“The only ‘advantage’ it had was brute-force speed but no gun.”
Later models had a gun.
About a million years ago, my brand new wife and I were traveling across Florida on State Road 60 headed for the east coast. We were just past Lake Wales at the more or less north end of the Avon Park Gunnery range when I noticed a pair of Phantoms flying low and maneuvering like they were on a roller coaster.
My wife is not an avid "window looker-outer" and had her head buried in a book.
Presently, one of the jets descended to a really low altitude and was closing on us. I think he had the gun pipper on us.
I estimate he wasn't more than a hundred feet off the deck. I had peel my wife off the head liner of the car.