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  • Rocky

F-14 bomber wing sweep angle

I’ve been doing some reading on the F-14 as a bomber, and I am hoping someone here can shed some light on a question.
The wings of the F-14 automatically sweep from 20 degrees on takeoff to 68 degrees at speeds above Mach 1.2. At speeds between Mach 0.4 and Mach 0.75 they remain at only 22 degrees. There is a ground attack mode, where the wings lock at 55 degrees, to remove one variable in the bomb release calculation. But if the F-14 is dropping a bomb while flying straight and level at altitude, I wouldn’t think that would be an issue, especially dropping a LGB or JDAM. The F-14 was limited to 470 mph when carrying four LGB due to buffeting on the seeker heads of the aft bombs. At that speed, the natural sweep would be 22 degrees. So which would the sweep be when carrying LGB, 22 degrees, or 55 degrees? I have wings to glue on a model…
:confused:

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