The YF-23 is the one I was rooting for to win, big time. I do like the F-22 and having seen it do demos several times it is awe inspiring, but I really liked the 23. It always amazed me that we could conjure up, design and build an amazing machine like the YF-23 (which at that time was unmatched in the whole world) and then say, um no and it disappears into histories footnote. I mean I understand the whole fly off scenario, like with the YF-16 and YF-17 or between the A-12 and SR-71 (and yes there was an official fly off) but still, you have to realize that in reality we are taking a completely viable and unmatched peice of flying machinery, and tossing it aside... or as I like to say 'we've thrown away planes that no other country could even make'! We threw away the XB-70, the YF-12, the F-20, the X-32, the AH-54 Cheyenne (another favorite of mine that lost in a flyoff vs the Cobra).
Anyways it is a gorgeous plane and I hope we kept them for flying at Edwards or at least in museums.
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