It ultimately became the most feared weapon for the soviets when it matured. It was the only weapon system singled out by them in early arms limitation negotiations.
Some eagles look like turkeys, some turkeys soar higher than eagles.
On a totally different note, Warthogs forever!! Now the A-10, that's an airplane!!
Friend of my brother's is an AF/ANG vet with about 1500 hours in the "Hog".
When he was in flight training, of course everybody was a true-blue drinker of the blue-suit koolaid and wanted to fly F-15s and F-16s.
He was totally let down when assigned an A-10 slot, thought it was the next thing to driving a farm tractor.
Six months in, he'd decided that nothing was more fun than working down at treetop level and learning how to target with the Mk.I eyeball......he would not have traded his seat for anything else in the USAF.