Hi everyone ;
I was going through my 1/72 F-14 kit stash as I’m looking for a F-14 that operated in the 1991 Desert Storm conflict with the TARPS pod fitted . Here a some scans of my kit stash with decals , I was wondering if one or any of what I have would be suitable or perhaps some suggestions to an aftermarket decal sheet that might be available ?
Are any of these kit markings suitable for a TARPS F-14 Desert Storm Tomcat .
The VF-32 bird would be your best bet (lowermost left hand corner picture). Back then, when there were two F-14 squadrons per air wing, as a rule of thumb, the squadron with the 2XX modexs had the TARPS birds, and the TARPS birds normally weren’t the CAG or COs bird (200-201), but a regular line bird with a higher number (207-214). There weren’t any D models back then, so you can rule those out. Almost all of the F-14 units there were east coast units, so look for the birds with tail codes start with A.
VF-74 and VF-103 were both onboard the U.S.S. SARATOGA during Dessert Shield/Storm. I know that we had TARPS birds onboard. Hope this helps.
I thought I read somewhere that Desert Storm Tomcats were F -14B’s which had different engines. Although personally I doubt whether I could pick out the differences.
The F-14B was called the F-14A+ at the time of Desert Storm. It was redesignated as the F-14B later in 1991 ot 1992 IIRC. The F-14A+/F-14B is essentially a re-engined F-14A.
The tailcones of the PW TF-30 (F-14A) and GE F-110 (F-14A+/B/D) are quite different visually. It’s relatively easy to see the difference in the engines, less so to tell the difference between the later marks.
This is the booty end of a F-14 with the GE F-110 engines (a D in this instance)
Not the best pic, but its the only one I have in my personal photos of the back end of an A model with the TF-30s.
The F-14D is similar to the F-14B, having the same engines. Most of its changes are internal. The real only way to identify a D visually is the “side by side” chin sensors on the D
compared to the single width sensor on the A/B
F-14B
F-14A (later style camera type sensor)
F-14A early style (pre camera)
