Grumman F-14 Tomcat variant
Grumman F-14 Tomcat YF-14A
Designation applied to the first twelve airframes, used for flight test and design evaluation before delivery to operational units.
Image pending
- December 21, 1970
- First flight
- 12
- Units built
History
The first twelve aircraft off the line served as development airframes for the VFX programme and are frequently quoted under the YF-14A designation. The first of them took to the air on 21 December 1970 from Grumman's Calverton facility on Long Island, where final assembly and test flying were carried out. These airframes covered envelope expansion, variable-sweep wing behaviour and weapon system integration. Their numbers are counted inside the F-14A production total.