Tom Cat

F-14 fighter

F-14 fighter (English: F-14 fighter, number: F-14, code / nickname: Tomcat, translation: male cat, commonly known as: Gruman F-14 "male cat"), is a US type I supersonic multi-purpose carrier based fighter.

The F-14 fighter is a single wing configuration with two seats, two engines, two vertical tails and variable sweep. It is developed according to the requirements of the US Navy's fleet air defense and escort in the 1970s and 1980s. It belongs to the third generation fighter in terms of generation and mainly performs fleet defense, interception, strike and reconnaissance tasks.

The F-14 fighter was developed at the end of 1967 by the U.S. Grumman company (now Northrop Grumman company). The prototype aircraft flew for the first time on December 21, 1970 and was put into operation in May 1972. In 1987, the f-14b equipped with an improved engine was officially put into production to replace the F-4 "ghost" of the Navy. In 1988, the F-14 was further upgraded in terms of radar, avionics and missile mounting capability, and named F-14D "super male cat".

Development and evolution

Development background

Since 1962, the F-4 ghost II, the second generation fighter, has become the US Navy's standard fleet air defense fighter, equipped with advanced aim-7 sparrow semi-active radar guided missiles with a endurance of 3 hours. However, after the 1960s, the Soviet Navy gradually had the ability of ocean operation, and deployed a considerable number of land-based long-range bombers, whose anti-ship missiles posed a great threat to the US aircraft carrier formation. On the other hand, under the wrong guidance of missile omnipotence, the F-4 did not install traditional machine guns and lacked the final means of attack. All these prompted the US Navy to seek a new generation of carrier based fighter, while the US air force required to develop a supersonic fighter mainly for ground attack, as the successor of the F-105.

As the US Navy and air force are looking for new replacement models, considering that the US Department of defense requires to reduce aircraft models in the process of equipment development to save money, defense secretary McNamara combines the needs of Navy and air force. The new number plan of the two services is called TFX (Tactical Fighter experimental), and is given the number F-111. There are mainly two types of F-111. General dynamics is responsible for the development of air force f-111a, and groman, as a sub contractor of general dynamics, is responsible for the development of Navy f-111b. Grumen's f-111b soon encountered the problem of structural overweight, and its maximum ejection takeoff weight reached 35 tons (up to 28 tons).

In May 1965, the U.S. Congress terminated the f-111b program, and the f-111a continued to develop into an air force attack aircraft. After the f-111b project died prematurely, groman carried out the preliminary study of the alternative at his own expense and determined the 303 alternative. 303 inherits some features of f-111b, including variable sweep wing, Hughes awg-9 radar fire control system, aim-54 undead missile and Pratt & Whitney tf30-p-1 turbofan engine. After the failure of f-111b, the U.S. Navy realized that only through separate bidding can it obtain the required air defense fighter.

History of construction

In July 1967, the U.S. Navy issued a tender for VFX (vf-vesselfighter carrier based fighter) to major companies. After competition, in February 1968, the company won the bid for the 303e project and won the contract to manufacture six prototypes / preproduction models. The military number of the new aircraft is F-14. According to the contract, the company will provide 12 prototypes to the Navy for research and development.

In March 1969, 303e made a major change. Although the original single vertical tail and two external folding fins of the 303e have been proved to provide enough directional stability in wind tunnel experiments, the U.S. Navy believes that due to the long distance between the 303e engines, once one engine is turned off, it is difficult for the single vertical tail to maintain the course. Therefore, the aerodynamic configuration of the F-14 is finally determined by adopting the double vertical tail design and adopting two smaller fixed ventral fins considering the maneuverability of the carrier deck. The six F-14 prototypes / preproduction Navy serial numbers manufactured by groman are from 157980 to 157985.

On December 21, 1970, 21 months after receiving the contract, the first prototype xf-14a (buno157980) made its first flight. William Millar and Robert Smythe were responsible for the first flight. The first flight was short and smooth, and the variable wing was fully open. However, in the second flight, due to the simultaneous failure of the main hydraulic system and the second standby hydraulic system, the plane crashed at the end of the runway, and the two pilots ejected to escape. After the loss of the first prototype, the U.S. Navy added six pre production aircraft with serial numbers ranging from 157986 to 157991. Thus, the company produced 12 prototype / pre production F-14A.

According to the contract signed in 1969, the U.S. Navy ordered 429 F-14A mass production models from the company. These mass production models were sold at a fixed price. That is to say, the company had to absorb additional costs such as inflation. But in the early 1970s, bad economic conditions led to the company paying for every plane it delivered. By March 1971, the company could not bear the loss and asked the US Navy to renew the contract.

On May 24, 1971, the second prototype F-14 made its first test flight. The 12th (buno157991) replaced the crashed xf-14a for further testing. Later, it was converted to the F-14 single seat high-speed research type. Later, it conducted high angle of attack flight research and spin out research at NASA. The seventh became the prototype of the f-14b. And the 10th prototype plane that was sent to Maryland crashed during a flight performance exercise in Maryland.

Service history

Initial equipment

In the fall of 1972, the vx-4 operational test and Evaluation Squadron at naspoint Mugu received the first three F-14A fighters. This squadron is responsible for the development of tactics and the establishment of teaching models. In June of the same year, the vf-124 squadron at myrama naval base began to refit F-14A fighters and began to test fly on board. The main task of the squadron is to train qualified pilots of carrier based aircraft squadron. In October 1972, it was equipped with a fleet for trial use, and the first two flight squadrons to complete combat readiness were vf-1 and VF-2 squadrons, all of which were at myrama naval base.

In 1972, President Nixon visited Iran. King Balawi of Iran pointed out that the Soviet MiG-25 reconnaissance aircraft often violated Iran's northern airspace, and the original F-4 fighter of the Iranian Air Force could not intercept such intruders with Mach more than two. At that time, it happened to be the cold war. In order to implement the policy of encircling the Soviet Union, the United States gave great support to Iran's Balawi Dynasty, which prevented the Soviet Union from entering and leaving the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, and Iran had oil to buy advanced armaments. Therefore, President Nixon asked the Iranian government to buy one of the F-15 "Eagle" fighters of the US Air Force and the F-14 "cat" carrier based fighters of the Navy.

In 1973, the F-14 had initial operational capability. In the middle of 1974, two F-14 squadrons vf-1 and VF-2 were transferred to the aircraft carrier cvn-65 enterprise.

In 1973, the company reached a new contract with the U.S. Navy, which began to adopt a new bargaining method from the 135th mass production aircraft. And the U.S. Navy lent groman $200 million to keep it afloat until the renegotiation was successful, but the loan was criticized.

In August 1973, after careful evaluation, the Iranian government selected the F-14 fighter of the grumen company. By 1974, because of dissatisfaction with the loan, the U.S. Congress voted not to lend to the company. As a result, the company encountered an economic crisis. As the Iranian government of Pahlavi wanted to purchase F-14, the Iranian Bank Group loaned $75 million to the company for turnover, while the American Bank Group also jointly loaned $125 million to the company for turnover. Only in this way can the mass production plan of F-14 continue. In this case, the Iranian Air Force successfully bought the male cat fighter. The first of the first 80 drones was delivered in May 1977 and the last in 1978. However, when one plane was tested in the United States, Iran staged a coup and severed diplomatic relations with the United States, so it remained in the United States as an experimental plane. There were 79 male cat fighters in Iran.

Naming source

"Male cat" is the translation of the English nickname "Tomcat" of F-14. In the combat aircraft designed by the US groman company, most of them are named after "Cats", such as F4F wildcat and F6F

Chinese PinYin : Tang Mu Mao