Comment Re:Dangerous Thinking (Score 1) 611
Also the F-4 Phantom (from wiki)...
The F-4's biggest weakness, as it was initially designed, was its lack of an internal cannon. For a brief period, doctrine held that turning combat would be impossible at supersonic speeds and little effort was made to teach pilots air combat maneuvering. In reality, engagements quickly became subsonic. Furthermore, the relatively new heat-seeking and radar-guided missiles at the time were frequently reported as unreliable and pilots had to use multiple shots just to hit one target.
They left out machine guns, because the new missiles were so great, and then ended up putting them back in after combat experience showed otherwise.
