No, Swinging Monkey, emphatically no cooking sherry - a few Timothy Taylor's maybe.
You're right about tanking height but the F3 does not normally have its' probe in the nosebag when it engages the opposition - nor does it have to fly so slowly. Your E3 might be happy below 300kts IAS but the F3 only needs to be that slow for tanking and landing.
In its' operating environment it is a capable fighter - not the best but the best we have right now.