I remember reading that during mock dogfights that pilots could easily tell the F-14's energy state just by looking at the position of the wings. So savvy F-14 pilots would manually change the position of the wings instead of setting it to "auto". Guess it maneuvered decently in delta configuration too (large part of lift was produced by the body of the aircraft iirc).
There is a great book on one of the last F-14 squadrons called "Black Aces High". Details their combat actions during the 99 Serbian air war.
We in the F-106 were also savvy when flying against F-14s. We had a data link UHF receiver that could be used to monitor their inter plane tactical frequency and be up to date with what they were going to do prior to and during a dog fight. On one occasion, we briefed a two v two for some aerial jousting. My wingman had a mechanical at the quick check before takeoff and had to abort the sortie. So, I launched, checked in with GCI and started making radios calls in two different voices to myself over our briefed frequency. Not knowing what kind of secondary radio the Tomcats had, I figured, why not. I was also monitoring their frequency on my data link receiver. So, when both "sets" of fighters called ready to GCI, it was fight's on. Our ROE was heaters and guns, and nor turns or altitude deviations until passing the 3/9 line. On the first pass I aimed straight at the two of them as my wingman and I made the appropriate tactical calls. With a visual on both, I picked the closest one and went nose to nose, with briefed altitude separation, and rolled inverted to pass canopy to canopy at the merge. They were both hesitant to turn because my wingman was still not in sight. So, as a I blew straight through, they did the same. Well, on the second engagement the exact same thing occurred. Engagement three was different. I could hear them chattering back and forth about not ever seeing a second Six and that they were probably fighting a single ship. This time, as we made the canopy to canopy pass, we all turned, I got my one good bat turn out of the way, and the two of them ate my lunch.
In the F-4, the opponent F-4's energy state in a turning fight was reasonably easy to measure by the amount of stabilator deflection the pilot was inputting. Near full deflection=nearly out of airspeed and ideas. Additionally, observing the amount of aileron and spoiler deflection was also telling. With both of these near full deflection, there soon had to be some sort of nose down, full AB maneuver in an attempt to regain speed and avoid a snap shot.
