Grumman NF-14D Tomcat

The Grumman NF-14D Tomcat was the ultimate development of an aircraft designed with variable-geometry wings that extended straight out from the fuselage for takeoffs and landings and swept back at a 68-degree angle for high-speed flight. Originally built as a fighter-interceptor for Carrier Battle Group defense, the F-14A could simultaneously attack six targets at long range using its powerful radar and Phoenix missile system. Beginning in the 1980s, much of the Tomcat fleet received new avionics and new engines that dramatically improved performance, and the F-14B and F-14D gained enhanced air-to-air capabilities as well as the ability to locate and attack surface targets with precision weapons. That surface-strike capability was used very effectively in Operation Enduring Freedom following the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks of 9/11, 2001. Bureau Number 161623 was manufactured as an F-14A, then converted to the F-14D configuration through mission-system and engine upgrades, and its N designation indicated permanent assignment to testing activities. It was the last of four F-14D development and test aircraft to fly, the first of which flew in September 1988, and during its test career it was used by the Grumman Aircraft Company and the Naval Air Test Center, later the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, for various avionics tests. The F-14 series served in the U.S. from 1972 to 2006 as a fighter-attack aircraft with a crew of one pilot and one Radar Intercept Officer.

Maryland · United States