By the time Reagan assumed office , the hostage from Iran was home and in the humiliating failure of the rescuing attempts , the Reagan Administration was in no mood to take another set back . In the spring of '81 , Vice-Admiral William Bowden , commander of the Sixth fleet , requested permission to ignore the Carter precedent and go back in to the Gulf of Sirte . The request , classified as sensitive was first passed to the US Navy Commander-in-Chief in Europe in Germany , then to the US chief of naval operation in Washington and then finally to the Chairman of the Joint Chief of the Staff , Air Force General, David Jones . The request was then formally placed before the National Security Council (NCS) . The request was well received by the NCS in June and in July 14th , the US decision on staging a huge naval exercise in Sirte was met with unanimous approval in the Reagan Administration and his senior advisors .

3 Days later , Rear-Admiral James Service was summoned to the Pentagon . He was briefed on the various confrontations that they might meet in the Sirte and was formally warned that his pilot should only engage in self defense maneuvers and on no account were they to open fire unprovoked. Service than returned to Naples where he joined the fleet commander Admiral Bowden to begin planning on the forthcoming operation .

On 17 August , a naval force comprising of 14 Cruiser and Destroyer and 2 aircraft carrier, USS Forrestal and USS Nimitz (carrying about 150 aircraft between them ) sailed into the Gulf of Sirte . During the first 2 days of the exercise , Nimitz using five radar computer linked defense system with a range of 800km , spotted Libyan intruders 72 times . Despite warning that live ammunition would be used , the Libyan fighter intends to fly over the Gulf . Given that Gulf of Sirte was at least an international water , the Libyan intends would try to disrupt the exercise by forcing the American not to use live ammunition incase of hitting a Libyan fighter .

The US responses to the Libyan fighters are always the same . Fighters already patrolling or launched from the deck of Nimitz would intercept the Libyan fighters and force them away, usually the Libyan fighters responded by returning to mainland space .

The Soviet built SU-22 Fitter

On 19 August , however , the Libyan response was completely different. Shortly after 0700 hours , Nimitz's radar locked on 2 soviet built SU-22 , heading into the Gulf . The two fighters was also spotted by a Hawkeye patrolling in the Gulf at 21,000 m. At the same time 2 F-14 Tomcat from the Black Ace squadron piloted by Cdr. Henry Kleeman and Lt. Dave Venlet of the 102 aircraft and the 107 tomcat piloted by Lt. Larry Muczynski and Lt. Jim Jackson ( VF-41 ) which was based on the Nimitz was also on patrol . As the two SU-22 closed in, the Tomcats were ordered to intercept them . With the two Tomcat coming head on, the Libyan fighters fired off one missile , passed underneath the Tomcat , banked steeply and fired another . The Libyan pilots would have know that the missile would definitely miss the Tomcat, firstly the Atoll missiles are heat seeker which means it could not possibly lock-on an on coming aircraft, secondly even if the SU-22 managed to get behind the Tomcat , the Tomcats extraordinary performance could out run the atoll in 8km.

Following the Strict regulation to offensive and defensive action, the US pilot , once fired upon was free to take action . With a 480km/hr advantage over the soviet counterparts , the Tomcat found very little difficulty on maneuvering to a firing position on the SU-22 , which by then was already fleeing back to the mainland. Plane 102 piloted by Kleeman fired off an AIM-9 and destroyed the SU-22 , while the other tomcat fired off a sidewinder which hit the plane but the missile failed to detonate.

The Mig 23 Nato nicked named, Flogger-E

The F-14 Tomcats start to descend from 20,000 ft while building up their speed. In the ensuring minutes the F-14 executed a series of jinks turn design to warn off the enemy fighters which now has been identified as Soviet built Mig 23. With the help of the GCI the Libyan fighters were able to counter move the American fighters. After the show of hostility, the Air Warfare Commander on Kennedy gave the Tomcats a "Warning Yellow and Weapons Hold signal", which meant any action taken in self defense from this point on is authorized.

After the Mig 23 have jinked the F-14 for the fifth time, the lead Tomcat switch on the master armament switched and at the range of 13 miles, he fired an AIM-7 and immediately executed a 30 degree turn to the left while the wingman follow the similar suit . Quickly both aircraft turned back into the MIGs and 202 fired another sparrow , and in the same time 207 fired an AIM-7 which destroyed a MIG-23. The pilot safely ejected and chute was seen .

As the Mig went down in flames, the lead F-14 performed a 4 and a half G turn to put him self in the trail of the remaining Mig. As he prepared to fire a AIM-9, the familiar growl sound was nowhere to be heard, he frantically tried to change missile station but nothing was to be heard. As the distance between the Tomcat and the Mig closed he deiced to use a sparrow instead, but he was too close. In desperation he switched back to the AIM-9 and started to twist the sidewinder tone volume , A TONE , he got a tone. Apparently the tone was accidentally turned off in the heat of the battle, without wasting another second he fired the missile and the MIG went up in flames.

The entire battle took less than 7 minute to finish from the call of E-2 to the destruction of the last MIG.

A Victory against Terrorist

During this incident , the terrorist murdered a passenger by the name of Leon Klinghoffer. He was shot in the head and the chest on his wheelchair and pushed overboard by the order of Abbas. This cold blooded act savagery angered Americans world wide. Instead of trying to bring these perpetrators to justice , the Egyptian government promised the terrorist if the passenger of the cruise was released safely, they would have a safe passage out of Egypt. After the Liner docked in Cairo, the terrorist boarded a charted Egyptian airline.

The White House immediately ordered the Sixth Fleet to take action once the terrorist boarded the plane. A plan devised by carrier wing commander Robert Brodzky was approved by the White House. Eight planes took off from the carrier USS Saratoga, four F-14 Tomcats ( VF-74 and VF-103 ), one E-2C AEW, two KA-6D tankers, and an EA-6B EW electronic warfare plane, all of them Grumman built plane to participate in this mission.

The E-2C was positioned off the coast of Egypt and scanned the sky for departing plane from the Cairo airport. The Tomcats were positioned in a north-south barCAP (barrier air combat patrol). Two nearby EC-135 and EA-3A monitored all electro-magnetic emanations and listened in on the radio transmissions. Once the 737 was identified, the EA- 6B moved in and jammed all transmission from the 737, effectively isolating it from the outside world. The F-14 was on the verge of intercepting it.

The Tomcats approached the airliner with all light distinguish, one Tomcat had to get as close as 15 feet to identify the airplane ! At this point 3 more Tomcat joined the silent hunt, as this was happening the E-2C began to communicate with the pilot in the airline. When the pilot refused to turn to Sigonella, Italy because they were intimidated by the terrorist, the E-2C proceeded to the next plan. The Tomcats were directed to move up beside and slightly in front of the airline, and simultaneously under the command of the Hawkeye, they would turn on their external lights.

At this point, the terrified pilot had no choice but to land in Sigonella, a NATO airbase. The terrorist was than arrested and taken into custody by the Italian officers.

Gulf War

Bosnia

Iranian Tomcats

During the Iraq Iran war, the Tomcat saw little actions. Due to western embargo it's believed that the Tomcat fleet is unable to operate with an excess of 20 Tomcat at any given time.

It is believed that The Iranian Tomcat scored 4 kills against the Iraqi while losing supposedly 5 Tomcat against the Iraqi Mirage and Migs.

It is believed that Iran uses spare part of some Tomcat to maintain other operational Tomcats and in 11th February 1985, about 25 Tomcat flew over Teheran in a military display.

It is also believed that some Iranian Tomcat found its way to the Soviet Union in exchange for military assistance and weapons.

An F-14 Tomcat Painted in Iranian scheme

Miscellaneous Events

• The Tomcat just entered service at the end of the Vietnam war, although there was no aerial engagements it did participate in the in operation Frequent wind in 1975 where it provided top cover for the evacuation of the US Embassy in Saigon
• Tomcats were used as recon fighters during the invasion of Grenada in 1983 in operation Urgent Fury.
• Tomcat provided top cover for US fighter planes during the operation against the Libyan from March 24-26 1986.
• There was an engagement in 1989 between the US F-14 Tomcat from USS Independence and Iranian F-4's, although missiles was fired no kills was achieved from both side. The carrier was sent to protect the tankers coming in an out of the Persian Gulf.
• The Tomcat flew numerous fighter escort for Navy fighter Bombers during the Persian Gulf War.