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Grumman F-14 Tomcat

The F-14 Tomcat is a supersonic, twin-engine, two-seat, variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft designed for carrier-based operations. It was developed by Grumman Aerospace Corporation (now part of Northrop Grumman) for the United States Navy and first entered service in the 1970s.

It was regarded as one of the most iconic and versatile fighter jets of its time.

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6 May 1945. Chance Vought F4U-1D Corsair aboard USS Bunker Hill (CV-17).

@ron_eisele via X

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An A-6A landing on USS Kitty Hawk in 1968.

@VoicesfromNam via X

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A-6E Intruders from VA-52 'Knightriders' assigned to CVW-11 (Tailcode 'NH') aboard CVA-63 USS Kitty Hawk in formation during training in preparation for the squadron's 1970 combat deployment to Vietnam.

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Have you ever seen these badass Black Birds in formation.

Well now you have!

@MilitarycooI via X

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[matty19k-deactivated20260422]

Grumman F-14D Tomcat the Black Lions

[edsonjrk]

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Lockheed SR-71 "Blackbird", a retired long-range, high-altitude strategic reconnaissance aircraft. 

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SR-71A

@Violetpilot1 via X

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Sometimes you didn’t have to refuel.

You YO YOed

The SR-71 never stopped leaking. it did not seal up. It kept leaking.

YO YO

The SR-71, needed to be refuelled approximately every hour. Refueling was tricky, but SR 71 pilots were always up to the challenge.

Usually, refueling was the first thing that they did after takeoff. Under some circumstances, while flying from Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa, they would takeoff with enough fuel for the entire mission. No refueling necessary it was called a Yo-Yo. but this was a maintenance nightmare. A few of our missions required the SR-71 to accelerate to Mach 3+ right after takeoff with a 65,000-pound fuel load.

The Yo-Yo procedure had the crew chief completely refuel the plane to full tanks of 80,000 pounds of fuel. Then, with the nitrogen pressurization system working, they de-fueled 15,000 pounds of JP-7, ending up with a 65,000-pound fuel load and a plane that was capable of going immediately to Mach SR 71 mechanic John Olp explains Tim Adams, the reason for completely filling the fuel tanks was to displace as much oxygen as possible from the tank and replace it with nitrogen while partially defueling to inert the airspace in the tanks, preventing possible spontaneous ignition due to excess aircraft skin temperatures at high mach speeds!

The SR 71 crewmembers called it a “rocket ride” because everything had to be done quickly.

Refueling presented special problems: visibility was poor due to the triangular forward window, and the helmet associated with the pressure suit caused undesired reflections. The receptacle (which received the fuel) was aft of the cockpit; therefore, the SR-71 had to fly under- neath the tanker. Normally, one would take on about 70,000 pounds or 11,000 gallons of JP7 fuel.

Typically, refueling took place at about 25,000 feet. As the weight increased and the air speed had to be held down to accommodate the slower tanker, the aircraft became thrust-limited; that is, drag increased as it approached the stall speed for this unique aircraft (there was no additional thrust available without afterburner). At that point, the pilot had to move one throttle slightly into the after- burner range to hold position.

Using one afterburner required the pilot to counter the asymmetry with rudder or just tolerate some sideways flight. Interestingly, the pilots developed the left afterburner technique so the aircraft would yaw slightly to the right.

Only the left..

This way, only the left quarter panel had defogged air, and one could get that benefit if needed. Refueling was an intense effort for the pilot and was required two to four times for each mission.

Source: Rich Graham, Aloysius Casey.

~ Linda Sheffield

@Habubrats71 via X

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