The Mission:
To intercept and destroy enemy aircraft and airborne missiles in all weather conditions in order to establish and maintain air superiority in a designated area. To deliver air-to-ground ordnance on time, in any weather conditions. And, to provide tactical reconnaissance imagery.
Hello from the Pentagon and your Air Warfare team on the OpNav staff. The first warm breezes of spring are in the air, and the sounds of the mighty Tomcat are being heard again in the skies over Virginia Beach as Carrier Air Wing Eight is back from cruise. CVW-8 is commanded by CAPT Bill Sizemore, a Naval Aviator with more than 2,000 hours in the F-14 and who made the last combat recovery of a Tomcat on 8 February 2006.
As this issue of The Hook goes to press, the last F-14 squadrons in the fleet, VF-213 and VF-31, will have returned from their final deployment on board USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71). VF-213 will begin transition immediately to the two-seat F/A-18F Super Hornet, while VF-31 will be in a surge-ready status and keep its Tomcats until the fall when it will begin its own Super Hornet transition. VF-31 truly will be the last Tomcat standing. It's been quite a ride for the past 33 years! I think CAG Sizemore said it well when he spoke after the last combat trap, "This is one of the best airplanes ever built, and it's sad to see it go away. It's just a beautiful airplane. It's powerful, it has presence, and it just looks like the ultimate fighter."
One-Third Century of Excellence
Thirty-three years -- has it really been that long? Has it really been 33 years since VF-124 stopped being the F-8 RAG and became the RAG for the brand-new F-14 Tomcat? Can it be 32 years since VF-1 and VF-2 did their first CQ on board Enterprise (CVA(N)-65)? When the F-14 finally leaves service at the end of this year, it truly will be the end of an era.
The first Tomcat deployment was to Southeast Asia in Enterprise to cover the U.S. withdrawal from South Vietnam. The first two operational Tomcat squadrons were a veritable who's who of future Naval Aviation leaders. Future Flag Officers Jack Dantone and Marty "Streak" Chanik were in VF-1, and next door in VF-2 were Mike "Wizard" McCabe and Lyle "Ho Chi" Bien. The North Vietnamese MiGs chose not to tangle with the new F-14s and except for one bird hit by 37mm AA, the evacuation air cover was unmolested.
Into the '80s
As the '70s became the '80s, the Tomcat continued to dominate maritime airspace. VF-41, under the command of CDR Hank Kleeman, took the F-14 into combat off Libya and shot down two Libyan Su-22s. Another future Flag JO was CDR Kleeman's RIO, then-LT (now RADM) Dave Venlet. Tomcats flew air cover for the invasion of Grenada in 1983, as well as for the multi-national peace-keeping force in Lebanon. VF-74 and VF-103 launched from Saratoga (CV-60) in October 1985 to intercept an Egyptian airliner carrying the hijackers of the cruise ship Achille Lauro and forced the aircraft to land at NAS Sigonella. Tomcats from America (CV-66) and Saratoga flew cover in 1986 for Operations Prairie Fire and El Dorado Canyon against Libya. And, in 1989, VF-32 shot down two Libyan MiG-23s.
In 1988, the F-14B (initially called the F-14A+) with General Electric F110 engines entered fleet service. What an improvement! A good example is a tale of Oceana-based F-14Bs in 1989 when some F-15 bubbas from Langley called over to Oceana looking to have Tomcats come do some ACM with them over the Dare County ranges. The F-15s were expecting the F-14A, but instead, they were shocked and surprised by a flight of new B-model Tomcats who flew rings around them, above them and behind them.
Desert Storm and Beyond
After Operation Desert Storm and the retirement of the A-6, Naval Aviation needed to increase the air-to-ground capabilities of the F-14. A rapid development program spearheaded by OpNav N88 and the NavAir F-14 program office (PMA-241) mated the LANTIRN targeting pod to the Tomcats of VF-103. The result was the Bombcat. The Tomcat as a strike platform is the role that we best know today.
The success of VF-103's initial cruise with LANTIRN paved the way for the success of Tomcat squadrons over Kosovo and Bosnia as well as Operation Desert Fox against Iraq in December 1998. Since the deployment of VF-103 in 1996, the Tomcat has been cleared to drop just about every piece of air-to-ground ordinance in the inventory. Just last year, VF-213 initiated an effort to be cleared to drop 500-lb. JDAMs, which they successfully used on this final F-14 deployment.
The past 10 years have seen the Tomcat emerge as one of the great renaissance stories of Naval Aviation. The rapid prototyping of technology in the F-14 made possible many of the advances now seen in both the F/A-18 and the future Joint Strike Fighter. It also set the standard for fleet introduction of emerging technologies and new capabilities. All this was made possible by the never-ending esprit de corps of the Tomcat community that has been such a vital component of keeping the old airframe flying. That same "it can be done" spirit has helped to bring new capabilities to other communities as the Tomcat population shrinks. The former Tomcat aviators who now fly Hornets, Rhinos and Prowlers are providing new leadership and tactical experience throughout the air wing.
The Tomcat has had a great ride. I am honored to have been a small part of it and will always look back on my time in the F-14 as a highlight of my career. However, what will provide the most satisfaction to me, is to see the continuation of the tradition of excellence of the F-14 community playing a vital role in Naval Aviation long after the last Tomcat flight.
Welcome back VF-213 Black Lions and VF-31 Tomcatters and thanks to all who made (and continue to make) the F-14 both a special aircraft and community.
Now -- speed and angels -- fight's on!
Ed Note: RADM Tom Kilcline, a 1973 graduate of the Naval Academy, was designated a Naval Aviator in 1975 and received orders as a pilot to the fighter community where he flew operationally with VF-51, VF-126 and VF-213. Kilcline has commanded VF-154, Carrier Air Wing 14 and Carrier Group Two.
Shore assignments include the staff of 2nd Fleet, CNO Chair to the National War College, Executive Assistant to Deputy, European Command, Chief of Staff for Commander Naval Air Forces, and most recently, Director, Naval Aviation Plans and Requirements (N780). He was named Director, Air Warfare Division in August 2004.
RADM Kilcline in 32 years has amassed more than 5,300 flight hours in the F-4, F-14, F/A-18, A-4 and F-5 aircraft, and has logged 1,150 carrier arrested landings.