Last of flying F-4 Phantoms

[lihpster]

I remember back in the 70s the Oregon Air Gaurd was flying them. My grandparents lived in a houseboat on the Columbia River. When I heard them coming down the river, I would drop whatever I was doing and run outside to watch. Pretty cool for a 7-8 year old kid to see.

 

[MDF4]

I noticed these F4's didn't leave a black trail of smoke coming
out of the engines. Did they modify the engines?

If memory serves, and don't hold me to this, I seem to recall the "B" release J79 resolved the issue...to a degree.
The MDF4 was a no nonsense aircraft and could take a lot of triple A up her skirt and still back aboard deck.

 

[jughed440]

Thanks for sharing this. My dad worked at the St. Louis McDonald-Douglas plant in the early-to-mid 1960's.
His job title was "precision sheet metal worker" and he got to do some of the hands-on-work assembling the F4's and the Mercury space capsules for NASA.
Those were some VERY exciting times to be in the aerospace industry.

Your dad likely worked alongside my mom's uncle. He worked in St. Louis starting in the 60's, ended up being transferred out west, if i remember correctly. Coincidentally, his father lived close to the Illinois river in a town named Meredosia. During the 70's and 80's the family and i spent many weekends there for fishing and camping...we would see and hear the Phantoms (from ANG in Springfield) flying relatively low above the river or Lake Meredosia. Watching them and hearing the sonic booms gave me goosebumps.

I remember back in the 70s the Oregon Air Gaurd was flying them. My grandparents lived in a houseboat on the Columbia River. When I heard them coming down the river, I would drop whatever I was doing and run outside to watch. Pretty cool for a 7-8 year old kid to see.

Very cool to watch, especially for kids. I was in my early teens, and a military aircraft enthusiast back then.

 

[LVSteve]

I noticed these F4's didn't leave a black trail of smoke coming
out of the engines. Did they modify the engines?

If you go to time 2:22 you will see some smoke kick in, but nothing like you see in films from Vietnam. It is likely that at that time he came out of afterburner. The older J79 variants typically smoke at any throttle setting above flight idle through to minimum afterburner. Smokeless J79s were eventually produced, starting with the -17 variant. Wikipedia states that the Greek aircraft received "smoke reduction systems" what ever that means.

 

[BC38]

Your dad likely worked alongside my mom's uncle. He worked in St. Louis starting in the late 60's, ended up being transferred out west, if i remember correctly. Coincidentally, his father lived close to the Illinois river in a town named Meredosia. During the 70's and 80's the family and i spent many weekends there for fishing and camping...we would see and hear the Phantoms (from ANG in Springfield) flying relatively low above the river or Lake Meredosia. Watching them and hearing the sonic booms gave me goosebumps.

Very cool to watch, especially for kids. I was in my early teens then, also a military aircraft enthusiast back then.

LOL, pretty good chance they worked together. If not then he almost certainly worked with my uncle - Dad's younger brother. Uncle Gail was still working for MD when Boeing bought them.

I also remember when sonic booms were a very regular occurrence in the St. Louis area.

Funny thing, Dad had heart issues over half his life and they ended up giving him a pacemaker/defibrillator when he was 55 years old.

He said the first time it went off he thought it was a sonic boom! He had never been hit by the defibrillator before, but he had heard so many sonic booms that that was the first thing he thought of!

 

[jscheck]

Man that brought back memories! I worked on F-4E's and G's at Spangdahlem AFB in Germany. Pneudraulics mechanic. I heard some time ago that the last F-4's we had were turned into target drones. Broke my heart!

 

[lihpster]

I heard some time ago that the last F-4's we had were turned into target drones. Broke my heart!

And now they're using F-16s.

 

[DWalt]

And now they're using F-16s.

Yes, they had a fleet of F-4s at Tyndall AFB that were used as target drones. They also had several large recovery boats at Tyndall that would fish them out of the Gulf. Sort of the USAF's Navy. I went out out on one of them once, but that was nearly 20 years ago. There was a large drone maintenance facility at Tyndall to keep those elderly F-4s flying. Maybe they use old F-16s as drones today, I don't know.

I once had an employee who flew rear seat in an F-4 in Vietnam. He didn't talk much about it. I guess he did ECM and stuff like that, I never knew any details.

 

[sigp220.45]

My last duty station in the Air Force was Bergstrom AFB TX, which had RF-4C reconnaissance birds. They were some of the last USAF F-4s flying at the time (89-90). Even then they were called “Texas Lawn Darts”.

I worked two crashes with them while I was there. I did love hearing them take off.

 

[Rustyt1953]

I was up close and personal with them overseas in '72.

Then they shipped me to Shaw which was infested with them.

Afterburners at night is quite a sight.

 

[cherrypointmarine]

I've always said watching an F4 taking a cat shot at night is about the prettiest picture there is . I worked on EA-6B's but there was another Marine on board flying RF-4's . I can't remember if the R is right , they were photo recon birds . The Midway had a small deck compared to the new super carriers , so if you were up top when an F4 was catted off , it was quite the experience .

 

[Jlpgumbo]

I remember them screaming over the Tampa Bay area in the early to mid 70's flying out of MacDill AFB. Still makes me smile.

 

[hsguy]

A good friend of mine flew 105’s then F4s, he much preferred the Thud for some reason.

 

[DWalt]

My last duty station in the Air Force was Bergstrom AFB TX, which had RF-4C reconnaissance birds. They were some of the last USAF F-4s flying at the time (89-90). Even then they were called “Texas Lawn Darts”.

I worked two crashes with them while I was there. I did love hearing them take off.

I thought the F-4s at Bergstrom were Wild Weasels. Was at Bergstrom only once before it closed and was converted into being the Austin Airport. That was sometime in the mid-90s.

 

[Retired W4]

I've always said watching an F4 taking a cat shot at night is about the prettiest picture there is . I worked on EA-6B's but there was another Marine on board flying RF-4's . I can't remember if the R is right , they were photo recon birds . The Midway had a small deck compared to the new super carriers , so if you were up top when an F4 was catted off , it was quite the experience .

A very good friend of mine, Brian Craig who passed away a couple years ago was with the USMC RF-4's on the Midway. He would download the film when they got back from "the trail". Unarmed and unafraid.

 

[Truckman]

Man that brought back memories! I worked on F-4E's and G's at Spangdahlem AFB in Germany.

I got to Spang in '66 assigned to a load crew in the 9th TFS when the Wing was all F-105...Load 'em up, then load 'em down until you can do it in your sleep (which I sometimes did)...A boring job with too much spit and polish for me...

When word got around we would be transitioning to F-4's, I requested cross-training to Weapons Release (same AFSC 462) and was reassigned to the 349th MMS...Much better and more interesting work as I got to analyze and repair the problems that prevented the weapons system from working as it should...I suppose there's nothing more embarrassing for an aircrew than getting up to dogfight altitude, and finding out your trigger doesn't make any noise, and all those missiles and belts of 20MM HE are still hanging on your wings...

After separating at Holloman AFB in 1969 I never saw another F-4 until 2011 when I attended Wings Over Houston...Two dual-control F-4E's were unadvertised attractions that joined the party unannounced...I was standing at the taxiway (Eagle Squadron tickets are worth the money BTW) taking pics of old warbirds when I heard the unmistakable sound of two General Electric J-79's spooling up behind me...I almost broke my neck turning to look behind me, and my heart stopped when I saw not one but two F-4E's approaching on the taxiway...

I can't describe the thrill I felt at seeing 40 year old aircraft that I may have wrenched on still flying and showing off in the air...Both pilots were instructed to observe airshow rules and they only lit one afterburner each for takeoff, but the smoke show and the smell of burned JP-4 brought all the old memories back...Needless to say, it was a great Saturday for me......Ben

 

[Jeff423]

I've always said watching an F4 taking a cat shot at night is about the prettiest picture there is . I worked on EA-6B's but there was another Marine on board flying RF-4's . I can't remember if the R is right , they were photo recon birds . The Midway had a small deck compared to the new super carriers , so if you were up top when an F4 was catted off , it was quite the experience .

I worked on the flight deck of the Saratoga (CV60) in 1972 in WesPac. I seem to remember that F4's made a loud boom when they went full AB on the cat. My squadron had RA5C's that also used the J79.

 

[F4phantom]

I was up close and personal with them overseas in '72.

Then they shipped me to Shaw which was infested with them.

Afterburners at night is quite a sight.

Taken while on guard duty at Chu Lai. Our bunker was at the arresting cable shack/bunker on the runway. We were about 50 yards from the main runway. You could sleep through the F4's taking off after awhile. The ground shook but it didn't bother most of us. Oh the fun we had.

 

[SMSgt]

I was at Korat in '72 with some KC-135s. Lots of F-4s and F-105s. I was much more impressed with the -105's afterburner. Run up to power, split second of silence, then BOOM! Somewhere I have pics of both being refueled on my one refueling mission.

 

[Retired W4]

You guys that handled the weapons should recognize the little device at the 7 o'clock position of my keychain. The load was dropped somewhere in Afghanistan.