>>301432My Mom maintained the F-4 (USAF) and she tells me everyone thought it was super ugly. I don't agree with her, but just thought that would be relative to F-4 fan interests. Now the X-32 on the other hand, that's an ugly duckling. Also, the F-4 had a number of climb and other records. It was only a slouch at dog fighting and from what I hear it was the lack of a nose cannon. The gun was left off the original design because the armed forces were migrating to homing missiles which (if working properly) would eliminate the need for dog fighting. Great idea but radar and homing missiles were not reliable at the time. Even the F-117 was outfitted with a cannon because of that.
Anyway, more! The YF-23 is my favorite looking fighter. Took my top spot for looks from the F-16.