This video is an ode to the F-14 Tomcat.
In 2001, as was the case six decades earlier, the United States got hit by an unprovoked and dastardly attack. The video starts with a quote from Thomas Jefferson about the tree of liberty.
Following that is a clip from the movie “Tora! Tora! Tora!” in which Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto reacts to the news that the United States Navy was hit by surprise at Pearl Harbor, complete with his famous “sleeping giant” comments.
We then get close to ten minutes of action, much of which focuses on the F-14. Aviation historian Joe Baugher noted that the F-14 had its first operational cruise in 1974. Its primary weapon was the AIM-54 Phoenix missile – which had a range of 80 nautical miles, per Designation-Systems.net.
Baugher notes that the U.S. Navy’s Tomcat scored five air-to-air kills – two Su-22 Fitters in 1981, two MiG-23s in 1989, and a Mi-8 during Desert Storm. In a stunning decision, work on F-14D production was inexplicably halted in February, 1991 (the excuse given was that is was an “economy move”).
The F-14 soon found itself being phased out, and in 2006, the Navy retired the plane after 32 years of service. Many of the planes were scrapped to keep components from falling into Iranian hands.
Here’s the video featuring the F-14. Enjoy and give us a shout if you worked with these airframes!
