But, you lied? It’s easily verifiable to find out the F-8E does not maneuver nor dogfight worse than the F-4C. The F-4C is faster, yes, but that is one part of a whole picture yeah?
This is inconsequential. The F-4C struggles to fire its own AIM-7D and get kills with them. The F-8E is not using the 9C, it’s using 9Ds. This isn’t sim. You don’t need a strong radar at this BR.
So are the AIM-7Ds.
Yes? Community as in, educated, skilled members of this forum as well as in other places. The popularity of a plane does not have direct correlation with its strength.
The F‑4C has far better acceleration, climb, and vertical performance, which matters more in real matches than pure turn rate. The F‑8E relies on flares, but many missiles at its BR ignore or resist flares, so its main defense often fails. The F‑4C survives by speed and maneuverability, which work against every missile it faces, except the pesky new invention - MiG 25’s. The F‑8E’s AIM‑9Ds are slow, low‑G, and easy to flare, so they don’t compensate for its weaknesses. The F‑4C can disengage and re‑engage at will; the F‑8E cannot. The F‑8E is heavily power‑crept by faster, more agile, and better‑armed jets in its BR range. The F‑4C is simply more consistent and less situational, which is why players perform better in it. The F‑8E’s low popularity reflects its actual effectiveness, not a hidden “skill issue.” Your experience matches the broader pattern: the F‑4C is more reliable in the current meta. And again: Even then F-4C sits in lower BR.
Debatable. The F-4C doesn’t have flares. It doesn’t have effective missiles. Combining these two facts, you end up with a plane that needs to get slower and use its vulcan to get kills, but doing so puts it at great risk of being intercepted and downed. The F-8E on the other hand has effective missiles (much more than the F-4C), can fly far better defensively to protect itself, and can fly far better aggressively to dogfight others if need be. You are correct in that the F-8E cannot go super fast and catch things that are faster than it, but this isn’t some giant nail in the coffin to its performance. The characteristics it does have matter far more than the characteristics the F-4C has.
Fully false. You have no idea what you’re talking about. 99% of missiles at this BR bracket with the sole exceptions of the Magic 2 on the Jaguar IS (which is not an aircraft you will ever see in matchmaking) or the PL-5EIIs on the JH-7 (another rare aircraft) are easily able to be flared with zero skill or tactics beyond pressing the flare key. You are not even required to drop afterburner to flare most missiles at this BR.
Like I said, the F-4C is not agile. You are simply wrong here. The F-8E absolutely curb stomps the F-4C in agility.
Want to bet? Go into a custom with me. You will die every single time to my missiles.
As opposed to the AIM-9E which are slower, lower range, lower Gs, and easier to flare? The AIM-9D has extremely good range, and pulls VERY WELL for the BR, more than what 99% of planes can out-pull kinetically.
No, they don’t.
See above statistics.
You’re getting very close to being branded as a simple troll who is coming here to ragebait. I am going to assume for now that you are not, but damn are you close.
So, where they all are? I spaded F-8E and only saw them less times i have fingers. And yes, i have them all. Why no one plays them? Where they are? If they are so good, where they are?!
The poor stats of the Phantom are probably due at least in part to the amount of US mains who prefer napalm bombing over fighting, but your point still stands
I’m going to do something rare here. I have underestimated the impact of the various massively overpowered jets added to this BR range in recent times. The problem is not the F-8E. The F-8E when compared to the average 10.7-11.3 is still very competitive. The problem is gaijin has put jets such as the J-7D, NF-5A, or MiG-25 at BRs where they will see the F-8E in every match and these jets simply outclass the F-8E in a way that can’t be compensated for with skill.
With that said, you can still perform decently in the jet, its just not as strong as I previously thought it still would be based on prior assessment. I’m still doing better than the global K/D and better than the average player, but I am running into scenarios where there is nothing you can do against the above mentioned jets. That said, the F-4C is still not as good lol
F8E is so mid i have no clue why it was added the AIM-9C is really only good high up and one chaff its gone its just a slightly stronger version of the F8U-2 they should honestly be same br
Problem is it won’t go down anyway. And how much down…?
Not denying that is crap… maybe is one of the most useless planes anyway. AIM-7Ds last time i played were barely usuable . Radar is… crap, ok. Your picks are bomb and /or load vulcan pods and 9Es and practically try to play in straight lines keep your speed as much until you get something with 9D/9G/Magic 1 /R530s/R60 you eventually.
I mean you have the equivalent 10.0s Su-17M2 and family that play R-60 and bombs (if you want to) , they have the same drawback of no CMs , but they do EVERYTHING else better except mindless headons.
I don’t even know why and how people compared F-4C with F-8E…or F-8C or even the FR F-8 which doesn’t have flares as well still will outplay it 24/7. You can say take rockets for flares…yes, so even subsonics have an easier time to gun you down because you won’t be able to move your azz out of the way.
If you get it down to 9.7 it still is bad comparing to a Harrier or Ayit , T-2 or practically any BR 9.7 …
9.3 will be too much because it can be a F-104 with way better armament…
And to come back in comparison with F-8s. Not a chance in hell. F-4C is way worse.
As a Mirage IIIC player I can say a F-4C can in fact defeat a 530 (though that will cost them quite a lot of energy), however a 550 is a death sentence for them.
But yeah F-4C being the same br as Mirage IIIC is crazy
