How It Works-Amazing Vehicles

Wings

The F-14 featured wings that could sweep

bet ween 20 and 68 degrees. This allowed the

aircraft to constantly fl y w ith an optimum

lif t-to-drag ratio dependent on what speed it

was fl y ing. The sweep could be

automatically or manually controlled.

Powerplant

Fed by t wo rectangular air intakes located

under its w ings, the F-14 was powered by

t wo Pratt & Whitney TF30 turbofans. The

engines were designed to be fuel-effi cient

when cr uising, allow ing for its designed

long-haul patrols and operations.

Armament

The F-14’s standard layout included a single long-range air-to-air AIM-54 Phoenix,

t wo shor t-range air-to-air A IM-9 Sidew inders, t wo air-to-air A IM-7 Sparrow IIIs

and an M61 Vulcan autocannon capable of fi ring 6,000 rounds per minute.

A ll photographs © US Nav y

© John Batchelor/ w w w.johnbatchelor.com

An engineer works on

one of the F-14’s TF30 turbofans

An F-14 fl ying over Iraq

during the Gulf war

Skin

Wings had a t wo-spar str ucture, w ith

the box, pivots and upper and lower

skins made from titanium.

Undercarriage

The undercarriage was built to be robust to

w ithstand the harsh takeoffs and landing

necessary for aircraft carrier operation.

“Umm guys, I’m trying

to take off here...”

An F-14 undertaking

a vertical climb

The insane M61

Vulcan autocannon

DID YOU KNOW? The F-14’s top speed of 1,544mph is over twice the speed of sound