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F-14 Tomcat 'Bounty Hunters' Wood Model Airplane
Code: NC10264 Regular Price: Our Price: $159.95 Quantity in Basket:
None
Scale: 1/62 The Grumman F-14 Tomcat was the first of the American teen-series fighters which were designed incorporating the experience of air combat against MiGs during the Vietnam War. The F-14 is a supersonic, twin-engine, two-seat, variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft. The Tomcat was developed for United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experimental (VFX) program following the collapse of the F-111B project. The F-14 first flew in December 1970. It first deployed in 1974 with the U.S. Navy aboard USS Enterprise (CVN-65), replacing the F-4 Phantom II. The F-14 served as the U.S. Navy's primary maritime air superiority fighter, fleet defense interceptor and tactical reconnaissance platform. There are some F-14's that has a Jolly Rogers insignia on its left tail, thus, the nickname Jolly Rogers was adapted. The F-14 began replacing the F-4 Phantom II in USN service starting in September 1974 with squadrons VF-1 Wolfpack and VF-2 Bounty Hunters aboard USS Enterprise (CVN-65) and participated in the American withdrawal from Saigon. The F-14 had its first kills on 19 August 1981 over the Gulf of Sidra in what is known as the Gulf of Sidra incident after two F-14s from VF-41 Black Aces were engaged by two Libyan Su-22 "Fitters". The participation of the F-14 Tomcat in the 1991 Operation Desert Storm consisted of Combat Air Patrol (CAP) over the Red Sea and Persian Gulf and overland missions consisting of strike escort and reconnaissance. Until the waning days of Desert Storm, in-country air superiority was tasked to USAF F-15 Eagles due to the way the Air Tasking Orders (ATO) delegated primary overland CAP stations to the F-15 Eagle. The F-14 Tomcat was the US Navy's primary air superiority fighter and tactical reconnaissance platform from 1972 to 2006. |
