Equipped with well-balanced air wings, huge aircraft carriers have
formed the backbone of the United States Navy's doctrine and strategy
since the Second World War. Packing an enormous punch, their purpose is
to exercise control over enormous portions of airspace - in the offence
or defence.
From the mid-1970s until the mid-2000s, the spear tip of the USN air
wings was the famous Grumman F-14 Tomcat - widely considered one of the
finest air superiority systems in the world. Originally designed as a
fast, manoeuvrable and well-armed fighter, the Tomcat entered service as
the ultimate long-range fleet defender and became the biggest, most
complex and most expensive naval aircraft of its time. Including a
unique and exceptional combination of flight characteristics, detection
systems and weapons, it earned itself the status of a legend by the
mid-1980s.
The F-14 Tomcats of the US Navy achieved their first aerial victories
during freedom of navigation exercises off Libya in 1981. However, the
period during which they saw most combat followed several years later,
during Operations Earnest Will and then Desert Storm, from 1987 until
1991.
To date, very little has been published about the operations in
question. Indeed, the widespread belief is that USN F-14s saw next to no
air combat against Iran, and even less so during Operation Desert Storm
in 1991. As so often, the reality is entirely different: Tomcats engaged
dozens of opponents, often on the verge of the engagement envelope of
their powerful AWG-9 radars and AIM-54 Phoenix long-range air-to-air
missiles, and sometimes at such close ranges that their pilots selected
'guns'. Weather- and communications-related problems, but also the
incredible discipline of their crews prevented them from scoring up to a
dozen aerial victories: however, it is perfectly possible that they
scored at least one, perhaps more previously entirely unknown aerial
victories - and also lost one of their own to an enemy fighter.
Richly illustrated by over 100 photographs and authentic colour
profiles, 'Tomcats of the Storm' is an exclusive source of reference
about some of least-well known air combats fought by US Navy's fighter
crews in recent history.
