Jos jedna sjajna knjiga iz edicicije Osprey: AG67-Israeli F-15 Eagle Units In Combat
Israeli Defense Forces/AF je u periodu od 1973 do 1975 vrsio testiranje i izbor novog borbenog aviona "teen" generacije. U izboru su bili F-14 i F-15 :
Aktuelni Order of battle middle east je veoma lako je mogao bude potpuno drugaciji.
Citat:This aircraft is the third pre-production aircraft built having first flown on December 28, 1971 at the Grumman Flight Test Facility at Calverton, New York. It was primarily used for determining structural loads and flight characteristics under many extreme conditions.
Grumman chief test pilot Charles A. "Chuck" Sewell in front of F-14A (157991) 1X in January 1981.
F-14A 157980, first flight 21 Dec 1970
Citat:The first flight of the #1 prototype F-14A took place on December 21, 1970. All in all, fourteen aircraft were used for the development programm, 12 of them instrumented. Of those 12, two were used for the development of the Hughes Phoenix Missile System at Hughes Aircraft Corporation at Point Mugu, CA. Six aircraft were used for airframe/engine testing at the Grumman facilities at Calverton, NY and four for avionic system development at Pt. Mugu. Five F-14s (of the six "airframe" aircraft) spent some time at Patuxent River, Maryland for carrier suitability trials and for structural, powerplant and performance demonstration. The fully proven F-14 was introduced to the fleet only 51 month after contract award!
157981: 2nd prototype used for low-speed handling tests
157982: 3rd prototype used for non-destructive structural tests
157983: 4th prototype was the 1st F-14 with AN/AWG-9, used for AIM-54 evaluation
157984: 5th prototype used to demonstrate systems compatibility
157985: 6th prototype: Missile separation & weapons separation tests. #6 crashed on 20.06.1973: The aircraft was lost near Point Mugu when an AIM-7 pitched up on launch and ruptured a fuel tank, causing a fire which necessitated crew ejection.
157986: 7th prototype used as engine testbed, later used as F-14B-30GR prototype and then modified as F-14A(+) prototype
157987: 8th prototype for Navy evaluation tests. Aircraft crashed on 13.05.1974 after suffering an engine fire on ground at Patuxent River
157988: 9th prototype for AN/AWG-9 evaluation
157989: 10th prototype used for carrier qualification evaluation. Aircraft crashed on 30.06.1972 near Chesapeak Bay while practising for an airshow at Patuxent River
157990: 11th prototype used for non-weapons systems avionics tests
157991: 12th prototype (redesignated Prototype #1X) used for high-speed handling tests, modified for single-crew operation
Series production began and VF-124, the Fleet Replacement Squadron, received their first F-14A on the 8th of October 1972. VF-1 and VF-2 began equipping with the Tomcat in July 1973 with a first cruise on the new mount in September 1974.
Citat:Test pilots eject with seconds to spare from F14 prototype No1
Aircraft suffered total loss of hydraulic pressure.Crew eject at very low altitude just short of the runway
Citat:The December 1970 crash of the first prototype on its second test hop. Grumman test pilot Bob Miller is one of the crew seen ejecting. Sadly he was killed testing the 10th F-14 built in 1973.
Citat:The final prototype of the F-14 took off on May 24th, 1971, with its variable-geometry wings for speed and greater stability.
