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Book REVIEW
Grumman F-14 Tomcat-Shipborne Superfighter
A review by Chris Ishmael
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Grumman F-14 Tomcat-Shipborne Superfighter
Edited by Jon Lake
$34.99 AIRtime Publishing 1998
From the people that use to bring us World Power
Air Journal comes an excellent book on a popular & long serving aircraft.
This book is touted as the definitive book on the
last of the Grumman cats, and after owning this book for over two and one half
years, I realize I use this book more than any other of the dozen or so books I
have on the F-14 when it comes to detailed technical & historical aspects.
Anybody who owns or have read any other books from
this publisher will immediately recognize the format.
Its large (9x12) pages showcase the incredible amount of color photos in
the book. Literally every page has photos on it. Several color illustrations are throughout the book, &
there are several pages of line drawings in the last section.
The first two chapters cover the origins,
development, and service record of the Tomcat from the late 60’s up through
Desert Storm. Also noteworthy is
the story of the F-111B (the failed Navy version of the Air Force F-111), which
will always be part of the F-14’s origin.
Chapter 3 covers the theory of
design & operation, and the technologies used in the aircraft.
Both the Pratt & Whitney TF-30, & the General Electric F110
turbofan engines are also covered in this chapter as well.
The next chapter covers the avionics, weapons
systems, and primary weapons of the aircraft.
A generous test pilot report written by the late CAPT L.S. Lamoreaux is
included. Several pages are devote
to the AIM-54 Phoenix, AWG-9 radar, AIM-7 & 9 missiles, M61A1 Vulcan cannon,
and the TARPS pod. The final two pages of this section contain an illustrated
weapons load out guide, consisting of 12 bottom views of the aircraft in outline
form, and the weapons in solid blue, superimposed over the aircraft outline as
to show the actual mounting position when carried by the aircraft. Some of the
configurations covered are the well-known 4 Phoenix, 2 Sidewinder & Sparrow
load out, TARPS carriage, the more recent Bombcat & LANTRIN air to ground
ordinance package, and the FAST FAC configuration. The only fault I was able to
discern was with the two drawings of the TARPS pod.
Both drawings show the pod mounted on the centerline of the aircraft,
when it is actually offset to the right. I
have referred to this section constantly when I mix & match weapons loads on
my many F-14 models.
Chapter 5 & 6 cover the Tomcats combat service
record in greater detail than in chapter 1.
It starts out with the well-documented Libyan SU-22 kills in August of
1981 by VF-41, which includes a 3-D trace of the engagement.
The role VF-74 & 103 played in stopping the Achille Lauro hijackers
is covered, along with the second Libyan engagement in January of 1989 by
aircraft from VF-32. Operation Restore Hope in Somalia from 1992 till 1993
completes chapter 5. Chapter 6 is
entirely about the F-14’s service during Desert Storm.
The next two chapters cover the men & women that crew the jet, with the pilot naturally being covered first. The pilot’s chapter read like a well written operational pilots
Report on actually flying the aircraft in the different flight regimes. The RIO’s section is written from the viewpoint of managing the various types of missions the Tomcat is capable of.
The next section is entitled “The Tomcat Today”. It covers the continued development of the aircraft as a whole from 1991 up to 1998. The mass decommissionings of the mid 90’s, the introduction of the air to ground role into the F-14 community, and the fleet introduction of the F-14D are part of this section.
Chapter 10 covers the types service over Bosnia, with a pilots report from the then commanding officer of VF-41. There are also plenty of photos of VF-102 & 103’s aircraft in this section.
The last section of the book may be the section
most useful to modelers. While not
really a walk around or colors & markings book, I still use this section the
most. First is a guide to all of
the F-14 squadrons, covering all the front line, reserve, school, and test
directorate units. A brief squadron
history, several photos’ & a squadron patch are part of each description.
The Iranian F-14 are also covered here. Next
is a variant-by-variant description with several small line drawings to
highlight the differences. The next
10 pages contain 1/72 scale drawings of the 3 major variants (A, B,
& D). Top, bottom,
front, back, and mostly left side views are shown, with several partial drawings
in the same scale to illustrate the differences in production block and
equipment installations (such as the chin pod, antennas, & boat tails).
The last set of drawings are of the most commonly carried weapons,
including air to ground munitions, drawn to the same scale.
I recommend this book to all Tomcat aficionados out there.
Text © 2001 by Chris Ishmael