Last Land-Based West Coast F-14 Retired

By Tyson V. Rininger

Sitting alone, quietly on tarmac, Bloodhound 200 was about to take her final flight. Surrounded by software engineers, research and development workers, former Grumman employees and lots of Tomcat fans, the NF-14D's stood proud despite the patchwork paint. BuNo 163416 was the star of the show. Everyone wanted their picture taken with her.

About 200 guests and dignitaries filled VX-30's hangar on July 23rd to hear many of the designers and founders of the program tell their tales including the Northrop Grumman F-14 Program Manager, Tom Reilly and the F-14 Integrated Product Team Leader, Jim Cozatt. Following additional comments by Rear Admiral David J. Venlet and Captain Alex Hnarakis, the reins were handed over to Captain Wade 'Torch' Knudson and CDR Thomas 'Bobo' Bourbeau where they lit her up for the last time.

VX-30's Public Information Officer, Jim Carroll sped me down to the runway just in time to get a whiff of jet fuel and a blast of bass as BH200 took to the skies heading for Davis Monthan AFB (AZ). This would be the last time a Tomcat would ever grace the skies above Point Mugu. Just after rotation, Bloodhound 200 veered to the right crossing directly over the runway towards the hangar it had formerly occupied. From there she disappeared into the coastal haze... an infinite farewell.

For 33 years, NAS Point Mugu, on the coast of Southern California, has played an integral role in the development and continued reliability of the F-14 Tomcat. Within six months after Grumman got the contract to develop the Tomcat, software developers and test engineers were already fixtures at Mugu. Although employees have come and gone and business names continue to change, until last week, they continued to work on the F-14s at Mugu.

Designed in 1971, the F-14 Tomcat was meant to replace the heavy and ill-equipped F-111 Aardvark for naval service. Considered a flop by aviation historians, the F-111 was to incorporate multi-role capabilities as well as a low stall speed for carrier landings and increased maneuverability at high speeds. Unfortunately, the aircraft was simply too heavy and too big to land on an aircraft carrier deck.

So Grumman went back to the drawing board, determined to correct the Aardvark's many faults. Starting with a similar design, they began to shape the Tomcat. Stronger landing gear, single piece wing-sweep assembly, dual vertical stabilizers for increased surface control, engines separated for reduced catastrophic risk of failure and a centerline weapons launch platform all made the Tomcat acceptable for forward deployment duties.

Once the design concept was approved, weapons integration soon took shape. Originally designed to carry 33 different combinations of payload weaponry, it was later cut back to 15 more effective payload options. The most popular and uniquely Tomcat payload were the six Phoenix long-range missiles capable of seeking individual targets without the continued assistance of the pilot. The first such test was done over the Pacific Missile Test Range involving VX-4. Four targets were shot down simultaneously with one target having a malfunction and the other malfunction being that of the missile. Overall, the Pentagon considered it a complete success.

While Patuxent River NAS (MD) was the aviation testing grounds for the F-14, Point Mugu became the leader in weapons research and Development, Test & Evaluation (RDT&E). With the introduction of the LANTIRN Infrared Targeting System and other gee-whiz technology, the Tomcat relinquished its fighter only status and is today universally acknowledged as a highly lethal, all-mission strike fighter.

As the F-14 Tomcat begins to fade into the sunset at the end of a much-vaunted career, there will be no more upgrades or modifications for the remaining fleet aircraft. Although the fleet will continue to operate the Tomcat for some time to come, the RDT&E operations at Point Mugu have been officially brought to a halt.

FMI: www.nawcwpns.navy.mil/~nwtspm/