With nearly 3000hrs F4 it is hard not to feel attached to the 'Toom' and it is only the lack of a British pedigree that detracts from the nostalgia.
During the hayday of the Lightning the American squadrons were turning and burning in F4s and it was a pleasure to leave the Lightning and fly the F4 with its' vastly better weapons system and multi-role capability. Even our politicians failed to ruin it by fitting Spey engines - although they came close when the engines were only lasting 100hrs or so in the early days.
In the F4 we had the best weapons system of the day and the stretch potential to last for years - it was almost as if we had entered a new generation with inertial nav and pulse doppler radar. Admittedly it took the cancellation of TSR2 to force the procurement of both it and the Buccaneer but in these two aircraft we had a very capable front line.
Sadly, it was the last fast jet we were allowed to buy from across the pond.