YouTube / Jason Hartberger
By this point, we’ve all probably seen countless videos of F-14s taking off. But what if we told you that a Nimitz-class carrier once launched three F-14s simultaneously? You heard that right.
This was the final fly-off event of the F-14 Tomcat and was the last deployment of the iconic supersonic fighter. USS Theodore Roosevelt had just completed a successful cruise and was offloading its airwing before it returned home.
In doing so, the carrier’s crew held a “Launch Event” that also highlighted its ability to launch three planes at the same time.
As expected, the “Triple Tomcat Launch” was a resounding success. All three Tomcats were able to take off from the carrier in under 20 seconds. What a sight that must have been to watch in person!