F-14 Bombcat: The US Navy's Ultimate Precision Bomber

Few aircraft of the Cold War era have attained such cult status and adoration among those that flew it, wanted to fly it or kept it flying as the mighty Grumman F-14 Tomcat.

The jet was the final fighter created by the Grumman Aircraft Corporation and it had a reputation for being a tenacious interceptor that proved its durability in combat.

With the thawing of the Cold War in the late 1980s, the Tomcat community was faced with a stark choice. Turn the aircraft into a multirole strike fighter platform, or retain the fighter mission only and face almost certain extinction. 

In a mere five years, the F-14 transitioned from guarding against improbable Cold War scenarios to becoming the LANTIRN-equipped, self-escorting strike fighter of choice.

With its two-seat cockpit, substantial payload and superior speed, range and recovery capabilities compared to the F/A-18 Hornet, the F-14 transformed into the formidable “Bombcat.”

Its contribution in Operations Enduring Freedom (2001–02) and Iraqi Freedom I–IV (2003–06) proved its worth but ultimately were its swansong.

In this in-depth analysis of the F-14 "Bombcat", author Tony Holmes presents a complete history of the aircraft in the strike fighter role, with contributions from Naval Aviators and Naval Flight Officers that flew the jet in combat, engineers who turned it into a bomber and maintenance personnel who kept the aircraft flying.

This is the revised, significantly expanded and updated edition of The F-14 Bombcat bookazine, published in 2015 by AirForces Monthly.