Cheap shot BEagle!
I've never debated if it was bigger back then. Those who remember it will all undoubtedly say it was better.
I'm not going to give my 'times have changed' speech but consider this.
An entire wing of Hunters with 1950s vintage bombs and a four ship of Typhoons with modern weapons.
How many targets could each reliably claim to destroy? And which could defend itself better at the same time?
I feel sure I would have loved the Air Force of yesteryear as much as you evidently did, but as I sit, beer in hand, by the pool of a lovely hotel in Muscat I don't exactly hate my job.
BV