Indeed, a stunning shot!

I do not deny tail cross section has an impact of drag, but remember aircraft life the F-16, T-50, Su-27, MiG-29 have integral wings that blend with the fuselage increasing lift and reducing drag, the Gripen has not that extra lift.

The main wing on the Gripen and Rafale also blends with the fuselage. The fuselage lift on the F-16 and MiG-29 for example comes from the LEX, wich only increases lift at certain AoA. Most of the time it´s just a weight and drag penalty. The canards offers lift, but for all speeds and AoA, and they offer optimal lift/drag ratio, as they are adjustable. Also, they are small, meaning little weight and drag.

Robban

I think the main advantage of the unstable canard configuration is it will have a very strong pitch up force at turns so it will enhance its ITR greatly,

It´s just one of the advantages, and it´s not the main one. The delta/canard config offers many advantages.

while making unstable a tailed aircraft you are making it a better supercruiser, since a tailheavy aircraft needs kill lift on a canard wing configuration by reducing canard lift;

Not true. Read my post above. The elevons aren’t just for show. They work similar to a taileron. Why would all the work fall on the canard? The canards and elevons work together. The canards can quickly kill lift if it needs to, but by instead decreasing(not talking negative lift here) the lift on the canard and increasing lift with elevons, stopping a pitch moment is possible.

Stop focusing so much on the canard. All the control surface work together. See my drawing.

interesting drawing
http://img245.imageshack.us/f/canardvstailhc5.jpg/
In a conventional configuration the tailplane needs a down force to stabilize the nose down force but in a unstable it needs an up force to balance the tail heavy aircraft it is exactly the opposite in the canard wing aircraft
at the begining of the pitch up force an unstable canard delta wing configuration will allow its lift to generate a pitch up force but as it nears its max pitch up speed it will generate a nose down force, exactly the opposite is with an unstable tailplane wing configuration.

The graph doens’t tell the whole story/truth. Just like the tailerons on an unstable conventional configuration, the elevons helps control the pitch moment. As the canard is a moving surface it works in conjunction with the elevons to control pitch. The advantage for the delta/canard is that positive lift is avaliable all the time, even when initiating a pitch moment. The control surface inputs to achieve a similar pitch rate is considerably smaller for a delta/canard. More lift, less drag. It’s a lift/lift situation. The canard works as a moveable LEX. It is adjusted automatically to give optimum lift/drag at all speeds and AoA, contrary to the considerably less flexible and draggy LEX on the F-16, MiG-29 etc.

The graph you posted is made by Dwight Looi of the WAFF forums. I’d be careful to build a case on it.

Excellent photos!

How I´d love to see a P-40 and a Catalina fly here in Sweden! I saw the Eurofighter perform at Rygge in Norway a few years back. Such a powerful machine!:)