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The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is an American carrier-capable supersonic, twin-engine, two-seat, twin-tail, all-weather-capable variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft.The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experimental (VFX) program after the collapse of the General Dynamics-Grumman F-111B project.
The F-14 was piloted by Lieutenant Hermon C. Cook III and Lieutenant Commander Steven Patrick Collins. [3] January 4, 1989 – A Grumman F-14A Tomcat (Bureau Number : 159610) shot down a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 using an AIM-9 Sidewinder missile. The F-14 was piloted by Commander Joseph Bernard Connelly and Commander Leo F. Enwright. [4]
The plant was most associated with assembling, flight testing, refitting, and retrofitting naval aircraft like the Grumman A-6 Intruder, E-2 Hawkeye, EA-6B Prowler and Grumman F-14 Tomcat. [6] Older U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps aircraft such as the F9F Panther, F-9 Cougar, and F-11 Tiger were also tested at the facility.
The F-14 primarily conducted air-to-air and reconnaissance missions with the U.S. Navy until the 1990s, when it was also employed as a long-range strike fighter. [3] It saw considerable action in the Mediterranean Sea and Persian Gulf and was used as a strike platform in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq until its final deployment with the United States in 2006.
With the F-111B program in distress, Grumman began studying improvements and alternatives. In 1966, the Navy awarded Grumman a contract to begin studying advanced fighter designs. Grumman narrowed down these designs to its Model 303 design; [14] with this, the F-111B's end appeared near by mid-1967. [15] [16]
While the USS John F. Kennedy is operating ~100 miles NW of Scapa Flow, Scotland, as part of a 100 ship NATO naval exercise, Teamwork 76, a Grumman F-14A Tomcat, BuNo 159588, 'AB 221', of VF-32, [66] over the side into the North Sea when its engines go inexplicably to full power while the fighter is being prepped for catapult 3.
The company's big postwar successes came in the 1960s with the A-6 Intruder and E-2 Hawkeye and in the 1970s with the Grumman EA-6B Prowler and F-14 Tomcat. Grumman products were prominent in several feature movies including The Final Countdown in 1980, [8] Top Gun in 1986, and Flight of the Intruder in 1990. [9]
The Grumman F-14 Tomcat with the TF30-P-414A was underpowered, because it was the Navy's intent to procure a jet fighter with a thrust-to-weight ratio (in clean configuration) of 1 or better (the US Air Force had the same goals for the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon).