I'd guess that reputation is based on the Falklands war, since there hasn't
been any significant air-air action since then.  IIRC the US rushed
practically the entire world's inventory of the new AIM-9L to the Brits, and
it was deadly against the Argentine A4's.  Excellent book on the subject is
'Air War: South Atlantic'.

On Wed, Nov 18, 2009 at 6:03 PM, Chris McSweeny <cpmcsweeny@gmail.com>wrote:

> I do in general agree with you, not just because I live in the same
> country as Rolls Royce (and in one work placement years ago, did have
> a peripheral involvement in Pegasus engine stuff).
>
> Genuine VTOL not only eats into the fuel supply, but also tends to
> limit payload (certainly the case for the Harrier - I presume the F-35
> is pretty similar). Hence why it's the STOL capability which is made
> most use of. If you were to dogfight, then vectored thrust also helps
> a lot (reputedly Harriers are still the World's premier dog-fighters)
> - of course nowadays dog-fighting isn't a normal thing to do!
>
> Chris
>
> ----------------------------------------------
> Gary A. Crowell Sr., P.E., CID+
> <www.linkedin.com/in/garycrowellsr>
>
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