Tagged: tomcat

Aviation History / military / tribute / U.S. Navy

November 7, 2021

Grumman’s F-14 Tomcat Scrapbook

The Grumman F-14 Tomcat was the successor of the ill-fated General Dynamics F-111B aircraft carrier-based fighter. The first prototype flew on December 21, 1970, and was introduced operationally in 1974, just missing combat in the skies over Vietnam. One...

Aircraft carrier / military / U.S. Navy

February 16, 2020

Grumman F-14 Tomcat History Part 2

Service The US Navy put the F-14A Tomcat into service in 1974 with VF-1 and VF-2. The F-14 took off on its maiden flight in December 1970 and was introduced to the group just three years later! If you...

Aircraft carrier / Aviation History / fighters / military / U.S. Navy / Viet Nam

January 26, 2020

Grumman F-14 Tomcat History, Part 1

First F-14A 159607 in IRIAF camouflage Story and photos by Peter Boschert – this was written during the Tomcat’s final operational days. Development The Hughes (Raytheon) AWG-9 was a weapon system for which an aircraft was sought! The Navy was...

bombers / U.S. Air Force / U.S. Navy

May 1, 2017

Street Signs and Bomb Runs

Some of us go down to the Outer Banks (OBX) of North Carolina. I go down to Duck, NC, on a narrow sliver of sand about an hour and a half south of Norfolk. The house where I...

fighters / military / navy

December 12, 2014

The Last Tomcat Cruise

The Atlantic Ocean, near the coast of Florida. One loud “bang” and the C-2A Greyhound catches one of the cables to land on the aircraft carrier “Theodore Roosevelt”. We leave the plane, a dream has become true; we’re on...

assignments / friends / military / navy

December 11, 2014

Looking Back at VF-103 “JOLLY ROGERS“ Last Tomcat Cruise, Homecoming CVW-17

On December 13th, 2004 at 14:00 local, the aircraft of CVW-17 were landing at NAS Oceana, and thus VF-103 finished their last cruise with the F-14B Tomcat. The family members of the crews couldn’t wait for that the pilots to shut...