Courtney,
Perhaps I can help on F-35 cockpit visibility.
The cockpit design was driven (as ever) by a number of competing factors, which included maximum field of view, bird strike resistance ( a requirement pressed hard by the UK) and not least view over the nose for F-35C carrier approaches.
It also had to address LO requirements, the shaping part of which led to a very wide cockpit aperture. Oh, and as ever, the designers were aiming for minimum drag. (you might be aware that some engineers have observed that the 'maximum visibility' trend of the 80s led to some over large cockpits that caused significant performance degradation - GR7 has been quoted as an example).
There were a number of sessions where the cockpit FOV was examined in minute detail, especially looking at the positioning of the arch (required to meet bird strike targets) and also of the AAR probe, as well as view of wing tips and other parts of the airframe. At no meetings I attended was the 'magic hat' offered as a palliative.
The sessions were attended by highly experienced fighter and strike pilots from a number of countries, and the basic cockpit design has hardly changed from early concepts. Every UK pilot I spoke with thought the view was excellent, and you might like to know that cockpit and crew station design was heavily influenced by UK Typhoon experience.
I apologise for a longish post, but as ever I'd just like to point out that there are one or two (thousand) people on the F-35 programme who know what they are doing, are listening to aircrew and are doing the massively hard stuff involved in fielding a new combat aircraft.
Best regards as ever to all those working the hard yards
Engines