When Just 1 F-14 Tomcat Fought 5 F-4 Phantom IIs, and Downed 3 Of Them In 1982 #shorts
6,713On December 10th, 1982, to find out strategies against the new MiG-23 Flogger, a research study called "Rising Fighter" took place. The F-14s competed against highly skilled F-4 Phantom II pilots and RIOs from the US Navy. The majority of flights consisted of 2 versus 4, 5, or 6 missions, however, one flight that started as a 2 versus 6 flight ended up becoming a protracted 1 versus 5 engagement. A fun fact about this flight is that the pilot and RIO were Top Gun classmates. The F-14 crossed the Phantoms' formation at a speed of 1,000 knots after the RIO picked them up. The ground controllers declared the Tomcat to have won when it pulled more than six Gees and hit one Phantom with an AIM-9. A short while later, the pilot successfully shot down another Phantom using an AIM-7 Sparrow. Now it was 1 versus 3. An F-4 then locked the Tomcat, and was about to fire the missile, but the F-14 chaffed it, and broke the radar lock. The Tomcat crew then scored yet another triumph. The crew knew they had run out of fuel and that the other two Phantoms were not posing a challenge, so they began heading back.
#shorts #youtubeshorts #f14tomcat #f4phantom