ShrikeHawk

Yes, the multi-mission ability was the F-4's strongest attribute. It's no surprise that the Navy went this direction. A carrier has only so much space for aircraft. So planes that can carry out many different missions will almost always get the nod from the Navy. Unfortunately, the infamous "they" in the upper echelons of government decided the dogfight was dead and there was no longer a need for agility or even a gun in planned fighters such as the F-4. Luckily, McDonnell-Douglas still made a very good airframe that overcame the shortcomings of thinking from "they." More so, our pilots got the most out of a weapons platform rather than a traditional fighter. It would've been great if only the F-8 had a better ground-attack ability. Or what if we'd stuck a J79 and an afterburner on the Skyhawk? That would've scared the bejeezus out of the Mig-21 pilots!

Debates over which aircraft is "better" are always amusing. I'm always left wondering "better" in what regard? If enough pilots claim the F-8 is a better dogfighter, then I would tend to believe them. I don't think this is the case because it possessed guns, rather because it maneuvered better in a dogfight. The analysis above clearly proves it could not maneuver as well as the Mig-17. This is clear and everybody knows that up front anyway. It does NOT prove that it's maneuvering capacity was similar or congruent to the F-4. Yet both were fighters that racked up an impressive number of kills. So which is better? I think it's a matter of personal taste. My fighting style with the F-4 is completely different from my fighting style with the F-8. With the F-4, I use those awesome J79s to keep distance between me and my target, then squeeze off a sparrow when I lock him up. In the game at least, using the sparrow is practically an assured kill. I avoid using the sidewinders because effective use of them means I have to get in close and that means maneuvering with the target which the F-4 does only marginally well. With the F-8, I still can't exactly turn with the Mig-17; energy fighting is still important here. But I CAN still maneuver more aggressively and operate effectively in knife-fighting range. Just like in real life, I still get a lot of kills with the 'winder, but at least with the F-8 I can often get into position to use them. With the F-4, it's rare that I have a "successful" 'winder attack. If the F-8 could have maneuvered on a par with the Mig-17, I think we would've seen a lot more more gun kills. As it was, F-8 pilots had a struggle to even get into missile-firing position with the sidewinder (not the far easier targeting with a sparrow). If pilots of the time had been formally trained to maneuver for gun kills (instead of relying on missile technology) we would've seen even more. The gun wasn't useless. Situations for it to excel were not available at the time nor was creating those situations taught at the time. I don't see either the F-8 or F-4 as better than the other. They are different fighting concepts designed for different fighting styles.

Trying out some new storm clouds...

While admiring my kill from close range... I started taking fire from behind... ...and escaped to fight another day...

Mmmm. I think the Blinder is one of the coolest looking aircraft ever. Here's another of my faves, the Kfir. Expertly wrought by TMF

I had LOMAC and it definitely is a greaty sim. But the "keyboard drill" for it is extensive. I could never remember the vast array of commands. I felt like the Strikefighters series was a breath of fresh air. So I would recommend SF2 to you. That single purchase could keep you amused for years with the amazing number of addons and customizations available.

My god, Dave. That's stunning! Will that be available soon?

Trying out my new "Ruffled" cloud over Israel.

A Lion on the hunt...