Quote Originally Posted by Watchman
Mentioning the Brist immediately reminded me of Harriers and similar VTOL jets. Those can also do a decent show as gunships, can't they ? Cost like the dickies of course.
I think a Harrier pilot has more problems to see the terrain below and cannot swing the cannon around. I'd say a harrier is better for strafing runs, the hovering is mostly useful to use shorter runways, but when hovering above a fight, a helicopter can react faster and more reliable, especially with the gund tied to the helmet, which means what you look at, you can also shoot at. The guns of a Harrier are fixed forwardso if you want to shoot downward you almost ineviably gain speed, or you just bomb the place to hell, but there are planes which can do that better than a hovering Harrier.