F-14 Tomcat | Behind the Wings

Amazing story!

Great story and rare insight! Does anyone else wonder why he's still an LT (O-3) assigned to VFA-211? He should be at least a Captain (O-6). If I do the math correctly, he would have been in the Navy for over 20 years at this point. Kind of reminds me of Maverick.

GEE THE F14 IS A MUSEUM PIECE AND THE F15 IS STILL A FRONT LINE FIGHTER.

They should have updated the Tomcat with new engines, avionics, DFCS, aesa radar, electronic warfare suite, HMCS, etc.
This would have simultaneously solved the maintenance problem.

The Pheonix missiles could have been updated too, and would still be hypersonic and the most long range air to air missiles the West had.

But no instead they destroyed all of them.

The F -15 , F-16, and F-18 have all been continuously updated.

It did have ACLS though (auto carrier landing system)

So detailed and in depth from Tomcat's pilot. This video is different, this one like honest review video.

some photorealistic cardboard pieces could fill in the cockpit controls for not too much money I'd think..

TOMCATS!

Best Tomcat interview I’ve seen.

I got exhausted just thinking about landing that thing on a carrier

Hey idots... how about show the aircraft and not the midget talking all video... zero close ups on anything but a hamster in a jumpsuit

I’m REALLY curious if I was at the same parade Lt. Webb referenced at the beginning…I grew up in LaPorte, IN and one year, one of the two F-14’s that did the 4th of July parade flyover was a graduate of LaPorte High School. After the traditional single pass over the parade route, he circled back around and did two more passes. But on the third pass, he kicked in his afterburners and pulled into a power climb right over the courthouse!!! Most AMAZING flyover EVER ❤❤❤

If my childhood was an aircraft.

Take a shot every time the word 'unprecedented' is mentioned.

There's a documentary called Carrier which shows a nightmare night where they had to put tankers in the air to keep aircraft refueled and it takes hours and hours to get everyone down.

tomcat was always designed to carry bombs jackass - I was sitting in the tomcat when your daddy was in diapers sonny boy

It hurts so bad to see a gutted Tomcat...😢

Let me clear something up about the Pratt and Whitney Engine vs the GE engine.
Yeah the newer engine was better, BUTTTT what he doesn’t know that the GE engine was governed for top speed.
It went as fast as advertised and that was it.
The Pratt and Whitney was completely analog, some were dogs and some weren’t.
We had a dog at VF-31 that couldn’t hit 1.5 Mach.
We also had one that was close to Mach 3 but laid off, scared the plane was gonna come apart.
That’s how that worked.

At 20 degrees and 55 degrees spoilers pop on rolls, only at 68 spoilers are inop.

He hasn’t mentioned glove vanes because they’re before his time.
I was pissed off my old CO who was at VX-4 at the time decided to kill the Glove Vanes for the F-14A+, F-14B and F-14D..

The Tomcat could track 24 targets with AWG-9 and kill the most hostile 6.
Not 6 and 6…
It’s a little before his time, so he doesn’t know.

Loved our Alphas at VF-154 out of Atsugi Japan. Only forward deployed F-14 command after the VF-21 Free Lancers decommed next door.

my stepfather was in the Navy and refueled airplanes at Miramar then after that at Port Hueneme. He took me to see the F-4’s. It was an amazing thing to see them taking off in the late 60s. I did not have enough of a fascination with them that I became a pilot.

Its Incredible that this Aircraft is 50+ years old now. Its stands the test of time. The Design is still great. I have about six diecast models of them from Callibre Wings Models.

nods Having the greatest arsenal and hoping that you never have to actually use it.

I think this guy might be the true version of a Maverick....Lt? He should have been a Commander or Captain..unless I'm missing something...🤷‍♂️

I was in VF24 AMH 1977

He can be my wingman anytime.

Totally unfazed by the TopGun movies the Tomcat holds a permanent residential spot in my heart. Fell in love with it as a child and haven’t gone through much development since. Are there any fighter jets currently in service that go as fast as the cats?

ha ha, "Tactical grade tennis court" I fly this in VR and I look back all the time, and that was the best description of what it looks like that I've ever heard.

Thank you for sharing this amazing content, AMAZIING !!!

Tom Cruise looks strange in this episode ...

Why on Earth did they destroy the vast majority of F-14’s and their spare parts so none of the remaining ones could be flown at air shows?

Thank you Lt. Webb for your service. Simper Fi. I have heard many stories about your flying from Mooch aka Ward Carroll. Those of you in the Tomcat, Prowler, Hornet (18A), Viking and Tigershark were the last Navy flyers to be on analog platforms. Flying with vacuum tube computers. The modern Hornet, Growler, Lightning and the like have so much controlled as a fly by wire system I wonder what would happen if today's pilot found themselves in a situation where they had to fly one.of the older jets. Could they do it without crashing?

This was an excellent video. Very cool jet.

Having been around F4 Phantom’s and gotten out of the Navy just as the transition to the Tomcat was starting this was a fascinating and informative video to watch. Thank you so very much and to our Airedale friend the Lt. Fair winds and following seas “shipmate”.

That was misleading:
* The F-14 did have an ACLS (Automatic Carrier Landing System) which would land the aircraft in the carrier without pilot input.

* It also had an Auto-Throttle system, which would allow the pilot to focus on the stick input and not worry at all about the throttle during landings.

* The F-14 did have a basic Autopilot system was cruising (altitude hold and Heading hold)

This notion that these aircraft cannons can shoot 6000 rounds the second the reality is these aircraft like carry 1,000 rounds or so. Are so I don't understand why they keep talking about shooting 6000 rounds a minute when they only carry about 10 seconds worth of rounds it's supposed to be a secret?

VF 143 World Famous Pukin Dogs. 1974-1977😊

This is basically the same video

The pilot told a good story but props to the host too for building rapport and moving with the right question to get us to the story. Well done Amat.

I can listen to Webb's stories all day long without getting tired.

Watching this as I am applying to OCS for a pilot slot brings back memories if my own. When I saw VF-211 in a children's documentary called the big aircraft carrier. From that point on I knew what I wanted to do. Things are looking good for selection but I know I've still got a long way to go before I can fly anything fast like a hornet or lightning God willing. Thanks for sharing!

I’m just a retired Army Infantry Senior NCO but we need good American men and women to both fly these birds and service them, every Grunt knows that the ground crew that maintain these birds that protect us is a critical part of our success. It’s not a jazzy job being a maintenance tech but we need intelligent people that can solve problems on the run and be a hero even if it’s in a small way. We rely on team success since often someone on the team may have a better idea how to solve a dilemma that the leader never considered or even knew about since it may be something new. We each bring into the Military our own skills, experience and various methods of critical thinking. We each approach challenges in slightly different way and some don’t get rattled by a high tension environment, their blood pressure stays the same as if they were watching TV. I’ve worked with men who can’t handle an intense environment where things are exploding around them but they’re excellent in everything else so I know how to avoid having that Soldier in a position that would make him ineffective until he adjusted or, I had to pull him out of our unit entirely which thankfully, it never came to that but I never forced my men to doing something they couldn’t handle, after a 15 month tour in Iraq, I brought all 33 of my men home without a scratch.
My decision to join the Army in 1983 was something I wanted to do after I did a lot of research before signing the contract and the Army delivered everything they promised in writing. The pay is very nice compared to civilian jobs, if you deduct your rent, monthly groceries, electricity bill, other monthly expenses for renting an apartment/house, you don’t have a lot left over for yourself. But in the military, all that is free so my monthly pay is all profit. The barracks have gotten very nice these days, they have single rooms with bathroom, sort,of like a studio apartment and some still have 2 man rooms but still studio style. In my day, we had 4 man rooms or open bay, lol.
If you’re in good physical shape, don’t have a criminal record, don’t have any insane amounts of tattoos (a few tattoos are fine) and can pass the ASVAB test, your Recruiter will show you jobs you’re qualified for. Most are under the impression that only retards join the Infantry which is hilarious, it was that way in the 60’s but today the average IQ in my job field (MOS 11B) is 120. They found that more intelligent people prefer a job that has a fluid environment so they’re never doing the same thing day after day, that’s like being in prison for us. Imagine being a grocery store cashier for ten years, I can’t see myself doing that but many could and that’s fine, we need cashiers.
So give yourself a shot and go talk to any Recruiter and at least find out what your options are, the recruiters will obviously want you to join but if you’re up front with them, they’ll be up front with you and answer questions for you. Recruiters from any branch of our Military are not allowed to lie, hide details or twist the truth to get you to join, they can be kicked out or have rank taken away which is career suicide. You may get lucky and find a recruiter that is in a job field you’re interested in since recruiting duty is a 3 year duty NCO’s do during their career progression.
Go do great things!

Anytime i ever listen to one of these fighter pilots speak, you can hear the discipline and just how serious a person you have to be to be at that level. Every single one of them exudes a level of intensity that you don't see in average people.

Guy: It’s like ur wearing it?
Pilot: No. No… it’s like putting it on like a jacket.
Guy: Ohhh ok😐

what a great video. that pilot really made the show.

سبب تركها مكلفة للغاية غير سريعة رشيقة كفاية استبدلت ب 15اف و18اف الأجنحة المتحركة السبب الأساسى فى ترك الطائرة والتخلى عنها كما حدث مع الميج ذات الأجنحة المتحركة