It is ironic that , though the F-14 has a wing able to take any angle automatically between 20 to 68 degrees according to the varying demands of the mission , it actually usage has been almost totally in the fighter/interceptor role. The main advantages of the swing wing for the F-14 includes to reduce take off and landing speed , facilitating cat ( accelerated ) launches at high gross weight and to reduce fuel consumption in subsonic loiter and enable higher altitude to be reached at low subsonic speeds.

Although the Tomcat and the A-6 Intruder are hardly more different in other way, both planes share a similar inlet duct , wing and landing gear geometry, the Latter folding forward alongside the duct into compartment faired under the wing roots. Unlike the A-6 the long fully augmented engines extend far down stream to variable nozzles at the extreme rear of the aircraft , widely separated throughout by fuselage tankage and with a canted vertical tail above each engine and the airbrake above and below the wide gap between the nozzles

The pilot and his RIO sits well separated in a capacious tandem cockpit . Aerodynamics of the F-14 tomcat are complex with a large fixed wing glove carrying the outer wing pivot 17ft and 10 inches apart and incorporating retractable canards .

When a F-14 Tomcat crashed on USS Kennedy while landing , a decision was made to replace engines on the F-14A (plus) version. This replaced the F-14A production from November 1987. The F110 engine are also being fitted to the F-14D version which introduces an almost complete suite of digital avionics which includes the APG-71 radar and a new IR search/track unit.