ahh but wasn't that lightning equipped with ludicrous speed for the time? my wiki zen fails me right now mostly because of laziness, but IIRC it had mach 2 or greater capabilities in the 50s and, when dead dinosaurs were easy to find. oh the days. and the over and under engines looked very different...in a badass, rocket ship kind of way.
doesn't look any worse the F-3, F-4, F-105, F-8 and could spank the pants off most of our fighters in the interception contests of the day.
but, this is a matter of taste. i submit that the modern lightning wins in the "fugly as sin" design criteria. hopefully its too ugly to get made, and we can just keep building new vipers and rhinos ad nauseum.
shoot me, i like sexy airplanes, which is why i chose P-3s :icon_tong