If I may rant...
It was not just American figher pilots demanding increased speed and acceleration, it was a general trend toward rocket-like fighters. You see, ever since there have been bombers, there have been interceptors. These planes sacrificed long range capability for short range performance. As bombers went higher and faster, so did the interceptors.
Eventually, bombers became so high and so fast that the concept of the point-defense interceptor came into being. Examples include the Me-163b Komet and the Bachem Ba 349 Natter. After World War II, the Cold War began, and the threat of nuclear bombers arose. With the designs of the Germans, the allies became more interested in developing higher, faster interceptors.
As jet engines became cheap to the point of being disposable, missles came into being. New designs focused heavinly on carrying the maximum number of missles to the highest altitude in the shortest amount of time. They became more and more like missles themselves, with huge engines and high fuel consumption.
Eventually, the SAM was born. It was the embodiment of the point-defense interceptor role: fast, hard-hitting and replaceable. It, however, was phased out as well when the ICBM came on the scene (this also increased the threat of unpreventable nuclear annihalation if the world went to war).
-Penguin
