Engines
“But no (RAF) air to air kills (or combat?) since 1945 is a fact.”
I feel you are being pedantic. RAF pilots have made air to air kills - in Korea and the Falklands. The RAF as a service has not made any. I am being pedantic now.
To continue to be pedantic , you and many other commentators on this thread often speak inaccurately of ‘Air Combat’ or Dogfighting in old money.
In practice British Air Forces personnel have not been involved in true Air Combat since Korea. In my book Air Combat (Dogfighting) implies mutually aggressive manoeuvring between 2 or more opponents who both wish to fight. If one side or other only wants to escape (The vast majority of engagements in the Falklands, for example), then that is not Air Combat, but Air Interception.
For such Interception Missions an aircraft such as the F3 was ideally suited. Who needs a hyper-agile Air Defence fighter these days - unless we’re planning to go to war against America or some other European country?
The vast majority of fighter on fighter kills in WW2 were also straight stern shots on a target completely unaware of the presence of the shooter, and I am sure that WW2 veterans would not claim such kills as having been achieved “In a Dogfight”.
For what it's worth I was for many years an Air Combat Instructor.
Last edited by exMudmover; 23rd Jun 2012 at 18:04.