From the Gulf of Sidra to the skies over Afghanistan. The complete combat history of the F-14 Tomcat...as told by the pilots who flew it. For more than three decades, the Grumman F-14 Tomcat was the US Navy's premier carrier-based, multi-role fighter jet. From its harrowing combat missions over Libya to its appearance on the silver screen in movies like Top Gun and Executive Decision, the F-14 has become an icon of American air power. Now, for the first time in a single volume, Tomcat Fury explores the illustrious combat history of the F-14: from the Gulf of Sidra...to the Iran-Iraq War...to the skies over Afghanistan in the Global War on Terror.

"A Fireside book."/ Includes index./ Includes bibliographical references (p. 235-242).

From Topgun to Squadron Command You’re in the cockpit of the legendary F-14 Tomcat fighter, blazing along at twice the speed of sound seven miles above the ocean and the carrier that hurled you off its deck. You’re practicing dogfighting with “aggressors,” guys on your side flying F-16s. You’re patrolling the tense skies above Iraq, and with the push of a button you can launch the 100-mile Phoenix missile that can blow a foe to scrap before you even see him. You are an expert in fighter tactics and aircraft carrier operations, and it all leads to your command of an F-14 fighter squadron of more than three hundred people. Sounds like a week’s worth of daydreams, but it’s all real-life in the career of Dave “Bio” Baranek, and he shares it with you in the exciting, superbly crafted new book, Tomcat Rio. Dave – callsign “Bio” – pulled his readers into the exciting world of the F-14 and the Navy’s TOPGUN program with his popular books Topgun Days and Before Topgun Days. Now he’s back with the rest of the story, as he reaches the top level of expertise and proves it, not just in graded competitions but also where it counts, where you shoot at them and they shoot at you. Dave also shares the challenges he faced. A deadly foe called complacency. Learning a whole new mission late in his career. The unexpected trials that come with leading a squadron in the dynamic environment of Naval Aviation. This third volume is full of adventures, lessons, and inspiration. If you are a casual reader, you’ll turn the last page as a dedicated Tomcat fan. To make it all even more real, Tomcat Rio includes dozens of Bio’s best and most acclaimed photos. Photographer George Hall hailed one shot as “one of the best Tomcat photos ever taken.” In words and pictures, Bio immerses you in rich detail. He pipes you aboard as a member of an F-14 squadron. You share the camaraderie of Type A personalities. You plan risky missions, going toe-to-toe against America’s most volatile foes. You can almost smell the pungent jet exhaust, almost feel the gut-wrenching G’s of a dogfight, as Tomcat Rio pitches you into the thick of it as only Bio can tell it. Strap in! You’re going for one fantastic ride.

Designed as the ultimate long range fleet defence fighter interceptor for the US Navy, the Tomcat entered frontline service in 1973 as a replacement for the legendary F-4 Phantom II. The F-14 achieved its first aerial victories, against the Libyan Arab Republic Air Force, in August 1981, and went on to see action in Operations Desert Storm, Southern Watch, Deliberate Force, Enduring Freedom and, finally, Iraqi Freedom. Employed primarily as a precision bomber with the US Navy from the late 1990s until its retirement in 2006, the F-14 remains in service today with the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force --Book Jacket.

Tomcat Alley contains over seven-hundred images depicting the venerable F-14 Tomcat, bureau number by bureau number. Each U.S. Navy Tomcat is traced from date of delivery through February 1998. After a brief introduction, informative captions provide details concerning every Tomcat model, modification, and the fate of each aircraft including those stricken due to operational accidents, retired to the bone-yard, or resting as gate guards at military installations around the country. The majority of Tomcats are shown in full-color with images displaying every paint scheme worn by the F-14, including many water-based schemes applied during various tactical exercises and deployments. Images also include every squadron commanders aircraft, nose art, tail colors, over 150 patches and insignia, bicentennial schemes, and Tomcats which participated in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm. Additionally, the Su-22, MiG-23, and Hi-8 killers are depicted along with movie star Tomcats from Final Countdown, Topgun, and Executive Decision.

The Hawker Sea Fury was the final piston engine fighter produced by the company. Developed from the earlier Tempest this aircraft served with distinction over Korea being flown by RN and RAN pilots. This book covers the story of the type and is well illustrated using photographs and diagrams.

With a wealth of illustrations, Terry Treadwell tells the story of this famous aircraft - The F-14 Tomcat.

An unabashedly reverential account in photos and text relying heavily upon military releases. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

To read a book, to go page after page through a comic, even to watch a film, very much resembles the adventure of travelling down a road. When the book has several volumes, when a multitude of secondary stories cross with the main story, the road seems to be full of adventures; because you have a long way to go, surrounded by miraculous landscapes, you have many surprising detours to make, you have to walk over bridges and viaducts. This is the situation with the present cycle, that of the “Little Frog’s Heart“, about which I am more and more convinced that it is written “for all the ages“, that is, not only for my grandchildren, but even for grandparents like myself. In this volume, the Drop of Blood we met in the first book seems to be tired and would like to get some rest. The Flea and the little Silk Worm, for a change, seem to be not just well rested, but also so curious and talkative that they do not fall silent even once over the course of three hundred pages or so. The Flea, who is older and more experienced, tells the little Worm a multitude of miraculous stories, only asking the Worm not interrupt him! As if that’s what’s going to happen! As if you can make such a minuscule, yet so lively a creature ask not just hundreds, but thousands of questions! Just like any other child, the little Worm is full of “whys“, and the Flea, despite his feigned discontent, strives to answer them all. And so we find, together with the little Worm, a multitude of things about dreams and their interpretation, about the wisdom of fleas, about what happened to the horned cattle, or about the power of memories. But, above all, the memorable story may be the more lengthy story, which crosses some of those already mentioned, about the burial of the Old Rat, former master of the Flea and his family. As in other parts of this cycle, what is completely impressive here is the way in which the mythological elements, some connected to primitive, folkloric Christianity, some connected to paganism, are introduced in this somehow “realist“ story, even if it is written in the key of the fantastic and the miraculous. For the reader, irrespective of age as I realise now, reading these volumes is surely a pleasure. For the young reader, for the very young, for those who do not read yet but are read to, this is also a sort of “book of teachings“ through which readers can explain to themselves even those things which go above the first layer of understanding. On the other hand, they can make contact with the ethical dimension of our experience in this world. Congratulations to the author, and I wish good progress to the readers of all ages; as for me, I am waiting. Waiting for the next volumes, I mean. – Liviu Antonesei, 9 June 2011, Iași

Based on recent conversations with Tim O'Brien, previously published interviews, and new readings of all his works -- including Tomcat in Love -- this book is the first study to concentrate on the role and representation of trauma as the central focus of all O'Brien's works. Book jacket.