For years my favorite aircraft were all military models. On Jun 10 1996 I boarded a Delta L-1011 fin Seoul Korea wearing civilian clothes clutching a DD214 in my hand, from that day forward my favorite aircraft ahd been the L-1011, after a year in the ROK, there could not have been a more beautiful site in all of aviation history.

F-16C Block 52 Plus.




As dogfighters go,  the only other US aircraft that are comparable are the F-15C and the F-22, and the F-22 is likely a far superior plane overall, but in visual range ACM, the F-22's performance hasn't been commented on,  and it has been suggested that its airframe is optimized for stealth first and maneuverability second, with the thrust vectoring engines aiding maneuverability.    So really, nobody (outside those "in the know" in the F-22 program) really knows how competitive the two planes are in maneuverability in a dogfighting scenario.     As the F-16 already can subject the pilot to a bit over 9 Gs and that's still considered to be the outside practical limit for human G tolerance while flying an airplane,   it would not surprise me to learn tha the F-22 does NOT have a significant advantagage in maneuverability over the F-16.      But it'll probably be some years before we know that.

In any event, the F-16 is destined to be one of the timeless classic designs.  Many designs have faded into the history books but a few remain visible long after they should have been retired, like the DC-3/C-47.    Of jet fighters and trainers, the T-38 is also destined to be a classic.  

CJ