Excellent post and summery!
i logged over 3.000 hours in the Phantom, 1.100 in the F4F and the rest in the RF-4E. I enjoyed every second of them.
Until 1983 flown by a well trained crew and using fluid two tactics we could score against far better single piloted fighters also in a dog fight. The internal M-61 cannon was very helpful. If a tracking solution could not be acchieved, a high deflection gunshot had to do. If we knew the capabilities of our potential adversaries, we used applicable tactics against them.
During NATO Tac-Eval in 1981 we got 3 kills out of a fourship F15, who had been waiting on us in the target area, without taking one single shot on my fourship. During debrief a frustrated LtCol told the audience, that he couldnīt understand, how it happened.
franzl