All I can say to both of you is that if you think flying fighters is all about take-off and landing - it's not. It's really about shooting other aircraft down. Try that in a Spitfire with almost sod all to aim with against a 'target' who knows you are trying to kill him then try it in a modern fighter with fire and forget missiles.
I think you'll both agree that aircraft designers have achieved something over the years in that they have made the aircraft easier to fly and operate and weapons systems have considerably increased the kill probability in air-to-air engagements.