The F 14 Tomcat Nearly Had A Fatal Flaw

The F 14 Tomcat Nearly Had A Fatal Flaw

Top Gun could have gone bad. After watching both the Tom Cruise movies, you probably thought the F-14 Tomcat had no problem intercepting enemy airplanes and winning supremacy in the skies. You wouldn’t guess the Tomcat had an issue that almost sank the U.S. Navy’s prized fighter. Its early engines did not work well and even led to the loss of some 40 airplanes.

Tomcat and TF30 Engine: A Match Made In Hell.

Not to pick on Pratt & Whitney too much, but its TF30 engines were not a good match for the Tomcat. They were meant for another era and another airplane. They had been designed for the Air Force and Navy’s F-111B, which was one of the most troublesome airplanes of the 1960s, and more of a bomber than a fighter. The TF30 was supposed to power the F-111B to MACH 2 speeds. But the F-111B had numerous compressor stalls that could cause an emergency shutdown.