Crew:		two
Length:		64 ft 7 in	(19.7 m)
Height:		16 ft	(4.9 m)
Wing span:	unswept swept	64 ft 38 ft	(19 m) (11.4 m)
Wing area:
Weights:	Empty Maximum take-off	40,104 lbs 74,348 lbs	(18 229 kg) (33 810 kg)
Engine:	F-14A	Two Pratt & Whitney TF-30-P412A
Performance:	Max Speed Cruise Ceiling Max Combat Radius	1 544 mph 576 mph >56 000 ft 500 nm	(2 486 kph) (927 kph) (>17 000 km)
Ordnance:	Guns: Other:	One MK-61A1 Vulcan 20mm canon Six AIM-7 Sparrows Four AIM-9 Sidewinder Six AIM-54 Phoenix	see text
Used from:	F-14A	December 1986

Designed in 1968 to take the place of the controversial F-111B, the F-14A Tomcatused the Pratt & Whitney TF30 engines and AWG-9 system and carried the six Phoenix missiles that had been intended for the F-111B. From its first flight on 21 December 1970, the F-14A 'Tomcat' caps a long line of Grumman Cats. In the hands of Navy pilot/NFO teams, it provided the carrier task force with its first-line offence and defence against any enemy air threat in the tradition of its predecessors.

Packing a MK-61A1 Vulcan 20mm cannon, marking a return of the gun-fighter, and the AWG-9 weapons system coupled with an impressive array of ordnance, ensured the F-14 Tomcat was a potent multi-mission medium-range strike aircraft for almost forty years!
For non-airborne targets, the Tomcat could also carry a combination of 500lbs to 2 000 lbs iron bombs, MK-20 cluster bomb and Laser Guided bombs.

VF-191 operated a total of six F-14s, with only five permanently assigned to the squadron. They also had a single two week deployment aboard the USS Independence CV-62 in 1986

Grumman F-14A Tomcat
VF-191 Satan's Kittens
USS Independence CV-62