Originally Posted by
AerialPerspective
Slow, pathetic range, meagre weapons load compared to just about anything (F-15, F-14 and certainly F-111).
It was very much a 'toy' and the -18F has the similar pathetic range, slightly larger load but similarly slow as a wet week compared with say, the F-15SE. But I understand why we bought them as a gap-filler (they were never even close to an F-111 replacement, nothing came close, except maybe the 15SE) and we already had an installed base of the earlier model.
My old man was in the RAAF at the time they were looking for a mirage replacement, and I believe that the F-14 had even lesser range than the F/A-18. The F-15 I don’t know about.
Plus, wasn’t the F-14 already an old aeroplane by the time we received our F/A-18’s? What would be the point in buying an old aeroplane from the outset?
All that aside, it’s just completed it’s life in the RAAF successfully, so it can’t have been that bad. Or do you have something else against it too?
What a magnificent aeroplane, they’ll be missed, and I’m glad I got to see one up close recently before they all disappeared.