The F-14 Tomcat played a leading role in the 1986 movie “Top Gun.” The Navy needed an airplane to protect its surface fleets from hostile aircraft and anti-ship missiles at long range. After a naval version of the Air Force’s F-111 fighter bomber proved was unsuitable for aircraft carrier operations, its radar and long-range AIM-54 Phoenix air intercept missile systems were transferred to an entirely new design, the F-14.
Grumman designed a twin-engine fighter with variable-sweep wings to enable it to fly at high speeds for interceptions, yet slow enough for carrier landings. The F-14’s advanced radar system could track 24 targets at once, and launch missiles at six of them. The Phoenix missile allowed the Tomcat to hit targets well over 100 miles away. The F-14 also carried short-range Sparrow and Sidewinder missiles, as well as a 20mm rotary cannon for close-in dogfights.
The US Navy retired the Tomcats from service in 2006 after they served in the first Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom, where they served as bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. A handful of F-14s still fly with the Iranian Islamic Republic Air Force, which obtained them during the reign of Shah Mohammed Raza Pahlavi. Iranian F-14s shot down more than 55 Iraqi aircraft during the Iran-Iraq War.
This F-14A served most of its career with Navy test and evaluation squadrons before becoming a maintenance trainer with VF-211. It is on loan from the National Naval Aviation Museum.
Air & Space Museum
