Twin tailed & shark mouthed |
VF-111 "Sundowners The history of the F-14 Tomcat is long and complicated, starting with the development of very long range air-to-air missiles in the late-1950s, to the evolution of the modern air superiority fighter, touching the paths of many famous and infamous aircraft designs from the 1950s to the 2000s and United States defense policy. The design history of the F-14 is extensive. After its big brother, the F-111B was determined to be overweight and combat-ineffective, Congress cancelled the program and allowed the U.S. Navy to request bids to create a new swing-wing fighter. Grumman won the bid with overwhelming support. Those that have been credited with the winning design include chief engineers Bill Gunston, Bob Kress, David Roberts (the chief mechanic for Pratt & Whitney), two prototype mechanics: Robert Hynes and a fellow worker of his, who Kress later admitted sparked him with the design concept. Congressman Thomas Andrews also played a role in the decision. F-14 engineering manager Bob Kress insisted that the aircraft's wing sweep would be under computer control in a dogfight. Titanium, which was not mature enough to be used in the F-111, is about 35% of the structural weight of the F-14, and 100% of the wing box to increase strength and lower weight. Widely spaced engines increased survivability. A tall tandem crew canopy with ejection seats lowered drag and weight, also providing 360 degree vision compared to the F-111's side-by-side escape crew capsule with zero rear visibility. As a result of NASA windtunnel tests of the F-111 design, Grumman moved the wing pivots far outboard relative to the F-111's near centerline location to reduce transonic and supersonic trim drag.
The F-14 was the first US supersonic fighter to incorporate twin tails. Twin tails have since become common on fighter aircraft including the F-15, F/A-18, F-22 Raptor, and F-35 Lightning II. Twin tails are valued for enhanced stability, and also reduce overall height (important on a carrier's hangar deck). The F-14 has often been called "underpowered", but using the Pratt & Whitney TF30 engines from the cancelled F-111B reduced weight and gave it a better thrust to weight ratio than any previous US fighter. Increased thrust to weight ratio improves sustained turn rates. While the F-14 was designed to accommodate future engines to provide a thrust to weight ratio of greater than 1.0, the versions which would rival the F-15 Eagle in power would not appear until late in its career. Rather than the F-111B's single Phoenix load out, the F-14 would be able to carry and deliver everything larger than a 20mm shell to almost anything smaller than the B-52's massive AGM-28 Hound Dog strategic missile. The 20mm M61 Vulcan Gatling gun, previously fitted to the USAF F-4E variant of the F-4 Phantom II was incorporated to destroy maneuvering targets at very close range. According to Bill Gunston, the F-14 would employ essentially swinging versions of the same wings used by Grumman's A-6 Intruder subsonic bomber. It had not only a large wing area, but a wide, flat pancake body to increase lift and lower drag. Flaps and slats could be deployed at full forward sweep for full maneuverability even at combat speeds, while special maneuvering flaps were designed, though later disabled after tests showing reduced stability. This gives an edge to the F-14 at very slow and supersonic speeds compared to fixed wings optimized for low supersonic speeds. Engineering manager Bob Kress says that the wings gave very good turning performance. Maneuverability was predicted to be twice that of the F-4, especially at high speed and altitude, later verified in tests against F-4Js. The F-14 with wings at full forward sweep resembles a huge bat. Since the adoption of the F-14, the fighter slang term "bat turn" has been used to describe a maximum G 180 degree turn in full afterburner, a signature tactic of Tomcat crews. Aviation writer Bill Gunston, however notes that opposing pilots have learned to read the F-14's wings to judge its energy status and speed. When the Navy saw Grumman's design that combined the capabilities of the F-111B and the VFAX in a single airframe, plans would be dropped to adopt a mixed fleet of F-111B interceptors and small agile VFAX planes. The Navy hastily rewrote the VFX(Navy Fighter Experimental) specification in July 1968 evidently around Grumman's innovative proposal for an agile VFAX air superiority and strike fighter that could also carry the AWG-9/Phoenix for a fleet air defense in a single type in a form of commonality quite different from that promoted by the TFX. Though later offered to the Air Force, their FX would become a single seat, fixed wing fighter unburdened by heavy Phoenix missiles, the F-15 Eagle which would be delayed until the development of new technology engines, though planners designed in interchangeability between core engine design parameters. On January 14, 1969, the Navy announced the award of the contract for the VFX fighter, now designated F-14, to Grumman. It would be introduced in a brief captioned photo of an aircraft with canards in Flight Magazine International as the "VFX air superiority fighter". The F-14 would inherit not only the F-111B's radar / missile system and TF30 engines, but also adapt the subsonic wings, landing gear, and inlets of the A-6 Intruder, which lowered costs. Upon being granted the contract for the F-14, Grumman greatly expanded its Calverton, Long Island, New York facility to test and evaluate the new swing-wing interceptor. Much of the testing was in the air of the Long Island Sound as well as the first few in-flight accidents, including the first of many compressor stalls and ejections.The Navy planned a series of upgrades, with F-14A assigned to the first airframe equipped with updated TF30 engines and the AN/AWG-9 weapons system from the F-111B. Its first flight took place on December 21, 1970. The original plan was to only build a few F-14As, as the TF30 was known to be a troublesome engine. In addition, the engine was not designed for rapid thrust changes or a wide flight envelope and only supplied 74% of the intended thrust for the F-14. An F-14B would follow in November 1987 using the engine from the advanced technology engine competition. The F-14C was intended to denote a variant implementing a replacement for the AN/AWG-9. However, it was delayed, and this variant was never produced. When it finally arrived as the AN/APG-71, the designation assigned to the new aircraft was F-14D, which first flew November 24, 1987. Though the Marine Corps initially sent pilots to VF-124 to train as instructors, the Corps pulled out of the program in 1976, after deciding the F-14 was too expensive for their needs. Crew: 2 (Pilot and Radar Intercept Officer) Length: 62 ft 9 in (19.1 m) Wingspan: Spread: 64 ft (19.5 m) Swept: 38 ft (11.58 m) Height: 16 ft (4.88 m) Wing area: 565 ft² (54.5 m²) Airfoil: NACA 64A209.65 mod root, 64A208.91 mod tip Empty weight: 43,735 lb (19,838 kg) Loaded weight: 61,000 lb (27,700 kg) Max takeoff weight: 74,350 lb (33,720 kg) Powerplant: 2× General Electric F110-GE-400 afterburning turbofans Dry thrust: 13,810 lbf (61.4 kN) each Thrust with afterburner: 27,800 lbf (124.7 kN) each Maximum speed: Mach 2.34 (1,544 mph, 2,485 km/h) at high altitude Combat radius: 500 nmi (575 mi, 926 km) Ferry range: 1,600 nmi (1,840 mi, 2,960 km) Rate of climb: >45,000 ft/min (229 m/s) Wing loading: 113.4 lb/ft² (553.9 kg/m²) Thrust/weight: 0.91 Armament 13,000 lb (5,900 kg) of ordnance including:Guns: 1× M61 Vulcan 20 mm Gatling Gun Missiles: AIM-54 Phoenix, AIM-7 Sparrow, AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air Loading configurations: 2× AIM-9 + 6× AIM-54 2× AIM-9 + 2× AIM-54 + 4× AIM-7 2× AIM-9 + 4× AIM-54 + 2× AIM-7 2× AIM-9 + 6× AIM-7 4× AIM-9 + 4× AIM-54 4× AIM-9 + 4× AIM-7 Bombs: GBU-10, GBU-12, GBU-16, GBU-24, GBU-24E Paveway I/II/III LGB, GBU-31, GBU-38 JDAM, Mk-20 Rockeye II, Mk-82, Mk-83 and Mk-84 series iron bombs Avionics Hughes AN/APG-71 radar AN/ASN-130 INS, IRST, TCS USN 90 René Hieronymus Scale 1:72 Building time 74 hrs. |