Tomcat Fury: A Combat History of the F-14 Paperback – September 10, 2019

I already knew quite a bit about the F-14 but had never understood why the USN retired the plane 13 years ago. Mike Guardia goes the extra mile in this wonderful "biography" of the plane, offering up all the minute details about where it came from, how it was developed and, imho, why it was finally taken out of production.The author's bio notes that Guardia, a military historian, has been twice-nominated for, but never won, the Army Historical Foundation's Distinguished Book Award. I think he deserves it for this work alone due to its incredible detail and how he relates the F-14 to so much important U.S. history. What could have become an overly-technical analysis was actually akin to reading "old war stories" from the memoirs of a battle-hardened soldier.The glory days of the F-14 were some of the parts of the book I enjoyed the most. The author's ability to make you feel as if you were in the Gulf of Sidra during those tense days in the early 1980s is pure talent on his part. I had many friends in the military during that era and have suggested they read this book. From 1970 until 2006, the F-14 was one of the U.S. military's miracle fighters. Guardia's wonderful book takes us all the way back to the days when the F-14 was just a thought and brings us up to the present with his informative and educational book. One of the book's strong points was the level of detail. Face it, anyone reading a book about the history of the F-14 desires a certain level of "granular" information about all the technical aspects. And even though I'm no specialist or even mechanically inclined, the vocabulary the author used, as well as his way of describing things in general, made this a page-turner for me.Even if you're not a military history buff, Tomcat Fury will give you several hours of excitement and probably teach you a thing or two along the way. Thanks to Mr. Guardia for this excellent addition to my bookshelf.

In his usual brisk style, Guardia wastes no time diving into the details of the history of this fascinating aircraft. Military history enthusiasts will have plenty to sink their teeth into here - and while casual readers may find some anecdotes a little dry, the long history and number of situations the F-14 has found itself in keeps it interesting. Kudos to Mike for another efficient and well-written exploration of military history.As the Navy's primary air superiority fighter for many years, the F-14 Tomcat was a huge part of the U.S. strategy across multiple conflicts. And while it has been retired and replaced now, it's central role makes it a worthy subject of a detailed historical analysis like this one. Iran's use of the aircraft is also an interesting anecdote, as well as the insights from many pilots and technicians who have devoted their lives and service to the maintenance and use of this powerful aircraft.With the renewed interest in Top Gun, this book should also be an interesting addition to those fascinated by the Grumman F-14 Tomcat's central role in that plot.Don't be intimidated by the depth and level of detail here. The layout is structured intentionally, and makes for easy reading once you get into it. With low kindle pricing, this book is definitely worth a shot if you're interested in a little dive into the combination of military aviation technology and history.

Tomcat Fury: A Combat History of the F-14 by Mike Guardia is a military history book about the F-14 featuring details on its use in combat, as well as some technical details, photographs, and how it progressed in its development from inception to the subsequent generations of it, and why it was phased out of use by the United States Air Force.The author, Guardia, goes into detail about the combat history of the Tomcat, giving brief background information of the wars and then much more context and explanation of the battles. His way of chronicling the battles is impressive to the point where I could close my eyes and picture the event he was describing. His ability of giving details while keeping it readable for a layperson is superb.Guardia spends a majority of the book describing battles the Tomcat was in, not just with Americans but also battles that the Iranians used it in. Guardia even talks about rescue missions that downed Tomcat pilots were in, even including as much of their story as applicable and quotes from them.I highly recommend this book to anyone curious about aviator battles, the history of one of the greatest aircraft fighters of the 20th century. If you are doing research or are just curious about history, like if you enjoy the History Channel, or YouTube channels like Forgotten Weapons or Military History Visualized, I suspect that you will enjoy this book.

If you’re a naval aviation fan, this is a decent book. Not the best writing, but the history is very interesting.

The F14 Tomcat was my favourite jet fighter during my teenage years. This book concentrates on the operational story of the Tomcat with lots of anecdotes from former pilots and NIOs. Great read.

In un periodo così triste, se mi chiedo quale sia l'aereo che meglio riesce ad esprimere capacità di reazione, energia, forza, slancio ed un'aura di sicurezza, be' penso che sia proprio l'F14 Tomcat. E' l'aereo della mia generazione. E lo adoro. Veramente complimenti all'autore che ha saputo ritrasmettere queste sensazioni. Molto interessanti le testimonianze. Non potevo che dare il massimo punteggio a lui....e al mitico F14 che vola ancora.

I have been a F-14 Tomcat junkie for over 10 years. Well past its retirement, watching videos from 80s and 90s of F-14 Tomcat doing airshow demos in the hands of likes of Dale 'Snort' Snodgrass, the capabilities always blew my mind of how he could make it dance like no other plane despite its big size. USAF has always been great about marketing the accomplishments of the likes of F-15 etc., but Navy has never tooted their horns about how F-14s with their pilots and RIOs had been put in harms way over international waters especially in the 80s and the 90s. Once you read this book, it becomes clear F-14 is one of the best thing Navy ever got. Navy to this day in hindsight misses the F-14 dearly as its capabilities never were replaced once the threat of World War 3 was over after the cold war. This book goes into great details of the 36 year history of the F-14 through the 70s, 80s, 90s and 00s including F-14's role in the Iran-Iraq war. Listening to interviews of pilots and RIOs who flew this incredible plane, I always knew there is so much more to the history of this plane than the 5-0 kill ratio. This book goes into great details of confrontations F-14 Tomcat pilots were having on a regular basis in the 80s "Line of death" patrols in the Gulf of Sidra where F-14 Tomcat pilots were regularly challenged by Qaddafi's pilots testing their latest and greatest Soviet MIG-21, MIG-25, MIG-23, SU-22, French Mirage etc. With first hand accounts from the pilots who came head to head in those dogfights, it is a fascinating to see how Tomcat could take the fight to the enemy and would not even have to fire one missile to diffuse the escalating tensions in International waters. One pilot once said, F-14s greatness is measured not by how many kills it got, but more about how many kills it was able to avoid simply by scaring away the enemy. Furthermore, book goes into great details of the two Gulf of Sidra dogfights including pilot of 1988 Gulf of Sidra incident where one of the F-14 Tomcat pilot pulled a 10.4g maneuver without F-14 even getting any structural fatigue or damage. Stories like these speak to the brilliance of the engineering and design of this plane. In short, this book is a great summary of the 36 years of F-14 service. If you love this plane and want to read more about first hand accounts of pilots including Iran's 164 kills with the F-14 during the Iran and Iraq war, this book is a must-have for you. Especially with Kindle version now available, this book will make it enjoyable to read the accomplishments of this great jet. Also, some great pictures of the F-14 in the book.

Would highly recommend this book for any level of military aviation knowledge.

Enjoyed this nostalgic trip through the history of the Tomcat. Wish there was more action to report but the book was fine.