F-14 TOMCAT AIR COMBAT TOP GUN MIRAMAR NAVAL AIR STATION 22334
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- čas přidán 25. 05. 2016
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Made by Grumman to promote the new F-14 Tomcat, this film takes place at Miramar, California and Fighter Town USA.
At mark 0:33, Fighter Town USA is seen with various front line Naval aircraft including F-4 Phantoms. Here, pilots are now using lessons from the war in S.E. Asia in developing F-14 combat maneuvering syllabus, using the variable wing at different speed ranges, and getting use to the plane's sophisticated electronic packages. The multiple weapon systems include Phoenix missiles which can be launched simultaneously at targets more than 15 miles away. A two man crew divides responsibilities that range from visual tracking and navigation to kill assessment in a tough ECM environment.
At mark 3:57, we have all the crews learning about the F-14 and how to use it to their advantage. This is a full time job for them. Every working day a routine of debriefings and flying, flying and debriefings. Beginnings before dawn and also at nights. Soon enough its time to fight, at mark 4:18, we see pilots preparing for fight against Top Gun fighters. Each plane has its special abilities. At mark 5:08, F-15 versus T-38 Talon, a lesson in defensive maneuvering. The T-38 Is one of the tightest turning aircraft in the inventory. We have the instructor teaching the pilots on how to defend and maneuver. He sets up the rule of engagement and recognize when they should make their move and engage. He teaches them how to counter when locked on the weapon system. From the class room to the real world and back to the classroom. Here at mark 7:57, we have the instructor who flew the T-38 conducting the debriefing. Briefing them on his turnings and maneuverings on the air.
At mark 9:10, we also have the F-14 flying crew preparing against the A-4 Skyhawk, another good turning low wing craft. The tag team instructor also instruct on the defense. Again the F-14 is on the defensive, the A-4 rolling into a good gun position. The instructor at mark 9:40 instructs on maneuvering and how he will counter attacks on the engagement to make the kill. At mark 10:35, both crews return to the class for debriefing. This is to remind the F-14 pilots of the capabilities of their aircraft and that it will respond after been pushed beyond the limits of other aircrafts and to instill confidence in them. The instructor gave them instructions on their aircraft and its maneuvering capabilities.
At mark 12:40, we have the F-4 Phantom opposing the F-14. Both are high thrust away fighters. Unlike the F-14 however, the Phantom has divided high speed to be effective and thus is vulnerable to the tight turning Tomcat. Both will use radar to find one another then engage. The F-14 is the aggressive. At mark 13:22, the instructor gives the crew some ideas. Having heard it from the class room of course is a lot easier from been there. We have both aircrafts on the air maneuvering and trying to engage attacks. At mark 14:20, we see them briefing each other in the class about their engagement and maneuvering after the air flight. At mark 15:17, pilots have been impressed about the F-14 after putting its capabilities to test and using it to their advantage. The different pilots tried the F-14 to check its amazing capabilities. With the confidence the pilots have, they can now translate F-14 real capabilities into real performance. The F-14 can also stand on its tail. The aircraft performance, flexibility and wide varieties of weapons can be adapted to any foreseeable threat and take the fight to the enemy and to win.
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Parev there!
That's new
@@PeriscopeFilm fro 1
1.
Wow! What year was this? This production brought back a lot of memories, sorta like pulling out my CV-61 USS Ranger 1979 cruise book. I saw that same runway and tarmac view almost every day from 1977-1981 in VF-21, hanger 1. I caught glimpses of some f-4's with a yellow tail (my squadron). VF-154 bird (Our sister squadron) gave a full frontal view at the start. I have watched hundreds of documentaries, but this one really struck home. They even showed the Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Depot AIMD. Spent some time there as well. AQ2
Thanks for the memories.
Oh and Topgun before Tom Cruise made it really Cool!
The instructor at 6:12 is actually my father CAPT Dennis S. Gladman.
You must be proud to be his son...did you become a pilot too?
Can your dad give me lessons?
Nice. Sounds like actually a proud son!
@@steveowens913 very much so!
What was his call sign?
As a retired german F-4 Pilot my eyes filled with tears by watching this doku... just the sound of the phantom jets brings all the great memories of 21 years of active service. R. I. P brave old lady!
The Brick with Wings!
@@hoilst a reliable, fast and dangerous brick... no plane ever brought their crews safely back home while the plane was massive damaged... a real live safer! I loved it to fly, no compare to the modern fighter with tbeir computet controlled systems. The F-4 was really old school to fly and operate, once a pilot understood this, nothing could stop him with this plane!
@@majortom6351 Aye. We leased them for a while, since General Dynamics was screwing everyone around with their F-111 development - an aircraft that we got solely to piss off the Indonesians and was more trouble than it was worth.
@The Reaper blahe
4:41 Is that an RBF banner flapping by the nose gear?
I worked directly with three of the guys in this film, at Cubic Corp in San Diego in the 1990s and early 2000s. We lost Mike Guenther to cancer in the 1990s.
All were and are great guys.
Really?? That sounds like such amazing memories
This stuff is better than modern day documentaries.
The only document food and women right now.
The country was far better too.
@@Jetwaterrunnerfeller life was better, happiness, everything felt better. Nowadays people got everything but they're not happy !
@@stablegenius4059 exactly. Like the old saying goes: “easy times make soft men, soft men make hard times, hard times make hard men” rinse and repeat generation after generation. My uncle is a retired air force major general fighter pilot who echos this last statement. We have been in easy times.
@@RavishingSailor TRUE!
The pilot at 3:32 is Cmdr Sam Leeds. who would end up being my Capt aboard USS America CV-66 on 1979 Med cruise!!!!!! He was the F-14 fleet introductory officer in 1971! AMAZING!
Thanks for your comments and your service to our great nation.
Thank you for sharing...just awesome, and Thank you for your service ✈
Such a beautiful bird. I think every kid in the 80s fell in love with the F-14 at first sight!
yup
I was one of them.
Su-35 my love)
Always preferred the ferrari looks of the F-16
90s too, it's my favorite plane!
I miss factual documentaries like this with lots of objective, technical information vs. "drama" and "fluff" that we get today. Seems I'm not the only one with this type of comment.
Average IQ of society was higher back then
And it's not just about aviation, the docs on all topic seem to be more about plot, story and emotion, and less on actual factual presentation that will help you learn something you didn't know before.
Grumman Iron Works! F-14 was thier masterpiece.
It was being built at same facility as the Lunar Module!
I miss documentaries like this where the level of technical information is really great. Today's aircraft documentaries are made for 8 year olds,
"the F-35's engine produces 43,000 lbs of thrust, thats like 8 Ferarris,"
its dumbed down for people who don't even like this topic all that much.
Yeah, but maybe they don't want to give away tactics and capabilities.
That's assuming that much thought goes into it.
This was a sales-pitch video, probably shown to higher Navy officials and some key congress people. At least a 10-year-old 'scognitive level!
@@KutWrite Yeah you maybe right but I miss these old style docs also.
For real. Here in Germany too. "The USS Enterprise is long as 17 Football fields" "How much Meters is that?" "We don't know."
If you can’t explain something in simple terms, THEN YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND IT WELL ENOUGH.
-Einstein
@@PassportBrosBusinessClass
Explaining in simple terms and explaining in detail are 2 very different things.
For people who already know the explanation in its simplest form, a more complex explanation is more appreciated
This is how you do a documentary! Don't just spew a bunch of facts, show us behind the scenes, explain the how it works, and make the viewer actually feel like they're a part of what's going on.
this is promotional for F-14, probably aren't accessible to public at that time.
I was there in '83. Towing birds and starting them up. F-4's F-14's and quite a few others. Take offs and landings all day long. Every few seconds you would see a bird taking off. Some of the most fun I ever had in the Marine Corps.
Interesting! This explains all the scenes in Top Gun when the F-14 always goes vertical when the bad guy gets behind it. I thought it was just 'movie stuff', I had no idea it was an actual tactical advantage of the F-14. Super cool!
Or maybe it was properganda, these sorts of films had a habit of finding there way into the hand of potential enemies😁.
I think this is just gun fighting.
Verticle maneuvers (Boom and Zoom) have been used by US aircraft since atleast WWII. Dogfighting against tighter turning aircraft (like F6F vs A6M) requires different tactics.
It's all about Energy vs. Airspeed. Boom and Zoom to gain separation, then use the Energy to build up Airspeed and re-engage.
I think it's because the F-14 climbs faster.
On March 3, 1969 the United States Navy established
an elite school for the top one percent of its pilots.
Its purpose was to teach the lost art or aerial combat
and to insure that the handful of men who graduated
were the best fighter pilots in the world.
They succeeded.
Today, the Navy calls it Fighter Weapons School.
The flyers call it:
TOP GUN
@Mark Robertson
You must have watched Tom Cruise’s latest TOPGUN movie.
@@gilbertozuniga8063 no not yet. That’s just the opening title to the first movie
@@markrobertson6664 light spoiler: it’s also the opening title for the new movie
@@badmoose01 is the sequel good or did Hollywood ruin another great franchise?
@@markrobertson6664 the sequel is actually way better than it deserves to be. Zero green screen real aircraft. Tom Cruise did a great job.
These pilots are the real deal. this is way better than a lot of the newer documentaries on the F-14, and just hearing the word "Fightertown" brings back a lot of memories of growing up in San Diego and driving past Miramar NAS on I-15 every day.
I wish I was born in the 60's so I would've be a Naval Aviator and fly a F-14 Tomcat in the 80's while Top Gun was still in Miramar!
TOPGUN* got a lot more interesting and well funded before it got absorbed into Strike-U at Fallon.
I did their training videos and oversaw a support contractor there from 1987 - 1991. It was a memorable experience.
(* "TOPGUN" - all caps, was the squadron - the movie was "Top Gun" )
These guys are ultra confident and know their stuff! No passive aggressive behavior or political correctness. How refreshing!
I used to watch this documentary over and over again as a kid, can’t believe I found this! So much nostalgia
Same here. I got it as a birthday present when I turned 9 yrs old. O watched it so often that I memorized it. I still own the VHS tape, and it is still in good condition. (Yes, I still own a working VCR).
This is so beautiful hearing these pilots explain ACM! Like a game of chess!
Couldn't agree more!
The F-14 Tomcat holds a very special place in my heart. As a young boy I was able to identify them from a distance, name its vital parts, same for the F-16.
Pinnacle of which was my mother giving me a large scale model to build, still remember the day, now over 40 years ago.
Nice 👍🏼
If I had my life to live over again, I would be a Navy Tomcat pilot. What an awe-inspiring piece of machinery. My hats off to the engineers at Grumman who worked on this.
Anyone else "studying" for some DCS Tomcat?
studying how to snap off aim 9X's when you light burners to go vertical :D
If only the RIO cockpit gauges and dials looked as clean as this video, then VR would be a trail in remembering every single control by memory.
NO!
LOL YES!
Shannonnezul Yessir!
I immediately recognized this from the screen shot advertising the video. I have this entire video on a VHS I got back when I was 9 yrs old and fell in love with US Fighters, especially the F-14. I still have the VHS, and it still works. The name of the film is 'Top Gun Aces' and yes, I have this entire thing memorized. Thanks for sharing. Good memories from my childhood.
Sounds like the same narrator from the Great Planes series too.
RIP Peter Thomas, one of the great voices of narration...
I love these old jets, the rugged cockpits and bodies just looks so timeless
As a retired german F-4 Pilot my eyes filled with tears by watching this doku..
You copied the same comment from 3 years ago?
I gotta say, as a pilot... as a civilian flight instructor I learn a LOT just from the debriefs in this documentary. I mean damn, these guys are the most professional pilots ever. It's so eye opening having access to these conversations.
Those guys learned their craft from the WW2, Korea and Vietnam guys. Not hard to understand why the Navy was so effective, huh?
I was saying the same thing to myself..
love the way they explained the "loaded wing and the power-advantages of the F-14 over the highly maneuverable smaller jets
robust , reliable and forgiving
the F-14 was superior to most jets of that time but they needed the pilots to actually learn , trust and use all of its potential ..
Those smaller jets with those stubby wings are not really more maneuverable.
@@andretempler not intended to be more maneuverable. Designed just like the newest 22 and 35, to be high-speed high energy platforms. It was her ability to slow all the way down and still be fully maneuverable that made the 14 terrifying. It even got its own spot in the movie. I'll pop the brakes and he'll fly right on by. That's exactly what they're talking about here, where the aircraft is simply guaranteed to be able to keep maneuverable even after coming to a complete halt.
Not most just...all jets and even today...
@@jasonbrown3632 today the Tomcat would probabbly struggle with modern jets when it comes to dogfighting .. id still have her going in "my airforce just because .. reasons .. !
@@leechowning2712 truely terrifying part of the tomcat was her powerful radar , the extreme RIO workload and that AIM-54
Ah my 2 favorite planes. The F4 and the F14. worked on both at Miramar and on 2 aircraft carriers.
Ohh that sounds cool!
@@karelpgbr Yea, LOL I loved working on the Aircraft, and I loved being on carriers. I should have stayed in the Navy but I crossed over into the Army to fly Apachee Helicopters, but ended up on M1 Tanks.
Can you imagine if they built a brand new F-14 in 20/20 how badass that plan would be
@marko not a variable sweep wing design though
@marko they are different fighters, similar roles, but by no means the same. Will USA is talking about an actual new f14.
Was at Fighter Town 1979-1982....VF-114 Aardvarks F-14..BEST TIME OF MY LIFE, MY GOD U JUST CANT IMAGINE!
DCS bois in here now, look out
HIIIGHWAAAY TOOO THE
SIMMERZONE
My dad passed away in June he was stationed at top gun Miramar California I use to hear how much fun it was for him. He loves it. Of course it was during Vietnam wich was sad but he loved it there brought tears to me watching this he told me of captains that would fly a plane if it was held together with barn wire lol good group of me God bless
There's an old joke in the military that you can date yourself by the equipment that you've seen come and go. Radios, planes, helos, uniforms, etc...I joined the Marines in the 80's and retired in 2013. I went through calling in CAS with PRC-77's and A-4's at Camp Pendleton to ending with F-18's and 117's at Lejeune...and everything in-between. It was a good run, Semper Fi...
I totally envy you. I also joined in 79 and retired in 2012. I ended up with an ANGLICO unit and never got a chance to call CAS all by myself. Semper Fi Mac
How does that work with B 52s!!
@@jamesbradley2301 I remember when the B-52 was a PROTOTYPE!!
Wow that’s a long stint! Nice one mate
Dude, the beginning of this is like PORN for a Phantom Fan like me!!!
I arrived at a phantom squadron in Nov of 1969 for 2 years as a maintenance 'wizard. ' I knew that my squadron had returned from Vietnam just one year sooner but nobody really talked about it. Over 50 years later I finally learned that we were, along with our sister squadron crushed with casualties and fatalities from the get-go. God do I wish we could have saved our guys with the 'top gun '.....fighter weapons school sooner. RIP, men of VF-102 and VF-33.
I´ve heard the F4 was smoky, but never seen it like in this video. That thing is chimney with wings.
USN 68--74, ETR-2, NAS Miramar, 70-74. Maintained GCA RADAR and TACAN. Our shop was out behind the "bore sight range" building near Q6 N of the high speed taxiway. Great place to be back then, got to see all kinds of aircraft. Had a part time job at the auto hobby shop.
I was at Miramar in VF-161 the day the first F-14 showed up to VF-124. Some familiar faces in the movie and I just want to say, can you believe how long our hair, sideburns and mustaches were back then??? Zumwalt grooming for sure!!!
@marko no enlisted hair mustaches and sideburns were the same then as these guys. stop trying to divide.
I remember seeing an airshow at Miramar about 20 years ago and the F-14 demonstrated all those maneuvers they discussed. One of the most impressive was when the pilot did an ultra slow speed pass. I didn't think a jet that big could do that.
Those were the days...
The F14 Tomcat still sexy af, Will always be loving these birds...
Man, they knew how to get great footage back then.
Real pilots. Real men. Navy Professionals. Won't find Kenny Loggin's song here.
I'm proud to say my little Brother was one of these great pilots at Miramar and flew for the United States Navy ,It is amazing to me even just thinking about it simply amazing.
Their training briefings were absolutely amazing. Supreme knowledge building up supreme confidence.
I love F-14. However, in the part where the instructor is saying that T-38 can't keep up with F-14, my only thought was: "T-38 can't but MiG-29 or Su-27 sure as hell can and will!"
I understand that T-38 was to simulate MiG-21 type of aircraft of the era, but in the 80's, those were being replaced already.
They had syllabi for any aircraft the crews were likely to meet.
A guest lecturer once was the MiG pilot who defected, bringing his plane to Japan.
Some classes even got to mock dogfight with P-51s and a F4U Corsair!
antone1 I think that’s why this video is unclassified and “those” lessons you mention were never publically released. Add to that that this docu is more of a military advertisement for US firepower rather than a real documentary.
@@KutWrite but that defector was in a MiG-25. It was nowhere as maneuverable but, the brute force of those engines though might allow it to get out of trouble if it didn't have to worry about missiles.
The F-16N was coming on stream to simulate the Mig-29 and SU-27..And remember the F-16 was the most manoverable fighter in the world during the 80s and early 90s..
By the 1980's they had actual MiGs and Su aircraft for this testing.
I GREW UP WITH THE F-14! AS A YOUNG KID GROWING UP IN RANCHO PENASQUITOS, WHICH IS A STONE'S THROW FROM MIRA MESA. IT WAS LITERALLY A AIR SHOW EVERY SINGLE DAY. THEN I HAD THE PLEASURE OF SEEING THEM AT THE MIRAMAR AIR SHOW. THE F-14 WAS AND IS A AMAZING AIRCRAFT. AMAZING!!!! 1
Absolutely one of the best looking birds to ever grace the sky. If you've never seen one in person, find a static display somewhere. These birds are massive! The A4 looks like a toy sitting next to a F14.
Those principles taught for the F-14's still apply with the F-18's and F-35's. The crews flying the modern aircraft still have to learn how to maneuver their airplanes where they can catch the enemy off guard, and shoot them down.
@Sidney Mathious - LOL I seriously doubt the 1970s-designed decent but mediocre performing F/A-18 would stand a snowball's chance in tropical Bangkok against the F-14 in a guns-only one-on-one shootout! And I would personally LMAO if an Iranian F-14 shot down a stubby F-35 in the same one-on-one guns only contest!
@@Jimbo-in-Thailand smfh.. The tomcat is a capable plane but if it beats either the f18 or the f35 it's because of piolet error.
@@jamesalexander3547 Sorry, we'll just have to agree to disagree. At best, other than newer avionics, the 1970s design F-18 always has been a truly mediocre performer, like I mentioned. In original comparison flight tests, the F-16 flew rings around it. The F-16 was not only more maneuverable, but IIRC faster as well. The only reason the Navy chose the F-18 over the F-16 was because it sports 2 engines, so gives a bit of redundancy. And the absolutely laughable super pork barrel F-35, also in a guns-only 1-on-1 contest, would be rapidly dispensed with by the larger faster but highly maneuverable swing-wing F-14. Of course, in a BVR contest stealthiness wins the day.
Cheers from Thailand!
@@Jimbo-in-Thailand YF-17 looked better in all the metrics before they took them both out to Nevada to exploit against the MiG-21. YF-17 was a hot rod of a fighter that had excellent climb rate, ITR, STR, and superior post-stall maneuvering to any fighter at the time.
YF-16 from defensive position could reverse a bit better, had a deceptive oblique profile, and was hard to detect in visual when slick, plus it shared the F100 motor with the existing F-15 fleet for economy of scale. It was also easier to sustain g with the 30° reclined seat.
Both of them flew circles around the MiG-21, could out-climb and out-turn it. The YF-16 & YF-17 were never flown against each other in BFM.
Navalized variants of each were explored, and the YF-17 was easier to navalize with heavier gear, folding wings, and had a lower landing speed due to the wing configuration and LERXs.
YF-17 & F/A-18 is capable of fighting one-circle better than the YF-16/F-16. F-16 makes its money in the 2 circle fight since it likes to stay fast.
@@Jimbo-in-Thailand F-35s have been humiliating F-16s, Hornets, and Super Hornets for years now in BFM. The Dutch former F-16 pilots who converted to F-35A gave a great interview of how they dominated F-16C Aggressors out of Nellis for a week straight several years ago.
The Aggressor Vipers showed up Day 1 with 2x370gal EFTs, having heard about the initial test report of F-35A AF-2, which was never produced. Production F-35As are thousands of pounds lighter, while having unrestricted flight control laws relative to AF-2 when it was 4g limited.
They got beat repeatedly Day 1, so Day 2, they showed up with centerline 300gal tanks...still got beat more than not.
This went on all week until they had stripped the F-16s of any external tanks to try to even it out, which helped a bit, but they still weren't dominant.
During de-brief, the Viper drivers asked where the F-35s went after their BFM sorties. The Dutch said they were carrying GBUs the whole time and went out to practice drops in the Nellis training ranges after doing BFM because they had plenty of fuel and time.
F-35A with 2x GBU LGBs, 2xAIM-120s, 2xAIM-9X is more maneuverable with much longer legs than an F-16C with no bombs.
And none of that matters because a WVR fight would start with all-aspect AIM-9X. WVR fight wouldn't happen anyway because the F-16's sensor suite can't detect F-35s at BVR.
The instructor in the orange flight suit is Mike "Mauler" Guenther. He was a pilot in the VF-111 1971-72 WestPac. I was a TS/FC same cruisse.
I was stationed at VF-124 '74-'77 and worked on the Tomcats shown in this. Makes me nostalgic...
I caught myself intensely concentrating on what instruction the pilots were giving, like I was going to take off with them. Chuckle, why is that?!?!😁
It's captivating.
Maybe you were there in previous life but bought the farm in the sky.
@@rinzler9775 😁 never know???
Likewise mate 😅
Amazing. Not only some great footage (especially for that time), but actually explains stuff too. Of course, nowadays there are lots of fighters with big engines and low wing loadings so the recipe for victory isn't quite the same. But an interesting reminder of how fighters of this generation changed the rules of dogfighting.
Not a single Tom Cruise look-alike in the entire thing. Love it!
How is that good lol
@@emenesu Not the biggest Cruise fan. I think he's highly overrated.
@@rickwilliamson9248 he’s a great actor but he’s not the best lmao. You’re just way in over your head lmao
2:01 Hey, that’s the livery I’m painting for my F-14A model kit!
The Fighting Checkmates of VF-211 flying the F-14A/B. Was support crew non flight designation from 1991 to 1994.Best command I ever had.
Thanks for your service to our great nation.
What shop sir? I went on PAC in 93.
We may have crossed paths. I was 124 hardcore, then later at 114.
Its amazing how slow they can go.
Watched one track and follow a small plane towing a banner around a concert venue.
Here was this tiny plane in comparison to the F14.
The F14 was going so slow you would swear it was going to fall out of the sky.
I worked on aircraft in the military, saw hundreds of aircraft in the sky even onboard several, and it amazed me to watch that.
Very cool. The Tomcat was one of my all-time favorite military birds. One thing I noticed, I entered the AF in 1978 and the pilot's and instructor's hair and sideburns didn't look very much in regulation. Maybe the Navy's code for Dress & Personal Appearance was a tad different. Thanks for sharing. I still love flying today.
4:53 That guy is actually Goose irl
I was there late spring 1976 at VF-124 for TF-30 CERT class. For 2 weeks between classes, I was TAD to the civilians for the ACMR pods. Every morning I would drive 4 PODs out to the flight line. Then go back out evert afternoon to pick them up. I spent a lot of time reading books in between. I then went to AIMD Jet shop on CV-67. By my last deployment I was running the Jet engine Test Cell. Zone 5 on the testbed at night was a beautiful site. It was great to be part of that history. After they were sundowner, any not stripped of tech and in a museum were shredded to keep the tech away from Iran and China.
Many thanks to all the brave Military Aviators out there in the Tube. Hard to imagine where would we be without you magnificent men & women and your flying machines💯
Am u.s. navy ordinance man,was stationed at miramar 1982-83 vf124 twin tail tommies.
PETER THOMAS!!!! I listened to the narrator voice of this documentary then I kept thinking his voice matches that Paul Hardcastle song on the Vietnam War,
19." Awesome narrator, WW2 veteran - Thanks Peter!!!
Iceman looks cool in this video.
Just watched some behind the scenes film about Top Gun: Maverick. This is very educational.
1:52 oh wow you can even see the old glove vanes they used to have
The country's elite. They are all our heroes.
Someone should make a movie about this.
I was an AT2 briefly assigned to the Top Gun flight line in early 1973. I remember seeing an F-14 behind a partially open hangar door with an armed Marine guarding it. Arthur Godfrey was looking at it for some reason....
Damn! two of the worlds most beautiful aircraft!
One exceptional aspect of this documentary is how well they match the footage to the commentary. Most documentaries are "The F-18 is fast..." while rolling a clip of the space shuttle or something.
What a beast the Tomcat is. Probably my favorite of all.
USN ETR-2, 68-74. Stationed NAS Miramar, 70-74, maintained GCA RADAR and TACAN. Had two AN/FPN-36 QUAD RADAR and FPN-52 on hardstand. Great duty back then had part time job at auto hobby shop
Thanks for your service to our great nation.
I was there 78-80 USN ET3. Yup, I had TACAN, same radars, and that FPN-52(pretty sure) where we spent too much time. Also, pulling 24 hr duty at the "office" when the Santa Ana winds were blowing and the takeoffs were way too close to the bunk beds...
Currently 3/4 away through Top Gun book by Dan Pederson who created top gun for the navy pilots as during Vietnam an all to reliance on missile pilots didn’t know what to do when they exhausted all their missiles and had to dog fight ... really good book.
One thing about that, the F4 had no guns at all when they were sent to war. Later on they slung a gun pod underneath but it was hardly ideal.
Scream of eagles, I read it 7 times before I graduated high school in 1999. Loved that book!
Reading it now. Fantastic book!
God the old sound of jet engines being recorded gives me flashbacks
I had this on VHS, what a gem . I wish I still had all my old VHS, I had some you cant find today .
They should not have retired the F 14 and should have built a Super TomCat!
They did. F-14D, the final version, was called the Super Tomcat.
But in essence I agree. Airframe still had a ton of potential left in it. From simple tweaks like changing the windshield from the three-pane design to Hornet-style one piece windshield, through AIM-120 and AIM-9X integration which would've been only natural to possible more complex changes like greater usage of composites in construction plus maybe integrating the LANTRIN pod to free up the hardpoint usually taken by it. Most of the digital upgrades which are about the only edge Hornet has over Tomcat in terms of performance should've been possible too. The problem was that Tomcat was just more expensive and in the post Cold War environment, more economic Hornet was deemed good enough. Employing just a single plane type on aircraft carrier is also sensible in terms of parts commonality. Not to mention Hornet is (now) a Boeing product and that carries government support.
Having said all of that, I do also think that, while in general the concept is obsolescent, variable sweep wing still has merit for a carrier aircraft. It provides benefits both in terms of aircraft handling (lowering the landing speed without sacrificing high speed performance) and storage (the so called "oversweep" feature of the Tomcat, rather than foldable wing sections like on virtually any other modern carrier aircraft which may result in slightly decreased structural integrity/increased weight).
Great aircraft but all things must pass. Died a natural death.
That was fun to watch. Thank you for the upload.
F-4s were some awesome fighters. But the tomcat will always be my best choice. Man I miss seeing these in the sky.
Who is the narrator? I swear, that voice narrated every single film I ever watched in school...
This is Gold, Jerry! Gold!
I love how the instruction all basically sums up as:
"You've got every advantage and no disadvantages. This will be like clubbing baby seals. Any questions?"
Student: "What if he tries to do something?"
Instructor: "Not possible. Your jet is way too powerful."
The F-14 was a beast.
It was!
Top Gun was established in October 1969 to educate fleet fighter pilots on the best tactics against aircraft like the Mig-17 and Mig-21. This was film was probably shot early 1973, when the F-8 was on its way out the door and the F-14A was just being introduced at Miramar. The instructor and experienced F-8 pilot you see in the old-style orange flight suit, Mike Guenther, would still have been attached to Top Gun then. I arrived at Miramar in August of 1969 to be an instructor with VF-126, the west coast instrument refresher squadron for pilots returning from deployment and met Mike during that time.
In addition to our instrument training mission, our squadron also supplied TA-4F aircraft and select pilots to Top Gun to simulate the Mig-17 in dissimilar aircraft dogfighting. Mike was one of those and held a dual qualification on the A-4 and F-8. I also recognize the first F-4 pilot trainee but forget his name.
It was also not uncommon in those days for aircraft to "meet" on a known radio frequency in the Coronado Islands or Salton Sea area for some ad hoc ACM. Mike had prearranged with me to meet west of the Salton Sea to show me what the F-8 could do. Mostly, it turned out to be a series of stand-offs until reaching the 10,000' knock-it-off altitude. Once, I latched onto his tail pretty good but that little TA-4 just didn't have the energy to let me pull a good lead gun solution. He had afterburner. I didn't.
My next tour was with VA-37 flying A-7A's out of Cecil Field in Jacksonville. Eventually, as squadron weapons officer, I went through the east coast Top Gun adversary syllabus at Oceana so I could properly test the air wing's F-4J flight crews in dissimilar ACM.
Pretty cool seeing those days live on in films like this.
Ah, and you are the kind of gent I would love to hear more stories from. I was flipping through the recent "Top Gun" book (Dan Pedersen) and the author mentioned those excursions off the coast of California. That must have been something. And it would be so interesting to learn about the training you provided for the F-4 crews. I recall an interview with a former F-4 pilot and he briefly extolled the virtues of the last model, the F-4S. New radar, more power, leading edge slats and short nose. And they had a healthy rivalry going with the F-8 pilots.
@@ti1ion The F-8 was being phased out during my tenure at Miramar. The F-4J was the latest model during my experience. The Naval version of the F-4 labored under the handicap of having no guns. Its Sparrow missile was best for longer radar shots and intercepts. The ACM weapon was the Aim-9L Sidewinder.
With fewer aircraft and pilots on a ship, the Navy's basic fighting unit was a two-plane section instead of the Air Force's flight of four. Two trained F-4 crews operating in loose deuce formation (abreast about 1/2 mi.) could be a formidable fighting unit despite being unable to outturn opponents. Understanding the fighting philosophy and making timely radio calls, one aircraft could keep just out of trouble, drag an opponent away, and let the wingman fall on his tail for the kill shot or switch back, as necessary.
The trick for the F-4 was never, never get into a one-on-one slow scissors. If you lost your wingman, create an opportunity to break away and use power to extend the distance and leave the fight, even if temporarily. The F-4 had power to work the vertical but, alone, they never had the ability to work behind even my sluggish A-7A (tip: never fly the A-model of anything). However, they could stay above me as I lost energy and eventually reached the "floor" of 10,000'. So, that was my job: to force them to use teamwork to quickly defeat me, because I had lots of fuel to flail around and they didn't...and, in real life, there are usually other bogeys out there waiting to pounce.
@@greggaverett9949 Thank you for that informative reply. As fans of military aviation we often forget that these are weapon systems, with "system" being the operative word.
Interestingly, your description of the training provided to F-4 crews is similar to the way F-14 pilots were trained to take on the A-4. It also was described as having lots of gas while the Tomcat could not stick around for long.
@@ti1ion The TA-4F would be in the same boat without drop tanks. The Marine single-seat A-4M was sometimes used with no drop tanks and was a closer approximation of the Mig-17 but, of course then had similar fuel limitations as the fighters.
@@ti1ion I am in no way qualified to debate fighter development but this blog piece on the F-14 Super Tomcat versus the F/A-18A/C/E/F may be interesting reading for you.
tinyurl.com/y9v9m58c
My last duty assignment was with Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Five (VX-5) at China Lake Naval Weapons Center, at the time flying A-7E's--the Navy's light attack aircraft--among their stable of attack aircraft. We were tasked with testing and evaluating air-ground weapon systems and tactics
I remember NavAir development officers coming to the squadron to brief us on the F/A-18A that was intended to replace the A-7 and A-6. I will only say those of us in the room were unimpressed to the point of heaping scorn on the plane's deficiencies in range, time on station, and payload. There were apparently second thoughts back a BuAir. The larger E/F model was the eventual choice for the assignment.
🇮🇹BELLISSIMO DOCUMENTARIO PER AEREI E PILOTI CHE HANNO FATTO STORIA DELL AVIAZIONE GRAZIE 👍👍👍🙂
Love the Orange flight suits looks very professional 👌
Great video, you really have to appreciate that era for its rapid advancement in aeronautics, avionics and systems. I couldn't help but notice a suspiciously wavering "remove before flight" tag near the nose gear at 4.40 however 🙈
I just noticed that too and I was looking through the comments to see if anyone else noticed as well! 😳
Hahaa nice catch
Has been my favorite plane for as long as I can remember. I'll be 40 this year. I'd say since I was 4year old.
This was my favorite plane as a kid. They were not only an amazing fighter, the white/grey colour scheme fit like a glove. They'll never be like that again.
great film....
que tremenda nave el TomCat !!
Check out: :"Top Gun - The Real Story" by Cpt. Dan Pederson (on Audible and Amazon). The first CO that (with his bros) set up the school 50 years ago.
awesome...later the "fighting your watch" turned into models. The board work looks exactly the same with a few additions for climbing or descending maneuvers....GREAT stuff.
This is mind blowing. First off the casual body posturing and conversation in the briefs and debrief is just very different then today. At some point a guys is flying with his hand a big no no.
With the new long range anti-ship missiles now on the scene, the need for a long range, blazingly fast interceptor/fighter plane like the F-14 Tomcat to intercept enemy planes before they can fire those long range missiles at the aircraft carriers, has arisen. The need for the F-14 Tomcat has been reborn. An updated version with better, more powerful, fuel efficient engines and upgraded avionics would fill the bill. The F-14 Tomcat is almost 400 mph faster than the F/A-18 Super Hornet and the F-35, making both of those planes very lacking in the speed department and ability to defend their aircraft carriers. There is now a big need for the F-14 Tomcat once again. Without the F-14 Tomcat, our aircraft carriers are at risk. Bring her back!
I had a conversation of my son who currently flies the Superhornet and stated that no way F14 can beat the Superhornet. It’s better in dog fighting and in BVR maneuver.
Yes, YES!!! Bring it back so we can have it stolen for us. We need parts badly. ...Iran military.
That was awesome! Thank you, Periscope Films, for preserving knowledge such as this for the generation of fighter pilots to follow mine. This type of information will always be relevant... even when we start having dogfights in space! hah
I went to UCSD 81-86. Saw these every day. So cool!
Whoa! Haven’t seen this film in 30+ yrs! 🤙🏼
TOPGUN* got a lot more interesting and well funded before it got absorbed into Strike-U at Fallon.
I did their training videos and oversaw a support contractor at Miramar from 1987 - 1991. It was a memorable experience.
(* "TOPGUN" - all caps, was the squadron - the movie was "Top Gun" )
I wanna hear more of the classroom x’s & O’s. Love to see a full brief
it's so sad that we couldn't see this masterpiece flying anymore
The f-14 tomcat is like my brother’s favorite naval jets