F-4s could be flown front seat only, but they couldn't fight that way. They couldn't turn well enough for a knife fight, so they either needed to shoot in the face with radar, or get in someone's deep 6 for a heat shot. Both needed a good WSO to work the manual radar. When running an intercept, I was generally so deeply in the radar that I had no idea if I was right side up or upside down. For the record, I know of one case where a WSO landed an F-4 after the nose gunner lost conciousness. And most of the guys I flew with insisted on teaching me enough formation flying to try it 'just in case'.
Nor am I minimizing the importance of a strong pilot. I flew with many. In Weasels, the F-4G would drop the first bomb, and the E model guy would try to bomb the G's smoke. Since we were usually upside down in a pop before the G's bomb impacted, this gave the nosegunner about 7" to see the target, figure the ballistics, compensate for any errors, and drop a manual bomb. For the life of me, I never figured out how they did it. My favorite explanation, by a guy who had 3500+ hours, was, "I just hit the pickle button when it looks right"
I wasn't surprised by Richie's attitude - the guys I knew all said he felt that way. They just thought he became an ace because of his backseater - which may explain why Richie feels so strongly about it! I'm nearing the end of my career as a WSO/EWO...but I'll always be a card carrying member of the WSO Union - motto, "Shut up & drive!"