I thought I posted this in another thread, perhaps not.
My favorite F-14. Victory* 211. Buno 161164.
Shown here about to launch on a combat flight in May, 1991. It had my name on the side at the time of this photo and barely visible under my name is a fish with a slash through it, long story.
She was equipped with TF-30 engines, but there were many versions of the TF-30. The standard engines in an F-14 were de-rated versions, known as P414A. The thrust was lowered to improve reliability in the operating environment of fighter aviation; throttle slams, high AOA, low speed, high speed, high G and the P414A had a belt of reinforcement around the turbine so that if it failed, which happened periodically under the abuse they received, the parts would be less likely to damage the airplane.
But this particular jet had P7 engine cores, the updated engines from the F-111**. It just seemed faster than the rest. It was ready to run whenever I went into AB. In zone two (of five zones), it was the jet that would run at 700+ indicated, supersonic, with a full combat load of missiles, jamming pod, camera pod, tanks and weapons rails. Just like it was shown here. No slicked off stunt plane, like the F-16 in the video, or that airplane I took to Mach 2+, but a fully loaded, real world, combat jet.
My wingman, usually from VF-41, would have to use zone 4 or more to keep up with her. I always ran my wing man low on gas because this particular jet was just plain fast.
*Victory was the radio callsign for VF-84. Every squadron had a navy-assigned radio call sign. For Navy agencies, we would use squadron call sign and nose number. In this case 211. So, on the radio, this jet was “Victory 211”. How we got the coolest fighter call sign ever is unknown to me, but saying “Victory” on the radio just plain warmed my heart.
**I found this out just a couple years ago in talking with one of the engine mechanics that used to work on it. He was in VF-84 during my time there and we still keep in touch. He kept his notebook, and told me that 211 had the P7 engines, and that he had to tweak, them a bit when the engines were installed and tested.
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