Soddim,
Half a Century ago; our front line fighter in RAFG was an American designed Canadian built jet gifted to us by the USA, our only nuclear capable bomber was an American piston engined bomber, the only nuclear capable forces in the UK were US owned and controlled bombers nesting on East Anglian and Lincolnshire airfields and the frontline night fighter was a Meteor!..............but I take your point!!
Still think the RAF is up there with the best when it comes to capability, sure we lack some capability, CSAR, SEAD etc etc but hasn’t it always been the case? We had no agile air superiority fighter for decades when they were common in NATO and the potential foe, the rather simplistic example I quote above of Mig 15 versus Meteor and Venom is another example.
We could no more take on the French than they could take us on, but that’s not why we have an Air Force is it?
Last edited by pr00ne; 30th Mar 2005 at 21:49.