A report on Grumman F-14 Tomcat

It was also adopted as standard in the "teen"-series air superiority fighters, the Grumman F-14 Tomcat, the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle, General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon and McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet.

VF-1, Wolfpack was established on 14 October 1972 at NAS Miramar, at the same time as VF-2, these units were the first operational fighter squadrons equipped with the Grumman F-14 Tomcat.

While the F7F was initially also known as the Grumman Tomcat, this name was abandoned, because it was considered at the time to have excessively sexual overtones; (from the 1970s, the name Tomcat became commonly associated with, and officially used by the Navy for, another Grumman design, the F-14 twin-jet carrier-based interceptor).

This operation was also the debut combat deployment of the F-14 Tomcat aircraft.

F-14B/D Tomcat – retired

In November 1981, an Iraqi Mirage F1 accounted for the first Iranian F-14 Tomcat to be shot down, followed by several more in the following months, giving the previously timid Iraqi Air Force new confidence in air-to-air combat engagements with the Iranians.

Stations on the fuselage may not necessarily require a pylon, such as the fuselage stations on the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle, while other aircraft need pylons for certain stations in order to provide clearance for the landing gear retraction sequence (like in F-14 Tomcat) or to provide necessary item space (like in Mikoyan MiG-27).

After the F-14 Tomcat arrived on the scene in 1976, VF-101 transitioned to Tomcat operations and Phantom training operations shifted to newly established Fighter Squadron 171 (VF-171) to handle Atlantic Fleet training for the F-4 Phantom until it was retired from service in 1984.

In September 1976, VF-213 began the transition to the F-14A Tomcat.

An E-3 version included additional changes to the fuzing, and an E-4 featured a modified seeker for use with the F-14 Tomcat.