Navy Gallery

Tomcat on a Bear Hunt

This F-14 Tomcat has intercepted a Russian TU-44 'Bear' long range bomber, somewhere over the Mediterranean Sea.   The Bear's are used for recon, and also to launch, and control anti-ship cruise missiles.  They were a major threat to American Battle Groups in the Med, and were tracked carefully.  When ever a Bear was located in the area of the carrier, a pair of Tomcats were sent to keep close eye on it until it was out of range of the ship.   I made this photo from the Navigator/Bombardier seat of an A-6 Intruder, we were sent just to take a photo of the Tomcat and Bear together.  The Bear is a huge aircraft, as big, or bigger than, our B-52, and capable of very long range.  The bulges under it's nose and belly are radar and guidance systems . . it can control the flight of cruise missiles launched from a ship too far away from a target to actually 'see' it . . and thus extend the attack range of Soviet missile ships.  Under the belly of the Tomcat, you can see a Phoenix missile, capable of hitting the Bear from 60 miles away, and on it's wing, a Sidewinder missile, for close range attacks.

Camera: Canon F1, 100mm lens,   VPS film

This page is best viewed with a salt breeze in your face.

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