[tanknetter]

The engine nozzles, plus the single TCS mount in the nose (as opposed to the dual TSC/IRST mount in the F-14D) give this particular Tomcat away as an F-14B, rather than an “A” (although it might have been one of the initial upgrades under the F-14A+ program).

[USNBandit]

The B was called the A+ before they decided to call it the B. Probably the hardest model to land on the boat due to really peppy motors and a bad HUD. The D model had the same motors, but an advanced HUD with a good velocity vector and a Power Carrot that gave you trend information. In the end game they started putting better HUDs in those aircraft.

Personally, I would have put the digital radar in all the aircraft and left the old Pratt motors in the rest of the jets. It would have cost half as much and we could have done the whole fleet. The compressor stall/spin issue in the A was almost matched by the AB burn through explosion issues in the GE engine.