The F4 Phantom Fighter

[1bdvet]

Here is book you might want to buy and read.

It's on sale on Amazon.com and in Barnes and Noble:

B&N
BARNES & NOBLE | The Phantom in Focus: A Navigator's Eye on Britain's Cold War Warrior by David Gledhill, Global Book Sales | Hardcover

Phantom In Focus - A Navigator's View on Britain's Cold War Warrior:

The Phantom in Focus<BR>A Navigator

I hope a few aircraft enthusiasts may buy it and I plan to donate to RAF charities.

 

[RonJ]

I was stationed seven miles from an airbase in northern Thailand. Would you believe the F4's would sometimes wake me up at 4 am while still on the runway? They were headed to N Viet Nam and I could only wish them well.

 

[Texas Star]

A good plane, but I recall a former Phantom pilot telling me that he found the F-15 Eagle to be far more agile. That counts a lot in a dogfight with a manueverable (sp?) Combloc fighter.

BTW, Prince Charles was a Phantom pilot after commanding a destroyer. If you see him in Naval uniform, look for the aviator wings on his sleeve.

 

[Ron H.]

Here is book you might want to buy and read.

It's on sale on Amazon.com and in Barnes and Noble:

B&N
BARNES & NOBLE | The Phantom in Focus: A Navigator's Eye on Britain's Cold War Warrior by David Gledhill, Global Book Sales | Hardcover

Phantom In Focus - A Navigator's View on Britain's Cold War Warrior:

I hope a few aircraft enthusiasts may buy it and I plan to donate to RAF charities.

Sir, as I understand it, a lot of old F4 jocks are fond of saying, "If you're out of Phantoms, you're out of Phighters!"

Hope this helps, and Semper Fi.

Ron H.

 

[RonJ]

A good plane, but I recall a former Phantom pilot telling me that he found the F-15 Eagle to be far more agile. That counts a lot in a dogfight with a manueverable (sp?) Combloc fighter.

BTW, Prince Charles was a Phantom pilot after commanding a destroyer. If you see him in Naval uniform, look for the aviator wings on his sleeve.

A good pilot and the Phantoms ability to climb made up the difference. Go check the kill rate on the f4 vs the Migs. You might also want to check the performance of the 53 vette against the new ones.

 

[Hobie1]

The F-4D was a formidable fighter/bomber in 'Nam. The Migs could out-turn it but they couldn't outrun it up down or straight ahead.
It's old today, no doubt. So am I.
Leave the knife fights and gunning to the young un's.

Hand Salute!

Hobie

 

[Texas Star]

A good pilot and the Phantoms ability to climb made up the difference. Go check the kill rate on the f4 vs the Migs. You might also want to check the performance of the 53 vette against the new ones.

I understand that Allied and Israeli pilots were usually better than the enemy, but some Phantoms were lost tp enemy fighters. As far as I know, no F-15's have been lost.

But I meant no disrespect to the F-4 or those who flew them. Just saying that the Eagle is a better, later design. The pilot who flew both said that F-4 was slower and harder to turn.

I'll check the climb rate of the F-4 against that of the MiG-21.

 

[ditrina]

Nothin' like a couple of J79's in full AB.. about to get thrown of the front of a Carrier...

 

[msinc]

I got to ride in the front seat once. We were a radar target for an F-18. Up the Atlantic coast and back to the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. When the pilot slowed down he said "get ready...this aint gonna feel to good", and it didn't. I thought I was going right thru the windshield. The harness actually hurt my shoulders. The Blue Angels haven't been the same since they quit flyin' the F-4.

 

[Engineer1911]

The life of an F-4 aircraft mechanic was another story. My Memories were 10 months of a hydraulic leak and fuel leak flying in formation. The beast I had in Thailand could never be fixed, out of nine scheduled missions it had 8 ground aborts and one TOTAL loss of hydraulic power/hydraulic systems when it did get off the ground. Pilot was the squadron commander.

Oooooh those were the days. Single, E-5, and northern Thailand. Just call me Short because I will be a civilian after I leave here.

 

[mwtdvm]

My Uncle

was an Annapolis grad and had several tours off Viet Nam. I think he called the F4 a "flying refrigerator door". He also flew A4's and A6's and I think F8's. I got the idea he liked the attack planes better. He's been gone 21 years now and I still think fondly of him.

 

[Sebago Son]

The Loss to Kill Ratio between F-4's and MiG-17's & 21's improved dramatically after they added "the gun". Before that, reliance solely upon AIM's and Sparrows only gave the Phantom half it's potential.

 

[Straightshooter2]

America's proof to the world that, given big enough engines, even a brick will fly. But, dang, what a brick. Only aircraft I've ever seen that just looked bad *** sitting still on the deck.

CW

 

[Cyrano]

I was in the Army, but was working with USAF Air Defense Command. The F106 pilots sure loved it when they transitioned to the Phantom, not only was the performance a lot better but the radar was several leaps ahead of the 106's. The Air Force would have had it several years before except for the NIH factor.

 

[luangtom]

She did look bad, especially after a run over NVN and back. Saw many a plane come back in with holes that woulda downed any other bird. Saw 'em come back in sans the canopy and still flying. She took a licking and kept on ticking...........

Same could be said for the old Goonie...C-47, whether it be EC-47, AC-47 or another configuration. She was a war-horse, just like the F-4 Phantoms.

The ground-pounders liked 'em, that's for sure. We'd help put out a call for fast-movers and in would come the F-4's............she saved many a youngman's tail in the SE Asia Games.

 

[LVSteve]

Paul Sprey of "Fighter Mafia" fame was always a critic of the type. Paraphrasing his thoughts on TV:

"Every bent up wing and drooping tail on that thing is an aerodynamic Band Aid. That plane is a turkey."

Back in England I lived in an area where they allowed low-level dogfight practice and the F-4s got owned by Tornados and especially Harriers. Even the Jaguars, another tricky handling airplane, gave them grief when in the weeds.

Engineer1911. I have an F-4 book where it is said that many a Vietnam theatre mechanic would have loved five minutes in a locked room with the clown that put the radio under the RIO's ejector seat. Due to the climate the radios failed and the seat had to come out with all that added "fun".

 

[semperfi71]

Worked a ton of F-4s in MCAS Yuma for three and a half years as an air traffic controller.

Every morning at a few mimutes to 6:00 A.M. a pair of Phantoms taxied to 21R and took off at exactly 06:00 A.M. Exactly. We opened the tower at that time and as we climbed the catwalk they would be holding short of the runway, waiting for us.

When the launched it was full afterburner, seven days a week. The entire city of Yuma could hear them and complained but they were flying the border as a defense measure so the complaints were ignored.

I expect it was akin to the F4F Grumman Wildcat, outclassed by almost anything the Japanes had but able to defeat them by smarter flying tactics.

We too heard that the Harriers could outfight an F4 at the lower altitudes.

 

[Beemerguy53]

America's proof to the world that, given big enough engines, even a brick will fly. But, dang, what a brick. Only aircraft I've ever seen that just looked bad *** sitting still on the deck.

CW

Throughout aviation history, there are some airplanes that just look like fighters...if you didn't know a thing about aviation, you would understand what they're built for just by looking at them.

In my mind, the Phantom leads that list, followed closely by the P-51 Mustang, the F-86 Sabre, and the F-15 Eagle.

 

[Beemerguy53]

One of the best books I have ever read on air combat is "Once A Fighter Pilot" by Jerry Cook. It's a no-nonsense, unvarnished account of his 200+ missions in Vietnam flying Phantoms. I actually wrote a review of it on Amazon, and I can recommend it without qualification to anyone interested the the F-4 and its combat history...

Once A Fighter Pilot: Jerry Cook: 0639785336921: Amazon.com: Books

 

[steveno]

I was TDY to Incirlik AB in Turkey in November of 1971. there was F-4's flying most of the time and the transient barracks were steel quansot huts and that is not a good combination. those huts really rattled