Photos of the Week: Silver Screen Star
Legendary Tomcat forever a Navy staple, Hollywood icon
By BlueSkyStaff
Published February 17, 2023
Read Time: 2 mins
No Navy aircraft is as iconic the Grumman F-14 Tomcat.
First flown in 1970, the Tomcat was designed to replace the venerable McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom following the Vietnam War and become the U.S. Navy’s premier fleet defense fighter aircraft.
The F-14’s swing-wing design was unique for fighters at the time. In its fully swept back position, the aircraft unlocked its full maneuvering capabilities and could dash to supersonic speeds.
The wings in the full forward position gave pilots better control on landing and a smaller footprint on space-constrained aircraft carriers.
The Tomcat underwent continuous upgrades throughout its career, adding more powerful engines and upgraded avionics in the 1990s to bolster already-phenomenal performance.
The fighter was beloved by Navy pilots, and they weren’t the only ones: its star role in Top Gun made the F-14 the most-recognized fighter in America.
And although Tom Cruise and the Navy upgraded to the Tomcat’s replacement—the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet—for the 2022 sequel Top Gun: Maverick, the F-14 still managed to make a nostalgic cameo appearance.
The F-14 was retired by the Navy in September 2006, exactly 32 years after its first flight took place.
Fortunately, numerous Tomcats can still be seen today in museums across the country, including an F-14D model photographed by Hudson Vennum at the National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va., near Washington Dulles