Phenomenal bird. Did their last cruise, was there for the end of the best aircraft the USN ever had. Everyone took notice when the Tommy showed up.

So interesting! Great having Chief test pilot/s Bob Smythe narrating.

*Great video! Thx 4 sharing!*

I grew up 5 min from Grummans Calverton. I grew up with F-14s E-2 A-6’s flying over almost daily. Sadly in 1994 that all came to an end Almost overnight. In fact 1/2 the kids in my school parents worked at Calverton one day all the kids came in saying their dad got fired from Grummans. Very Somber day. Many of those kids were not back the following school year as a parents had to move off of Long Island for jobs. It’s was interesting that the first F-14 actually had dummy missiles on it!!! At least I assume they were dummy. As a test flight no live ordance would be on it .

The sad reality is that the Navy and Grumman pushed this program quickly and they had some accidents. It was a very complex plane which led to issues with maintenance and the plane not being produced well above the minimum the Navy wanted. The Number 1 plane DID NOT have to be lost. They knew about the hydraulic/harmonic issue BEFORE the flight but the report about the fault didn't get to the test team in time and so they didn't make the modifications. Had they delayed that flight a month, that plane would have flown for a lot longer than it did! As it is, they lost about 4 or 5 planes during the flight/qualification tests prior to first deployment in fall 1974. I think by 1973, they had lost at least 3 planes: the original plane, another plane scheduled for an airshow that plunged into the water for whatever reasons -- they never figured what it was that happened with the pilot I think (he was by himself, no backseater) --, and a third plane that actually shot itself down with its own missile, an AIM-7 Sparrow that didn't clear properly! They fixed the missile clearance issue by using more power explosive charges. The AIM-7 that committed "hari kiri" got caught in the slipstream of the launch plane, angled up, and tore along the bottom of that fighter. There's photos and footage of this online. It's similar to what happened wit the D-21 and M-21 Blackbird accident (also online).

Wow this was a real treat for me. Thank so much for posting this.

Impressive how the whole program role so quickly.

Top Crash!

Woah

It was one the orignal film :(

F14 flight development calverton

I think he waited way to long to eject.

amazingly, the navy was still crashing the airplane for the SAME reason almost 20 years later when 'Barney' Jim Barnett crashed into Gillespie field in El Cajon in 1987 (where the air and space museum is located). Killed Randy Furtado and amputated a mechanics leg who was working in the hanger he hit. ya, great airplane and great headwork flying past North Island where you can approach (and eject if needed) over the water and trap on the north runway, instead he crashed into the hanger.. sure, the navy got rid of the 'best' airplane they ever had because it was that good! pretty interesting comments from test 'wonder who designed that?, I dunno?' nice. They killed the test backseater on another ejection from the spin test, I think we got a winner here.. VF1 crashed 4 of them on that first Enterprise cruise and that was just the beginning. poor planning and maintenance on the navy's part did constitute many an emergency on my part, happily many of us still here to tell the tale. Every behavior I had operating that airplane was shaped by all the crashes the navy had with it. good riddance to it and the navy I say..