Greatest Cold War Fighter/Attacker

From 1945 until 1990 roughly, the Cold War raged, and both the United States and the Soviet Union (as well as their respective allies) geared up for what could potentially become the war to end all wars (and I mean that in quite a literal sense)….as a result tons upon tons of fighters and attackers were built to spearhead the tactical battles that would inevitably occur if such a war was to ever happen. Designs from Russia, America, France, Britain, Japan, China, Sweden, and many others would take to the air.

What in your opinion was the greatest warplane (fighter or attacker that is) of this time period? I didn’t include a poll because there are so many designs that it would be impossible to list them all.

In my opinion, and I’m sure most of you won’t be surprised, the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is the perfect example of the Cold War Warrior..designed during the mid-50’s, entering service during the 60’s, and being the backbone of NATO throughout the 70’s and 80’s, the F-4 would have been very heavily involved in any potential war. It performed just about every mission you could ask a fighter design to perform: air superiority, air defense, interception, reconaissance, close air support, interdiction, precision strike, SEAD, nuclear strike, and even Fast-FAC. By the mid to late 70’s, the F-4 was the backbone of the United States, Britain, Germany, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Iran, Egypt, Japan, and South Korea. It even had a short stint in the service of the Royal Australian Air Force, meaning that at any given time during the 1970’s you could likely find Phantoms on just about every continent except for South America and obviously Antarctica. The Phantom saw action in many major conflicts over the years from Vietnam to the War of Attrition to the Yom Kippur War and Bekaa Valley conflict, and finally the Iran-Iraq War. Other battles would follow for the F-4 after that time, but those are the major conflicts during the Cold War that it took part in.

So there’s my reasoning for my selection….what are the thoughts of others?

By the way I must say that honorary mention goes to the MiG-21 (used by far more countries than the F-4 due to its simplicity and ruggedness) and although it often came out on the losing end, it nonetheless is a true warrior of the Cold War, and provided many countries with a form of air defense at a very reasonable cost.