[Ace's Dad]

The only good multi-purpose aircraft they ever came up with started with single purpose naval fighters which were strong enough to handle everything they could strap on to them (e.g. the F4U and the F4 Phantom).

I was in Naval Aviation during this time. As I recall the AF totally would not buy another NavAir design. Pure politics; it's still going on, as far as I can tell.

[volunbeer]

We have squandered tens of billions of dollars on inter-service politics and the F-35 might represent the pinnacle of such folly. Having a Marine version was a major mistake in that it heavily influenced the design of 95% of the other aircraft.

With that said, and I have certainly been critical, the jury will be out on the F-35 for a long time and it could end up being as good as some of the other aircraft initially thought to be dogs. I pray it is - we cannot afford to get it wrong.