Personally, I think the Arrow is way overblown in terms of the airplane it was. Yes, it was state of the art in its time in some respects, particularly its flight controls, but the age of the pure interceptor was just about over anyways. The coming years, particularly the air war in Vietnam, would amply demonstrate that maneuverability was still far more important than straight line speed and reliance on guided weapons.
So by 1962 or so, when the Arrow would have been about production ready, pure interceptor aircraft like the F-106, the F-104, the BAE Lightning, MiG-25, etc, were already the last of their breed, and had similar performance in most respects.
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-Scott
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