Thank you for your replies elmayerle and GTX, both interesting and informative!
Still would have been interesting to have seen a carrierised derivative of the Northrop YF-17, that stuck more in line with the size and weight of the YF-17, as Congress had stipulated and intended, before the USN enshrined it's wet dream upon the design.
Don't get me wrong, the F/A-18 is a good piece of kit, but the fact that the USN was given an inch, and it delibratly took a mile and a half...... 😉
MAD