The Tomcat
Built for the US Navy from 1969 to 1992, the F-14 Tomcat was among the last dedicated fighters to enter production before the U.S. military shifted toward more economical multirole aircraft.
Cold War improvements in Soviet long-range patrol and bomber aircraft created a need for a fleet-defense fighter capable of intercepting high-altitude bombers from beyond visual range. Grumman answered with the F-14 Tomcat. Armed with long-range AIM-54 Phoenix air-to-air missiles, the Tomcat could engage multiple targets at ranges exceeding 90 miles. To combine interceptor speed with the ability to carry such heavy weaponry, Grumman gave the F-14 its highly effective variable-sweep wings, allowing it to perform across a wide range of airspeeds.
The F-14 entered combat for the first time on Aug. 19, 1981, when it shot down two Libyan Su-22 fighters over the Gulf of Sidra.
Hank Kleemann, CO, Fighter Squadron FORTY-ONE
Rear Admiral Paul T. Gillcrist, who logged more than 400 flight hours in the F-14, recalls in his book Tomcat! The Grumman F-14 Story;
The Tomcat thundered down catapult 1 in full afterburner after the USS Nimitz catapult officer gave the launch signal with an extended left hand on the flight deck. Commander “Hank” Kleemann, commanding officer of Fighter Squadron FORTY-ONE, was at the controls. The aircraft carried side number 102, and the time was 0615 on Aug. 19, 1981. Moments later, another Black Aces F-14A launched from catapult 2.
At the time, Nimitz was operating off the coast of Libya on the second day of an air-to-air live missile-firing exercise. In Kleemann’s back seat was his radar intercept officer, Lt. Dave Venlet. The second F-14, flown by Lt. Larry “Music” Muczynski with Lt. Dave Anderson in the back seat, carried side number 107.
About an hour after takeoff, Kleemann’s RIO detected a radar contact [The first detection of the Su-22s was by a VAW-124 E-2C] during the inbound leg of their combat air patrol racetrack pattern. The CAP altitude was set at 20,000 feet, and the two F-14s were in combat spread, with Kleemann, the flight leader, on the left. At that altitude, a good abeam spacing for combat spread was about one and a half miles.
“Down the nose” intercept
The radar contact turned into a “down the nose” intercept as it climbed to the F-14s’ altitude, leveled off, and accelerated to 540 knots. Kleemann then directed his wingman to turn 30 degrees to the right before returning to the base course, a maneuver meant to give the Tomcats a slight angle advantage over the bogeys. The radar contact immediately mirrored the move, putting the aircraft nose-to-nose again. Either the bogey’s radar was as capable as theirs, or Libyan ground controllers spotted the F-14s’ maneuver, assessed it correctly, and redirected the bogeys accordingly.
Years later, at the Pentagon, Hank described the engagement and noted that similar initial maneuvers had worked in earlier encounters between Libyan fighters and F-4s from USS Forrestal. “I guess those Libyan air controllers have a pretty good learning curve because I don’t believe their airplanes radars were that good.” Convinced that another offset maneuver would be ineffective, Hank advanced the throttles to full afterburner (zone five) and told his wingman to climb. Muczynski rose about 5,000 feet above his flight leader, falling slightly back in the process.
Advantage
He continues, saying that if they had to meet the enemy head-on, Kleemann wanted his wingman to have the altitude advantage. Venlet locked onto the contact, and with the tracking diamond in the HUD, Kleemann visually acquired the radar target and identified it at eight miles as a pair of Sukhoi Su-22 Fitters flying in very tight formation. They were nearly at the pass in a classic left-to-left encounter when Kleemann rolled left to keep the aircraft in sight as they crossed down his side.
At that moment, his aircraft was about 1,000 feet from the Fitter flight leader and slightly higher, closing rapidly, when he saw a flash from a missile launch by the lead aircraft. Kleemann, call sign Fast Eagle 102, radioed his wingman to execute a hard left, climbing break turn. Just before the two Fitters flashed past and briefly disappeared from view, both F-14 crews saw what appeared to be a split maneuver begin. About 25 degrees into the turn, or two to three seconds later, Kleemann recognized the defensive split developing and told his wingman to “take the one on the left.”
The first F-14 pilot to fight the Tomcat
They came out of the turn after roughly a 180-degree reversal, trailing the Fitters at their six o’clock, with Muczynski in a firing position behind the Fitter that had launched the attack. For reasons unknown, the leader turned back toward his wingman, who was now being chased by Kleemann in a hard, nose-down turn. Closing rapidly on the lead Fitter, Muczynski fired an AIM-9L Sidewinder heat-seeking missile, which hit the tailpipe squarely.
Muczynski then performed a high-speed yo-yo, climbing back toward Kleemann’s aircraft. As he did, he saw an explosion and pieces of the lead Fitter breaking away. Kleemann’s target kept turning hard right and climbed into the sun. Knowing the sun could fool his own heat-seeking Sidewinder, Kleemann held his fire until his missile’s guidance tone confirmed the sun was no longer a factor, then launched. His missile struck the Fitter’s tailpipe. The aircraft lost control, and the pilot ejected almost immediately. The entire fight lasted only 40 to 50 seconds, from the first shot to the third missile’s hit.
Just four years later, Hank Kleemann walked with me through the Pentagon to the Blue Room, where we sought the Secretary of the Navy’s approval for the F-14D program. He emerged victorious in both battles. In my book, he will always be remembered as the first man to fight the F-14 and the one who helped get it fixed.
More than a single four-plane encounter
But the event involved more than a single four-plane engagement. It took place during a two-carrier exercise in the Gulf of Sidra, where Nimitz’s air wing was testing its weapons systems, and other incidents had already occurred. Just the day before, air wing commander Commander “Bad Fred” Lewis had tangled with a pair of Libyan Mirage F1s and ended up with both of his F-14s “in the saddle,” each trailing its opponent. The Libyans eventually broke off and left the area.
On the day of the shootdown, two F-4s from USS Forrestal, which was also operating nearby, were engaged with two Libyan MiG-25s. CAG Lewis was in the combat information center listening to both encounters on the same UHF radio channel. He heard “Music” ask over the radio, excitedly and while he was in the saddle, “Skipper, what should I do?”
The F-4 pilot from Forrestal, who was maneuvering with the MiG-25, must have heard the exchange, because he immediately came over the radio with, “Shoot him, shoot him, shoot him!” Music did exactly that.
Gillcrist concludes by saying that returning to the carrier after a shootdown is usually a moment of triumph, marked by a victory flyby and a clean recovery. But Hank must have had a little too much adrenaline coursing through him, because right in front of battle group commander Rear Admiral Jim Service, ship’s captain Jack Batzler, and his own CAG, he boltered, missing the wire and having to make another landing attempt.
Tomcat! The Grumman F-14 Story is published by Schiffer Publishing and is available to order here.
Photos by U.S. Navy
