so advanced and secret that the navy decided to locate and raise the debris to prevent the wreck falling into the competition's hands there were further tomcat losses three aircraft were lost in a week-long period in 1996 this initiated a safety stand down of the tomcat the navy placed interim restrictions on the f-14 in the low altitude and high-speed environments afterburner use was also prohibited for f-14bs and f-14ds the tomcat probably became one of the most recognized planes due to the hollywood box office hits top gun top gun is in fact a u.s navy flying academy at top gun the best f-14 pilots were given extra training and the chance to put their skills against other pilots in simulated but very realistic dogfights what's interesting is that the planes the top gun pilots went into competition with had been modified to give them flight characteristics of soviet fighters the tomcat was much larger and heavier and it's hard to imagine a plane of such size being as nimble as the smaller fighters in this dogfight a modified mongoose and a modified t-38 are to compete with the tomcat the 1970s saw development and production of many outstanding aircraft that are still in service with many countries however service life exhaustion is bringing on a slow phase out of past legends in the next few years new combat aircraft like the jsf f-35 will grace the decks of the aircraft carrier [Music] since the beginning of the carrier grumman now known as northrop grumman has built many of the prominent carrier-based fighters and although the f-35 is a lockheed plane northrop grumman are producing a number of important components of the aircraft the f-35a is the primary model from which two other variants are derived the f-35a was developed for the u.s air force the performance of the f-35 matches and in some areas exceeds any of today's top guns but the f-35 goes several steps beyond any of the top guns with stealth capability increased range on internal fuel tanks and it has state-of-the-art avionics [Music] these features improve the operational effectiveness supportability and survivability of the aircraft this adds up to unmatched combat effectiveness enabling first look per shot weapon system gives the pilot true multi-role multi-mission capability and is designed to reduce the pilot's input regarding weapons operation this permits the pilot to function as a tactician rather than a weapons system manager the variant for use by the u s marines and the royal navy is perhaps the most exciting of the f-35 family like the harrier jump jet the joint strike fighter has the ability to stop and hover in mid-air for vertical landings currently the u.s marine corps and the british navy use the harrier to drop into locations where paved landing strips are short or unavailable and on british carriers [Applause] the harrier has supplied a remarkable service over three decades but it has some shortcomings engine exhaust from a harrier's underbelly vents can kick up large pieces of material that can get sucked into the craft's air intake and this virtually chokes the engine the craft loses lift and crashes to the ground [Music] to improve on the harrier's system lockheed engineers fitted a lift fan just behind the cockpit during flight the fan is aerodynamically hidden behind closed doors that swivel open for landing the jets engine turns a drive shaft similar to a car's drive shaft that spins the fan and pushes cool air from above the plane out below the column of cool air increases the fighter's balance as it moves forward and keeps dangerous engine exhaust away from the plane's air intake the lift fan generates nearly 20 000 pounds of lifting power and the downward vectored rear exhaust supplies an equivalent amount this easily lifts the aircraft the u.s navy has ordered another variant of the f-35 for its carriers due to the large size of their carriers they didn't require short takeoff and vertical landing so they opted for a version similar to the a model the most notable difference is that the carrier version has a larger wingspan however due to the small size of the british aircraft carriers and the fact that they are set up for harrier jump jets the british have ordered the stovall version of the f-35 the joint strike fighter is capable of flying at nearly twice the speed of sound and is expected to cost between 37 and 47 million dollars per plane the cost of the plane is one of the reasons why the jsf f-35 has been widely accepted but it is the projected operating costs that are also a consideration for buyers the most current data predicts the f-35 jsf will cost 40 to 50 percent less to operate and support than today's top gun planes the f-35 could possibly be a legend in the making and it could find itself in the hall of fame alongside the grumman hellcat tomcat and f-111 only time will tell

Channel: Frankie HM Channel & Plane Spotting

Views: 93,198

Keywords: f 14 tomcat, grumman f 14, f 14 jet fighter, topgun, f 14 topgun, grumman f14 tomcat, f 14 documentary, history of f 14 aircraft, f 14 aircraft, topgun aircraft, f 14 tomcat tribute, f 14 tomcat documentary, f 14 tomcat best video, f 14 tomcat takeoff, f 14 tomcat landing, f-14 documentary hd, topgun airplanes, tomcat best airplane, military aircraft documentary, jet fighter documentary, f14, f14 tomcat, f-14, f-14 tomcat, top gun, top gun maverick

Id: o8vNxA71aYw

Length: 20min 32sec (1232 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 15 2020