This volume also came up missing during my search for the Bell XFL-1 book.
Published 12 years before the F-14 sunset the and now a 26 year old book, this volume still stands as an excellent description of the first twenty years of service of the F-14 and really just starts getting into the late development of the Air to Ground mission which had been latent in the AWQ- 9 since the beginning.
Since the author was involved in the program there's a lot of "I was there, did that, done that" stories on how the airplane was developed and modified in service which is okay, as Admiral Gillcrist had plenty to brag about.
This is not a "operational history" per se, but does cover operational use of the F-14 and pretty much predicted how the F-14 would end. (Cheney and the -18 mafia.) Interestingly enough the chapters covering the '91 Gulf and Red Sea operations pretty much forecast the events over AFG later vis-à-vis the F-18 and combat range.
Admiral Gillcrist also glosses over (By not mentioning them.) some of the quality problems from both Grumman and Pratt Whitney that persisted up to late 80's as well some decisions made by the Navy TF30 Program Manager's that adversely affected the ability of the TF30 to make it's guaranteed 750 Hour Hot Section Interval.
The final chapters cover what could have been with the Tomcat 21, future concepts, a brief chapter on the future of Naval Aviation and a bit on the (then) future F-18E which has nothing in common with the F-18C except for the rivets. The Admiral was correct in his predictions as the F-18E didn't have nearly the legs or the payload of the F-14 which was 23 years older.
As a personal aside? He gets a few dates and places wrong. But there's nothing that is serious and detracts from the book. (A few that stood out for me personally were the transition end dates for VF-31 and VF-202 and the Post PPC481 static military thrust and weight ratings for the TF-30 are different inflight and on the deck. Admiral Gillcrist only used the military thrust with the 9th stage bleeds open.)
Well-illustrated with various "action photographs, detail photographs useful for modelers are conspicuous by their absence in this book. Modelers would probably be well served to avoid this one. Highly recommended as an introduction to the F-14 and its introduction and operations in the fleet up to about 1993-1994.
Because I mention quality issues with Grumman, I'm going to post a companion review on a book written by a former Grumman CEO as well.