- Jan 26, 2000
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Originally posted by: kage69
Well lack of a gun kind of puts a damper on the F4 imo.
Thank you.
No cannon doesn't strike me as high-tech, rather it seems closer to being idealistic and short-sighted. To be fair though, they did remedy that once it became clear cannons are indispensable - particularly when you combine radar clutter-prone topography with unreliable missiles! It may look menacing (and I give it points for the badass mofo look) but it's also LOUD, way too big of a target, and leaves these annoying smoke trails in the sky... Aerodynamically, it's more of a plow than a knife.
The pilots I have spoken to that have flown it say the view is limited, the handling is mediocre, but hey, at least it's fast. It's a workhorse, not a stallion, which is why I don't understand any comparison with the F-15.
Then maybe I didn't make myself clear. The F-4 was a great plane, but not perfect, and hell yeah it was a pain in the ass at times. Yet nothing came even close to it. Is it an F-15? No. Neither is a B-52, or DC-3 or a few others who I also consider to be great planes. Different eras, different purposes. What counts is how does a particular plane compare to the competition of the day?