One of these days I'm gonna make Farnborough! I don't doubt your observations and probably would have agreed with you had I seen it also. It's tough to size up the superior fighter from an airshow. For the record, I've always thought the Blue Angels had a better show than the Thunderbirds (sorry to my T-Bird bros, I still love ya, it must be something about that configured aileron roll the Blue Angels do after t/o), but from my knowledge of both aircraft, I'd rather ride the Viper into combat. Now if I had to land on a boat afterwards, my answer would change.