A VF-24 F-14A with its wings fully swept shot from another Tomcat of the same fleet squadron. (All images credit: Dave Bio Baranek)
We celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the legendary F-14 Tomcat with an intense story from the cockpit of a 2 vs UNKNOWN engagement during Week Two at “Topgun”, the U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School.
On Dec. 21, 1970, 50 years ago today, the first Full Scale Development (FSD) Grumman F-14A Tomcat (BuNo 157980) took off for its very first flight from Grumman’s flight test centre at Calverton, on Long Island.
Although the poor weather conditions forced the two test pilots flying the first “Turkey” (as the aircraft would be later nicknamed), Grumman chief test pilot Robert K. Smyth and project test pilot William Miller, to cut the maiden flight short, that date marks the beginning of the amazing career of one of the aviation most iconic fighters ever. A career that has seen the U.S. Navy’s premier air superiority aircraft become a Hollywood
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