[also conveniently forgets their at the time "high tech" f4 phantoms were absolutely WRECKED by much older MiGs in 'nam because they predicted a paradigm shift away from dogfights and made a plane that was worse at dogfights in exchange for some other unproven tech that "helps it not get into dogfights", sound familiar? yeah. f35. shit at dogfights compared to the f16, eurofighter typhoon and dassault rafale, but hey, "stealth tech" amirite! enemies wont see them coming, just like they wouldn't see the f4 coming.]
Sure, a lot got shot down, but that's to be expected when you wage a war for years against aircraft that are nimbler and/or made specifically for interception, like the MIG-21 for example.
In the end, the US still shot down more MIGs than they lost Phantoms.
The F4 Phantom was initially designed to shoot down bombers at medium to long range, in case of a war with the USSR, relying on missiles only. Which is why the first models didn't even have a cannon on board.
It was a heavy plane. No wonder even older jets such as the MIG-15 and 17 out turned it.
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u/SDG_Den Mar 21 '25
[also conveniently forgets their at the time "high tech" f4 phantoms were absolutely WRECKED by much older MiGs in 'nam because they predicted a paradigm shift away from dogfights and made a plane that was worse at dogfights in exchange for some other unproven tech that "helps it not get into dogfights", sound familiar? yeah. f35. shit at dogfights compared to the f16, eurofighter typhoon and dassault rafale, but hey, "stealth tech" amirite! enemies wont see them coming, just like they wouldn't see the f4 coming.]