Grumman F-14 Tomcat

Updated: October 2026 – Hardly any fighter jet has as many fans as the Grumman F-14 Tomcat. The wings that fold back in flight, the broad rear end with its twin vertical fins, the crew of pilot and radar officer – and of course Top Gun. For three decades the Tomcat protected the US Navy’s aircraft carriers; in 2006 it was over. Here you will learn how the F-14 works, how to tell its versions apart and where you can still stand in front of one today.

What is the F-14 Tomcat?

The F-14 is a twin-engine, two-seat carrier fighter with swing wings. It was built by Grumman on Long Island, the traditional supplier of US naval aviation. Its core mission was fleet defense: Soviet long-range bombers with anti-ship missiles were to be intercepted long before they reached a carrier strike group. To do this, the Tomcat combined a very powerful radar with a long-range missile that no other Western fighter had.

The pilot sits in front, and behind him the Radar Intercept Officer, or RIO for short, who operates the radar and weapons. A 20-millimeter M61 Vulcan cannon sits in the nose. Under the fuselage and at the fixed wing roots, the F-14 carries AIM-54 Phoenix, AIM-7 Sparrow and AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles. From the 1990s, bombs and targeting pods were added, earning it the nickname “Bombcat.”

In total, 712 Tomcats were built. The top speed is Mach 2.34 at high altitude, and the F-14D reaches a maximum takeoff weight of about 33.7 tons – a real heavyweight among the fighters of its day.

Origins: out of the failure of the F-111B

The Tomcat’s story begins with a failure. In the 1960s, the Air Force and Navy were supposed to get a common combat aircraft, the General Dynamics F-111. Grumman was the partner for the naval version, the F-111B. But the aircraft became too heavy and did not meet the requirements for carrier operations. In May 1968, the US Congress stopped the funding.

Grumman had already been working on a design of its own and took over much of what had been planned for the F-111B: the radar, the Phoenix missile, the TF30 engines and the swing-wing principle. In the VFX competition, the Grumman design prevailed over McDonnell Douglas in January 1969. The Navy skipped a classic prototype phase and went straight into production development. Just under two years later, on December 21, 1970, the first F-14 took off.

The name is a nod to Vice Admiral Thomas F. Connolly, who had championed a new fighter after the F-111B was canceled. Internally it was called “Tom’s Cat.” At the same time, the tomcat fits Grumman’s tradition of cat names, which began in World War II with the Wildcat, Hellcat and Bearcat.

In 1974 the Tomcat went on its first deployment aboard the USS Enterprise. In the Navy it replaced the F-4 Phantom II as the most important fighter and flew together with the E-2 Hawkeye early warning aircraft – also a Grumman product – which fed it targets far beyond its own radar horizon.

The technology: swing wings, AWG-9 and Phoenix

Wings that think

The Tomcat’s trademark is its variable-sweep wings. An air data computer adjusted the sweep automatically in flight between 20 and 68 degrees – depending on Mach number, for the best ratio of lift to drag at any moment. Extended, the wings provide low approach speeds for carrier landings and good agility in a turning fight. Swept back, they allow high supersonic speeds. The pilot could override the automatic system.

On the carrier deck, the wings could be folded back even further, to 75 degrees. They then overlap the horizontal stabilizers, and the Tomcat takes up much less space. Early aircraft also had small extendable surfaces at the front of the wing root that improved stability at high speed. They were later disabled because of weight and complexity.

Radar and long-range missile

The AWG-9 radar could track up to 24 targets at once and engage six of them simultaneously. Its partner was the AIM-54 Phoenix, a heavy missile for long ranges. In a test in November 1973, an F-14 fired six Phoenix missiles at multiple targets within 38 seconds – a demonstration no other weapon system could manage at the time.

The engine question

The Achilles heel of the early Tomcat was the Pratt & Whitney TF30. At high angles of attack and with rapid throttle changes, it was prone to compressor stalls and was considered too weak for the heavy aircraft. Only versions B and D received a much more powerful, more reliable engine, the General Electric F110-GE-400.

How to recognize the Tomcat

An F-14 is actually hard to mistake – if you know what to look for. In a museum, though, where the wings are often fully swept back, the silhouette looks quite different from in flight.

Feature	F-14 Tomcat	F-15 Eagle	Panavia Tornado
Wings	swing wings	fixed wing	swing wings
Vertical stabilizers	2, upright	2, upright	1
Crew	always 2	1 or 2	2
Engines	widely separated, flat fuselage between	close together	close together
Main use	US Navy carrier fighter	air superiority, Air Force	fighter-bomber in Europe

The F-15 Eagle shares the two vertical stabilizers and the box-shaped intakes, but has fixed wings and closely spaced engines. The Panavia Tornado also has swing wings and a two-man crew, but only a single, large vertical stabilizer. You also see swing wings on bombers such as the B-1B Lancer or the Tu-160, but those are many times larger.

Within the F-14 family, the exhaust nozzles and the nose help most: the TF30s of the F-14A have long, slender nozzles, while the F110s of the B and D are shorter and stubbier. You can also recognize the F-14D by the twin sensor housing under the nose. For a reliable identification in a museum, the Bureau Number, the six-digit US Navy serial number on the tail or on the information plaque, helps.

Operations: from the Gulf of Sidra to Afghanistan

The Tomcat scored its first aerial victories for the US Navy on August 19, 1981, over the Gulf of Sidra off Libya. In January 1989, two Tomcats shot down two more Libyan fighters off the Libyan coast near Tobruk. One of the aircraft involved is now at the Udvar-Hazy Center.

In the 1991 Gulf War, the F-14 mainly flew air defense and reconnaissance with the TARPS pod. After that its role changed: with targeting pods and precision-guided bombs, the “Bombcat” became a versatile fighter-bomber. Tomcats were among the first aircraft over Afghanistan in October 2001 and later flew in Iraq. The F-14 flew its last combat mission in February 2006.

In the Navy it was replaced by the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, which was considered significantly cheaper to maintain. You can read more about its predecessor at the Legacy Hornet.

Farewell in 2006 – and why almost all Tomcats vanished

The last two Tomcat squadrons were VF-31 “Tomcatters” and VF-213 “Black Lions.” On July 28, 2006, VF-31 launched from a carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, for the last time. The official farewell ceremony followed in September at Oceana, Virginia. On October 4, 2006, an F-14D of VF-31 flew for the very last time – to Long Island, not far from where the Tomcat was originally built.

After that, something unusual happened: instead of storing the aircraft in the desert, the Navy had most of the remaining Tomcats dismantled and shredded. The background was Iran, the only export customer, which depended on spare parts. The scrapping took place in Tucson, Arizona, where the large storage area of the US armed forces is also located. You can read more about the desert parking lots for aircraft in the article on aircraft graveyards and boneyards.

The Iranian Tomcats

Back in the Shah’s era, the Iranian air force ordered Tomcats in 1974, initially 30, later 80. The first aircraft arrived in January 1976. After the 1979 revolution the aircraft stayed in the country and became the backbone of air defense in the war against Iraq. For decades, Iran kept the fleet flying despite an embargo, with its own repairs and reproduced parts.

How many of them still exist as of October 2026 is an open question. Even before 2026, only a small number were considered operational. After air strikes in spring 2026, satellite images showed destroyed Tomcats at Isfahan air base, though it is unclear whether some of them were decoys. Whether any F-14 is still flying cannot currently be verified.

Top Gun: how the Tomcat became a movie star

In 1986 Top Gun hit theaters, and the F-14 became a pop-culture icon overnight. The US Navy supported the production with real aircraft and personnel; it billed the production for the Tomcats’ flight hours. Outside some cinemas there were even Navy recruiting booths.

In Top Gun: Maverick (2022), the Tomcat makes a much-noticed appearance. Because no flyable F-14 exists anymore, a museum aircraft from the San Diego Air & Space Museum was used, among others. The Tomcat had already appeared in the 1980 feature film The Final Countdown; one of the aircraft shown then, from squadron VF-84 “Jolly Rogers,” now stands in the Museum of Flight in Seattle.

Where to see the F-14 today

Because nothing flies anymore, museums are your destination – and almost exclusively in the US. A selection of easily accessible examples:

Museum	Location	Example
Intrepid Museum	New York	BuNo 157986, one of the earliest Tomcats, a Grumman development aircraft
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center	Chantilly near Washington	F-14D(R), BuNo 159610, involved in the air combat off Libya in January 1989
Pima Air & Space Museum	Tucson, Arizona	F-14A, BuNo 160684
Museum of Flight	Seattle	F-14A, BuNo 160382, VF-84 “Jolly Rogers”
Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum	McMinnville, Oregon	F-14D, BuNo 164343
National Naval Aviation Museum	Pensacola, Florida	several Tomcats, including an early test aircraft
Cradle of Aviation Museum	Garden City, New York	among others, the last Tomcat flown in US service
USS Midway Museum	San Diego	F-14A on the flight deck

The Tomcat is especially atmospheric on a real aircraft carrier. At the Intrepid in Manhattan it stands on the deck of the former carrier – combinable with a spotting side trip, for which you will find tips in the guide Plane spotting in New York. The Udvar-Hazy Center is right at Washington Dulles Airport and presents its Tomcat in the big hangar – more on spotting on site in the spot guide Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport. In Seattle you can combine the Jolly Rogers Tomcat with the spot at the Museum of Flight. In Tucson a visit to Pima pays off twice, because you can also use the spot at the Pima Air & Space Museum there.

Photo tips for Tomcats in museums

Static aircraft are more forgiving than a fighter jet at low level – but halls, barriers and backlight still make it hard for you.

You can work out when the light suits an outdoor exhibit with the guide Planning sun position for your photo spot. If you want to experience active fighter jets, you will find inspiration in the article Identifying fighter jets in Europe and in the guide Tracking military aircraft online.

Logging the Tomcat in Planetrack

Having an F-14 in front of your lens is a heartfelt moment for many spotters – even if it only stands in a museum. In Planetrack you post it with photo, aircraft type, registration and location and then keep it permanently in your hangar. On your wish list you note the variants you still need, such as an F-14D or an early F-14A. In the community you show your pictures, comment on other people’s photos and chat about the best Tomcat museums.

Conclusion

The Grumman F-14 Tomcat combined swing wings, a huge radar and the Phoenix missile into a carrier fighter that was far ahead of its time. Top Gun made it immortal, and in 2006 its career with the US Navy ended. You will hardly see one fly anymore – but in museums from New York to Seattle, the tomcat is waiting for you.