Tal Tovy - Tomcats and Eagles: The Development of the F-14 and F-15 in the Cold War

1. U.S. Navy F-14 Tomcat
   Steam from the catapult envelopes a USN F-14 Tomcat as the flight crew prepares it for launch from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) on February 22, 2005, while under way in the Persian Gulf. The Truman Strike Group and Carrier Air Wing 3 are conducting close air support, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions over Iraq. The Tomcat is attached to Fighter Squadron 32 of Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia. U.S. Department of Defense
2. F-14 Tomcat
   NASA 834, an F-14 USN Tomcat, was used at Dryden in 1986 and 1987 in a program known as the Variable-Sweep Transition Flight Experiment. This program explored laminar flow on variable-sweep aircraft at high subsonic speeds. NASA
3. F-15 Eagle (1972)
   The first F-15 Eagle flight was made in July 1972. U.S. Air Force
4. F-15 Eagle (2006)
   F-15 Eagles fire AIM-7 Sparrow missiles at a tactical air-launched decoy off the coast of Hawaii during the Rim of the Pacific Exercise, July 16, 2006. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Shane A. Cuomo
5. A-4C Skyhawk
   Attack Squadron 144 (VA-144) A-4C Skyhawks such as the one shown here struck the Hon Gai naval base in North Vietnam on August 5, 1964. U.S. Naval Institute photo archive
6. Operation Rolling Thunder
   F-105s take off on a mission to bomb North Vietnam, 1966. U.S. Air Force
7. Soviet MiG-15 Jet Fighter
   A Soviet MiG-15 shot down over North Korea by F9F-2 Panther fighters from USS Leyte, November 23, 1950. Official U.S. Navy photo, NARA
8. Israeli Air Force F-15A Eagle
   An Israeli Air Force McDonnell Douglas F-15A Eagle of the 133rd Squadron departs on a mission during the Blue Flag exercise on Ovda Air Force Base, Israel, on November 26, 2013. U.S. Air Force photo by MSgt. Sgt. Lee Osberry

TITLES IN THE SERIES

Airpower Reborn: The Strategic Concepts of John Warden and John Boyd

The Bridge to Airpower: Logistics Support for Royal Flying Corps Operations on the Western Front, 191418

Airpower Applied: U.S., NATO, and Israeli Combat Experience

The Origins of American Strategic Bombing Theory

Beyond the Beach: The Allied Air War against France

The Man Who Took the Rap: Sir Robert Brooke-Popham and the Fall of Singapore

Flight Risk: The Coalitions Air Advisory Mission in Afghanistan, 20052015

Winning Armageddon: Curtis LeMay and Strategic Air Command, 19481957

Rear Admiral Herbert V. Wiley: A Career in Airships and Battleships

From Kites to Cold War: The Evolution of Manned Airborne Reconnaissance

Airpower over Gallipoli, 19151916

Selling Schweinfurt: Targeting, Assessment, and Marketing in the Air Campaign against German Industry

Airpower in the War against ISIS

To Rule the Skies: General Thomas S. Power and the Rise of Strategic Air Command in the Cold War

Rise of the War Machines: The Birth of Precision Bombing in World War II

At the Dawn of Airpower: The U.S. Army, Navy, and Marine Corps Approach to the Military Airplane, 19071917

THE HISTORY OF MILITARY AVIATION

Paul J. Springer, editor

This series is designed to explore previously ignored facets of the history of airpower. It includes a wide variety of disciplinary approaches, scholarly perspectives, and argumentative styles. Its fundamental goal is to analyze the past, present, and potential future utility of airpower and to enhance our understanding of the changing roles played by aerial assets in the formulation and execution of national military strategies. The series encompasses the incredibly diverse roles played by airpower, which include but are not limited to efforts to achieve air superiority; strategic attack; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions; airlift operations; close air support; and more. Of course, airpower does not exist in a vacuum. There are myriad terrestrial support operations required to make airpower functional, and examinations of these missions is also a goal of this series.

In less than a century, airpower developed from flights measured in minutes to the ability to circumnavigate the globe without landing. Airpower has become the military tool of choice for rapid responses to enemy activity, the primary deterrent to aggression by peer competitors, and a key enabler to military missions on the land and at sea. This series provides an opportunity to examine many of the key issues associated with airpowers usage in the past and present and to influence its development for the future.

TOMCATS

EAGLES

The Development of the F-14 and F-15 in the Cold War

Tal Tovy

Naval Institute Press

Annapolis, Maryland

Naval Institute Press291 Wood RoadAnnapolis, MD 21402

2022 by Tal Tovy

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Tovy, Tal, author.

Title: Tomcats and Eagles : the development of the F-14 and F-15 in the Cold War / Tal Tovy.

Other titles: Development of the F-14 and F-15 in the Cold War

Description: Annapolis : Naval Institute Press, 2022. | Series: History of military aviation | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2022017596 (print) | LCCN 2022017597 (ebook) | ISBN 9781612519104 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781612519111 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Eagle (Jet fighter plane)History. | Tomcat (Jet fighter plane)History. | United States. Air ForceTactical aviationHistory20th century. | United States. NavyAviationHistory20th century. | Air powerHistory20th century. | Cold War. | BISAC: HISTORY / Military / Aviation & Space | HISTORY / United States / 20th Century

Classification: LCC UG1242.F5 T68 2022 (print) | LCC UG1242.F5 (ebook) | DDC 623.74/64dc23/eng/20220706

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022017596

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022017597

Print editions meet the requirements of ANSI/NISO z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).

Printed in the United States of America.

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First printing

The writing of this book would not have been possible without the help of a number of people whom I have a pleasant duty to thank. First, I would like to thank Israel Guy for the great help and time he spent translating and editing the manuscript. At the same time as I was writing the book, I was teaching the history of airpower in various academic settings. The students questions and the joint discussions with them helped me identify and highlight the important topics for discussion for this book. Thank you. Teaching about airpower together with writing the book only proved to me to a great extent that I still have to learn about this topic. I also received a lot of encouragement and support from two dear friends, Gideon Sharav and Dvir Peleg, who greatly appreciated the written word and the long journey that the author undertakes.