Do any F-14 Tomcats still fly?
After 36 years since the F-14 Tomcat took its first flight in December 1970, the F-14 officially entered service between 1972-1974. And then retired in September 2006 and its last flight taking place in October 2006. A majority of the Tomcats were destroyed. Some made as museum pieces. The F-14s were destroyed to prevent parts from landing in the hands of other countries, or more specifically, Iran. The US had sold 80 Tomcats to Iran in 1974, but the 1979 Iranian Revolution saw the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has become much less friendly to the West.The F-14s weren’t the only aircraft destroyed in the US-Israeli strikes. Imagery also shows at least 10 other Iranian aircraft destroyed along taxiways—which analysts believe are F-7 fighters, an export variant of China’s Chengdu J-7.Iran, the only other country ever to operate the F-14, would go on to take delivery of 79 Tomcats, which were sold with a maintenance package, 10 years of spare parts, the Phoenix missile system and U. S. Iranian pilots.
How many countries have F-14 Tomcat?
You might be wondering how the Iranian Air Force got its hands on the Grumman F-14 Tomcat when, as far as we know, no other country operated this swing-wing interceptor except the United States and, well, Iran! The most successful F-14 Tomcat ace was the Iranian Air Force pilot Jalil Zandi with 11 victories in the Iran-Iraq War 1980-88. The victories include four MiG-23s, two Su-22s, two MiG-21s, and three Mirage F1s.The highest-scoring pilot in the history of the F-14 Tomcat is the Iranian ace Jalil Zandi, credited with shooting down 11 Iraqi aircraft during Iran–Iraq War making him the most successful F-14 pilot.
Who sold F-14s to Iran?
The United States sold Iran 80 of its F-14s in the 1970s. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the regime somehow kept the fighter flying for decades. Following the 1979 revolution, Western nations blocked Iran’s attempts to buy new aircraft, leaving the country reliant on 50-year-old American jets and a small number of Soviet aircraft. As a result, the IRIAF has struggled to match modern fifth-generation fighters such as the F-35 and the F-22.