These Guys Catch An F-14 Tomcat Do The Best Thing Ever

This Seriously Never Gets Old.

We love our World War II planes around here, but our propeller driven warbirds are limited to a certain speed. Most of them top out in the mid 400s, so the one thing missing here is the that awesome sonic boom.

While on a carrier, some spectators were treated to just that. Not only that, it was done by the now retired F-14 Tomcat. Flying super low and close to the water surface, that vapor cone started flickering and then “boom,” it broke through. It’s still mesmerizing how loud the sonic boom is no matter how many times you hear it.

Notice the swept back wings when the Tomcat punches through while turning.

As for the featured aircraft here, it’s the now retired F-14 Tomcat. First taking to the skies in 1970, the Navy officially retired it in 1998 and replaced it with the F/A-18 Hornet. It’s most notable feature (aside for being one hell of a fighter) was its variable-sweep wings.

This feature enabled the pilots to change the extension of the wings depending on the speed. While extended forward they helped stabilize the aircraft at lower speeds, while extended backwards they helped with high speed maneuverability.