We've arrived at the 1960s in my decade a day of the best fighter aircraft in the world for the years 1960-1969.
As a reminder, the purpose of these threads is discussion. The criteria are your own. You set the reason be it most kills, best performance stats or 'I think it looks cool.' You make the pick, you pick why.
The only rule is the fighter must be operational in the time specified. This means you can pick an aircraft designed in the previous decade if you so choose. Check those operational dates, as a lot of aircraft may have flown in one year and not become operational until years later. This also means you can pick the same aircraft across more than one decade as long as it was operational for more than one.
They can be any theater, any nation and there are no wrong answers- just opinions.
If you want to discuss previous decades they are here:
1950s- TMP link
1940s- TMP link
1930s- TMP link
1920s- TMP link
1910s- TMP link
This is a tough choice for me as there are many aircraft to choose from. I am really torn between the F4 Phantom and the MiG-21. Both were game changing designs that set the pace for the rest of the century and both are designs that are being fielded in air forces to this very day. Sixty years for a design is an amazing run. Being a former sailor, I want to pick the F4, but the MiG-21 was an incredible design that served well in many air forces and has been effective the world over.
In the end I go with the F4, but only just barely, and mainly because the F4 was both an effective fighter against enemy aircraft and an incredible bomb truck. Proof that a brick will fly if you put enough thrust behind it, the intrepid Rhino is my pick.
But still the MiG-21 is a fantastic aircraft as well.
Of course there are others worthy of the title and worthy of note. They may not be my number 1, but they are in the top aircraft.
First the F8 Crusader. The last of the gunfighters and a superb aircraft design holdover from the 1950s. The French liked them so much they flew them all the way up to 1999. It even served as the basis for on of my all time favorite attack aircraft, the SLUF, or A-7 Corsair II.
Next stop is the the UK. The usual pick is the English Electric Lightning, but I was honestly just never a big fan of it. My British pick would be The Harrier GR1. It went operational in 1960 and though it would improved greatly in the next two decades, it marked a major new milestone in aviation and allowed the Royal Navy to stay 'in the game' of carrier air even when they retired their big aircraft carriers. It proved its worth in the fight over The Falklands.
There are a lot of other aircraft to consider- like the Saab Drakken, which put the Swedish designers on the world stage and proved a capable interceptor and dogfighter.
I really have to give the French a nod as well. The Mirage III proved very capable and economical. It became a popular export aircraft for western countries that couldn't afford more expensive fighters and weren't part of the Soviet bloc. In the hands of the Israelis, they became the aircraft of top fighter pilots.
What do you think was the greatest fighter of the 1960s and why?
