Paul T. Gillcrist

Purchased to replace a missing volume.
Published 12 years before the F-14 sunset the and now a 26 year old book, this volume still stands as an excellent description of the first twenty years of service of the F-14 and really just starts getting into the late development of the Air to Ground mission which had been latent in the AWQ- 9 since the beginning.
Since the author was involved in the program there’s a lot of “I was there, did that, done that” stories on how the airplane was developed and modified in service which is okay, as Admiral Gillcrist had plenty to brag about.
This is not a “operational history” per se, but does cover operational use of the F-14 and pretty much predicted how the F-14 would end. (Cheney and the -18 mafia.) Interestingly enough the chapters covering the ‘91 Gulf and Red Sea operations pretty much forecast the events over AFG later vis-à-vis the F-18 and combat range.
Admiral Gillcrist also glosses over (By not mentioning them.) some of the quality problems from both Grumman and Pratt Whitney that persisted up through the mid to late 80’s as well some decisions made by the Navy TF30 Program Manager’s that adversely affected the ability of the TF30 to make it’s guaranteed 750 Hour Host Section Interval.
The final chapters cover what could have been with the Tomcat 21, future concepts, a brief chapter on the future of Naval Aviation and a bit on the (then) future F-18E which has nothing in common with the F-18C except for the rivets. The Admiral was correct in his predictions as the F-18E didn’t have nearly the legs or the payload of the F-14 which was 23 years older.
As a personal aside? He gets a few dates and places wrong. But there’s nothing that is serious and detracts from the book. (A few that stood out for me personally were the transition end dates for VF-31 and VF-202 and the Post PPC481 static military thrust and weight ratings for the TF-30 are different inflight and on the deck. Admiral Gillcrist only used the military thrust with the 9th stage bleeds open.)
Well-illustrated with various “action photographs, detail photographs useful for modelers are conspicuous by their absence in this book. Modelers would probably be well served to avoid this one. Highly recommended as an introduction to the F-14 and its introduction and operations in the fleet up to about 1993-1994.… (meer)

Rear Admiral Paul T. Gillchrist (Ret.) published a memoir of his years as an aircraft carrier pilot. Gillchrist, whose career spans most of the years since the end of WW II, has an engaging style. The book contains numerous short vignettes describing memorable events. Ny favorite is the story of his trip with a sidewinder rattlesnake in the cockpit of an F9F-8 Cougar (single engine fighter). He had been asked to ferry a box taped shut with masking tape back to the base. This was a routine request as they were training in the desert and samples of small desert specimens such as horned toads were taken back to serve as examples of wildlife the pilots might encounter if forced to bailout. During a routine flight maneuver as he was on final approach, he knocked the box to the floor which then popped open. To his horror he saw a confused but furious rattlesnake getting ready to strike. He immediately threw the plane into a violent turn to flatten the snake against the wall. After several tries he managed to prop the control stick between his knees, grab the box, throw the plane into another vicious turn which threw the snake across the cockpit into the box, most of it anyway. He managed to stuff the tail into the box and reseal it, only to discover that he was passing over the control tower upside down with the air controllers screaming at him. They were sure he was suffering from an epileptic seizure. Too embarrassed to admit what happened he simply replied he had a small malfunction and landed routinely.

Or, there was the time he and his squadron were forced to practice football on the hangar deck of an aircraft carrier, a singularly unpleasant experience as the deck was made of metal. The team persuaded the coach to let them practice on the flight deck which was constructed of wood and softer, sort of. Twelve long passes later, 12 footballs had been lost over the side, and there was no more practice for the rest of the tour. "The coach was beside himself." Needless to say some of the stories are not at all humorous as he recounts numerous disasters and near misses. His descriptions of landing on a carrier at night are hair-raising and vivid. I do object to his obvious enjoyment at delivering napalm exactly on target.… (meer)