F-14 Tomcat in Detail & Scale
About this ebook
F-14 Tomcat in Detail & Scale is an all-new book about one of the most well known and popular military aircraft of all time. This profusely illustrated book is written by Haagen Klaus, who previously co-authored F/A-18E/F Super Hornet in Detail & Scale. The author put together a team of expert contributors who worked with him to make this the most accurate and in-depth book possible on the Tomcat. Among these are people who flew and maintained the F-14 and others who worked at Grumman during the time when the Tomcat was designed and built. In addition to these experts, many aviation photographers have contributed scores of general and detail photographs that provide extensive coverage.
Detail & Scale published two earlier books on the F-14 in 1979 and 1982. It has since published three comprehensive works on the colors and markings of the Tomcat, and this new book completes the coverage of the F-14 with all the hallmarks of the Detail & Scale Series of books.
The book begins with two chapters that look at the Tomcat’s history. The first covers the developmental history, while the second looks at the operational history, including the Tomcat’s extensive use in combat. The third chapter provides an in-depth coverage of the specific variants of the F-14 that were produced, as well as a detailed look at the various systems and how they evolved during the operational life of the Tomcat. Numerous photographs supplement an informative text in each of these chapters.
The focus of the books in the Detail & Scale Series is on the details of the aircraft. Almost all of the 295+ photographs are in color, and 234 detail photographs show every detail of the Tomcat, inside and out. For example, there are 34 cockpit photos showing all of the details and differences in the F-14A, F-14B, and F-14D cockpits, and they are accompanied by detailed captions that explain and point out the features and how the cockpit displays and controls changed from one variant to the next.
Details of the fuselage, wings, landing gear, tail, engines, air-to-air and air-to-surface weapons, and even the flight gear worn by pilots and RIOs are illustrated with photographs, many of which were taken specifically for this publication.
A comprehensive text explains all of the many upgrades made to the Tomcat over the years it was in service in amazing detail, and all of the physical changes are illustrated with photographs which are supplemented with artwork that points out exactly what the changes were and when they were made.
For scale modelers, the Modelers Section at the back of the book, one of the hallmarks of the Detail & Scale Series, covers the Tomcat kits that are available from the major manufacturers, and a text reviews the kits, pointing out the plusses and minuses of each.
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About the author
Born and raised on the east end of Long Island, Haagen Klaus grew up around airplanes. His love of aviation started early and was encouraged by his parents, his uncle (a USAF colonel), and a community of mentors at Grumman Aircraft Corporation’s flight test center at Calverton, New York. In college, Haagen considered an ROTC route towards a career in military aviation, but he was unexpectedly drawn to a different path – archaeology. Haagen graduated with degrees in anthropology, archaeology, biological anthropology, and studio art from SUNY Plattsburgh (BA, 2000), Southern Illinois University (MA, 2003), and The Ohio State University (Ph.D., 2008).
Since 2002, he has directed a multi-national, multi-decade bioarchaeological research project in the deserts of Peru. Haagen is a widely published professor at George Mason University just outside Washington, D.C., training students in human anatomy, paleopathology, bone biology, South American archaeology, and forensic anthropology. His research and teaching have garnered numerous awards and he was named a National Geographic Explorer in 2014. Since 2003, Haagen has also served in consultancy roles to law enforcement, from local police departments to the Department of Homeland Security.
Haagen has been building aircraft models since he was seven years old. In 1997, he became an active member of the International Plastic Modeler’s Society. Haagen has worked in hobby retail and was co-founder of IPMS/Champlain Valley with Frank Baehre (Lt.Col., USAF, ret.) and of the CAN-AM Con model contest series that continues today. He is currently an active member of IPMS/Northern Virginia. His scale models have won awards at local, regional, and national-level competitions. Haagen served at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum to help preserve their scale aircraft model collection.
A Detail & Scale publication was the first aircraft reference book that Haagen ever saw when he was young, and coincidentally it was Volume #9 in the original Detail & Scale Series, F-14A/B Tomcat in Detail & Scale. In 2014, Bert Kinzey began a conversation with him at the IPMS/USA Nationals that evolved into Haagen’s roles as a contributing photographer and the editor of Scale Modeling News and Reviews. Haagen has since reviewed hundreds of kits, aftermarket detail sets, decals, and books for readers around the world on the website and on social media. He lives in Fairfax, Virginia, with his wife Jenny and his two canine writing companions, Jackson and Rosie. This is Haagen’s second book with Detail & Scale.
