That's a negative Ghost rider, the pattern is full...

Introduction

The F-14 Tomcat, made by Grumman, was a mainstay of the US Air Force for more than 30 years, and is possibly one of the most famous fighter jets in the world after its exposure in Top Gun. The F-14 was born from a series of increasing casualties in the Vietnam War and earlier where US pilots were being shot down in increasingly large numbers due to the fact that they were inexperienced in dog-fighting as their planes no longer carried guns. This also coincided with the creation of the Top Gun school in Mirmar, long since relocated to Nevada.

The F-14 first flew on 21st December 1970 before going operational after testing in 1975. The F-14 was involved in several conflicts including Desert Storm (or Operation Granby to us Brits), Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq in 2003, before being retired from service on 4th October 2006.

Overall

An interesting documentary that you might expect to find showing on the Military History channel or one of the Discovery channels, but the DVD release probably ultimately more for those specifically interested in aviation than the casual buyer.

The footage is a mix of old grainy archive footage with more up to date visuals, the majority is old and fuzzy with some damage; also incorporated into the documentary are two progress reports that the military project management team commissioned to show progress on the project, presumably for one of specialist committees in Congress that had overwatch responsibilities for this aircraft development.

Not for the casual buyer, but I suspect you knew that already.