We can moan, and don't we manage that on here
, all we want about certain aspects of F3, or any other UK ac for that matter, but buying overseas off the shelf sends £billions abroad and decimates our hi-tech aviation industry.
There is no answer to this, so endless bitching about "we should have bought American" or "why did we buy European" is just that, bitching. No-one builds the perfect ac, we all have our strong points & weak ones. Live with it. We still have some outstanding capabilities you know, and they're a lot better today than back in the day where some folk seem to live.
@ORAC - I only ever heard of the 15E being called the Beagle, never heard Mudhen, however appropriate that might be.