The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is an American supersonic, twin-engine, two-seat, twin-tail, variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft.
This first two air-to-air fights of the F-14 happened over the Gulf of Sidra, on the northern coast of Libya, in 1981 and 1989 respectively.
Here is the video of the first two air-to-air engagements of the F-14 tomcat
The first engagement happened on Aug. 19, 1981. On that day two F-14As from VF-41 “Black Aces”, “Fast Eagle 102” (BuNo 160403), flown by CDR Henry “Hank” Kleemann and LT David “DJ” Venlet, and “Fast Eagle 107” (BuNo 160390), flown by LT Lawrence “Music” Muczynski and LTJG James “Luca” Anderson), were vectored during their Combat Air Patrol (CAP) to confront two Su-22s that were launched to intercept an S-3A Viking that was orbiting just outside the internationally recognized 12-mile territorial water limit.
This time, though, one of the Fitters opened fire, launching a K-13/AA-2 “Atoll”, the Russian reverse-engineered variant of the AIM-9B Sidewinder but missed the target. The Tomcats, under their assigned Rules of Engagement (RoE), were cleared to engage if fired upon, so they returned fire shooting down both hostile aircraft with AIM-9L Sidewinders. After it was retired from the service, Fast Eagle 102 was put on display at the Commemorative Air Force Museum in Midland, Texas.
The second air-to-air engagement of the Tomcat happened in 1989 when the USS John F. Kennedy was sailing toward the eastern Mediterranean Sea. This time the aircraft carrier was outside the Gulf of Sidra but, on January 4, two MiG-23 were detected heading north toward the battle group. Two F-14s from VF-32 “Swordsmen”, “Gipsy 207” (BuNo 159610), flown by Swordsmen skipper Commander Joseph B. Connelly and Commander Leo F. Enwright, and “Gipsy 202″ (BuNo. 159437), flown by Lieutenant Hermon C. Cook III and Lieutenant Commander Steven P. Collins, were directed to intercept the Floggers.
The four aircraft were on a collision course, heading for each other, with the Libyans countering every turn made away from them by the U.S. Navy aircraft. After the fifth “counter-turn” of the MiG-23s, it was considered a hostile intent and the Gipsy 207 opened fire with two AIM-7 Sparrows radar-guided missiles, which however missed the target. After a defensive split, Gipsy 202 launched another Sparrow, shooting down the first MiG-23. Gipsy 207 then shot down the other MiG using a Sidewinder, before returning to the USS Kennedy.
Gypsy 207 was later upgraded to the F-14D(R) (Remanufactured) configuration and, now that it has been retired, is displayed at the National Air and Space Museum. Gypsy 202, according to Wikipedia, in 2017 was reported to be one of eight F-14s currently remaining stored at the Aircraft Maintenance and Restoration Group (AMARG) facility at Davis-Monthan AFB and scheduled to be placed in an unspecified museum.
