15-8619 —

F-14A-60-GR, BuNo 158619, was lost on 22Feb1977 at Naval Air Station Patuxent
River, MD, after entering a spin while conducting engine stall tests. Both crew
were killed.

- the above info is courtesy of Joe Baugher's fantastic website.joebaugher(dot)com

Three words that do not belong in any sentence with "F-14A", except when including
the phrase "avoid at all costs" are: "spin", "engine", and "stall".

What is that panel hanging down under Navy 7. and in a high speed pass???

Peter Sayers, they are ventral fins under each engine nacelle for stability.
In this case they're red on the outboard side and white in the inboard.

Spins in a F-14 are terrible things. I spent September and October of 1987 at Pax River setting up an ECAMS computer for the F/A-18 program, and they were testing devices to get a Tomcat out of a flat spin (the most dangerous spin for this a/c). I don't know whatever became of that testing (it was classified at the time), but I never saw it in the fleet and assume they abandoned the effort when they decided to decommission the Tomcats.