Despite being criticized overseas for promoting American jingoism, when the movie Top Gun hit the silver screen in May 1986, it jettisoned the Grumman F-14 Tomcat to be the plane every naval aviator wanted to fly. What many people do not know is that the F-14 had been around for a long time before Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchell and his Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) Lieutenant Junior Grade Nick “Goose” Bradshaw made it a star.