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I was fortunate to be the crew chief on an F-4 and for a time I crewed two of them by myself. What an amazing aircraft and, in my opinion, the most beautiful fighter ever built.
Saw documentary, they spoke to Vietnam lady just wanted to live life in peace, grow crops & raise her kids. Sadly most her family were killed by US bombing. Those heroes 40k feet up in B52s. After that she joined Vietcong & all she wanted to do was kill Americans. Can't say I blame her. All started because they dared to want independence from the French. I do sympathise with the guys drafted though. They got shafted fighting a war for which there was no possible justification. Domino theory was BS just like WMD in Iraq
As an old aircraft carrier sailor from the Vietnam era I was around F4 Phantoms all the time. These planes were brutes with incredible power plants that could launch unbelievable ordnance loads off a short deck space. When they hit afterburner it didn’t matter where you were on that huge ship, you knew it. They were airborne. They called it the muscle plane. I thought it was the meanest looking plane but also the coolest looking. I had some close calls with these brutes while we were deployed.
The F-4 was no longer in use by the Marines when I joined, but it was the first aircraft I trained on at NAS Millington. I had always loved the aircraft as a kid and never understood why it was called "Double Ugly". It had always been a sleek looking aircraft to me. I ended up landing on AV8-B's in the Marines.
F4 can hit over 1,500 miles an hour with full afterburner. Tbat is faster than the F22 and F35. It has served as a fighter, thought a bit too heavy and in the early service was deficient in not having having cannon, it served as an attack bomber, interceptor, electronic jammer in its later years. It was an all weather plane that was a deadly plane for 50 years of service.
As a former Wild Weasel crew chief, The F-4 was a BEAR to work on. I still have marks from my "weasel bites". They were at least a half dozen ways an F-4 could either kill or seriously hurt you. We used to say that the F-4 was living proof that you could get a brick to fly with enough thrust. As well as the only time an F-4 wasn't leaking meant it was empty! In spite of all that it has a special place in my memory. I was lucky enough to have a nice pilot who would take me up. We called them "check out flights: which some were after repairs or when the pilot wanted me to feel or hear something that only occurred in flight. But many times we'd head out to a range and because I already had flight time in many aircraft, he'd let me fly. (This was one of our trainers), It was great and the only time I was taken supersonic. Because it was the aircraft I worked on the most, out of 16 different types that I did work on, it'll always be special to me.
Taking off with the wings folded, true story. Full combat load too. My father was in Cam Ranh Bay recuperating and watched it happen. They had F-4's in revetments at the end of the runway, gassed, bombs loaded, ready to go. The revetments were small enough that the F-4s had to have their wing tips folded up. Standard procedure was for them to high speed taxi out straight onto the runway, folding down the wings as you went, lighting the burner as quickly as the pilot felt comfortable and off you go. One day, as my dad was watching the comings and goings on the airfield, an alert came in and everyone turned to watch as these launches were quite a show. Well, this pilot forgets to put the wing tips down and rockets off the runway, full burner (thrust is a wonderful thing). The pilot made it out over the water and jettisoned his bombload, came back around and landed wings still up. I'm guessing they wouldn't come down at that point. He taxied over to the maintenance area. My dad was told that the pilot was transfered to an O-1 unit the next day and flew bird dog missions from then on.
Without locking pins in place, those joints are being put under extreme loads they weren't designed to handle, so yeah, the folding wing mechanism would likely be inop once a takeoff had been achieved.
Good story. Had I known I would get a transfer like that, I would’ve left The wings up also. My private pilot license training pilot flew the phantom jet in the Navyand called it “a piece of shit”
@@steveperreira5850 Might want to check survival rates of bird dog pilots vs f4 drivers (especially early war) before you go making that statement about a transfer.
@@michaelsullivan4213 So what is your thoughts on not handing Ukraine some A-10's? If they are retiring them why not recycle them? I think because it's too powerful. We don't want Ukraine handing their asses to the enemy.
My connection to the Phantom was through the USAF. I was a 462X0 - Weapons Troop. We serviced the weapons delivery systems and uploaded and down loaded any and all of the munitions that a sortie called for. It was a great warplane and was much loved by almost everyone that worked on them as well as the aircrews that flew them. The one comment that sticks out in my memory of the F-4 is that the aircraft is proof positive that with enough power it is possible to fly a brick. I will forever cherish my connection to the Phantom and take great pride in my small contribution to the mission it was assigned.
I served in El Toro, California in 1982 and saw the last F-4`s in service there with VMFP-3. But worked on them with VMFA-323, VMFA-314 AND VMFA-531. Fell in love with this aircraft. It looked mean just standing there on the tarmac. Might not be the most maneuverable, but by God, it looked mean. One of the best looking aircraft ever.
Air Force back seaters were called Weapon System Officers (WSO). My Dad was an F4 backseater in the 70s & 80s. Grew up with the sound of those powerful engines.
I was stationed at Clark Air Base in the Philippines, and they had F4 Phantom wild weasels. I dreaded riding my bike at the end of the runway when they were taking off, because they would blow your ears out.
My dad lived in Midwest City, OK within eyeshot of Tinker AFB. This was in the late 60's and super sonic flight was still an issue for some areas. I used to stand in the yard and watch the Galaxies and F-4s flying in and out. You're right. You could feel those roars in your chest when they lit the fires and climbed out.
Backsesters were also known as WSO's Weapons Systems Officer. Tailhook weighed 600 lbs.. There's a wing tip locked indicator that sits flush when wings are locked. The Variable intakes also helped with speed and altitude. SUU 23 Gun Pods containing the M61A1 Vulcan 20 mm cannon. My first Aircraft was the F4 in 1981.
I worked at McDonnell Aircraft in the late 1960's the tail hook on the F4B Navy versions was made of magnesium alloy and exceptionally strong but did not weigh 600 lbs, 2 men could easily carry one, 250 lbs.
My Uncle Sam flew Phantoms in VF-213, the Black Lions in Vietnam. He loved that airplane and I recall him saying that the F-4 was proof that "with big enough engines anything will fly." And the Phantom had huge engines. Thanks for showing the F-4 the love it deserves my friend, Semper Fidelis.
@@ScrappyXFL No doubt! As the saying goes "proof that with a big enough engine anything will fly!" A flying brick I wouldn't want to find myself on the business end of anytime soon.
@@chrisnizer5702 Back in BoyScouts I visited a AL ANG Recon group using RF-4's. Learned from the LtCol commander the difference between a "Navy landing" v. an "Air Force landing" 🤣We watched a pair coming back from mission do a navy landing. He was visibly and verbally pissed 😂 Also learned what a telephone pole coming up you ass was 👍
When I was a kid we lived in Alamogordo New Mexico which is where Hollowman Air Force Base is. F4s flew out of Hollowman and during the 60s and pilots were allowed to break the sound barrier causing sonic booms. We could hear several sonic booms a week. The windows would rattle in our house. I also got to see the Thunder Birds perform a couple of times at a Hollowman.
Based on your name, I can narrow down your MOS, but we always called them "tweakers". I spent a lot of time pulling seats and putting them back so the pot-tweakers could work on their gear. Semper FI. Sorry if I got "tweet" meaning wrong.
The F4 phantom has always been my favorite jet aircraft since I can remember as a kid. It is, without a doubt, the sewxiest and most aggressive looking jet I have ever seen.I'd be willing to bet that if they updated the airframe, avionics, payload capacity, as well as the jet engines, this plane would still be a top aircraft in the U.S. inventory.
Flying with the wings folded or even worse, torn off from bad land-based carrier practice. That actually happened due to multiple hard landings but the pilot did not know it and repeated landing and taking off. I flew the F-4B out of Da Nang in Vietnam and when we got there we were short a couple of aircraft. McDonnell sent us one of the record-setting planes which for us was almost worthless because it did not have any hard points on the wings to carry ordinance. It could carry Sparrow missiles. It was a sleek beauty compared to our workhorses and shined like a new car. It was by far the fastest and the most fun to fly but it only flew cover for ELINT and other spy planes. My squadron was sent to Kennedy Space Center to be fitted with space suits like the astronauts wore. The F-4 was designed to intercept very high altitude incoming enemy aircraft as high as 70,000 feet and above. Our suits had atmospheric control cables that would pull our arms down as the pressure went down so that we could maintain our hands on the stick. Otherwise, our arms would have gone straight out and we would have been helpless. The procedure for the intercept was to hold our altitude with a radar lock-on while accelerating and then the computer would calculate his speed and altitude and our speed and altitude and then flash the words "Snap Up" with a guiding circle to follow. The scary part is as we climbed the engines would start to overheat and we would have to pull the throttles back slowly to keep them safe. Eventually, we would have to shut them down and complete the intercept with nothing but momentum. Thank God I never had to make this intercept! I loved that old bird and it never let me down.
I grew up in St. Louis county several miles from Lambert international airport. North of the airport was McDonnell Douglas where the phantom was made. I remember seeing the F-4’s take off day and night and fly by our house.
Those f4 phantom where legends over both Vietnam and Israel and the British who flew phantoms in both RAF and FAA love it too great job TJ3. Please do what you never know about the MIG-21.
I was USAF from July 1976 until October 1996. I got to work on the RF-4C simulator at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Japan from 1977 until 1980. Our backseaters were RSOs for reconnaissance system operators. That was a great job. Space is generally set at 100 kilometers, 62 miles up, 54 nautical miles or 330,000 feet. This is known as the Karman Line.
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I thought you were going to cover the unusual design features like the 12 degree diehedrial on the outer wing panels, the 23 degree negative diehedral on the stabilator, the variable ramps, BLC system etc. Most of the info presented here, is available almost anywhere, including the side of a model box.
In the early 1970's I remember being outside during recess and seeing/feeling pairs of F4 Phantoms flying over the school. It was awesome. My dad was stationed in West Germany at the time and my school was about 30 miles from the East German border. It's still my favorite plane because of those memories.
I was a tower controller at MCAS El Toro, Feb 73 to late June 76. We had 4 F-4 squadrons on the base, all located behind the tower. VMFA531, the Grey Ghosts, VMFA 323, Snake Squadron, VMFA 314, the Black Knights and VMFP 3(VMCJ 3) Recon. Those were special days, Semper Fi.
Gray Ghosts and Snake squadrons deployed together for the first two F4 squadrons deployed on a carrier since Vietnam on the USS Coral Sea during our 79-80 WestPac. I was part of the MarDet stationed on the Coral Sea from 77-80.
Being a an F4 crewchief 562 AMU 87-89, The folded wing incident happened at George AFB May 16 1979 ; F4E Acft 69-7269; Everyone one missed that the lockpins weren't secured. it'd had come from a major phase inspection ( basically tear it down and rebuild it ) Phase Crew, Crewcheif, Pilots, End of Runway crew. part of the preflight walk around is to push up on the wings, not because of this incident, but was already part of the preflight requirement.
30 months in Udonthani and Danang from July 1970-Dec 1972 as a WCS or FCS mechanic ( weapons control, fire control system) or ..the radar, all weapons, missiles, bombs, gun monitors, computers etc. Climbed into F-4 Ds thousands of times. hated the war. LOVED the F-4 wow what a bird. They would take off 2 at a time, side by side, abs just screaming... it never got old. Once, had to get to a bird at the end of the runway, ready to rake off, Had to climb up, engines running, put my head between the pilots knees and do some rinky thingy for his reticle...or a red cross on his windscreen ...so he could use his gun
We had a 'red ball' concerning the ARC 164 UHF radio. Right engine was on. Plugged into the comm cord and talked to the pilot. Asked him to press the tone button. Got tone. Told him I'd be back in a minute and to raise his seat and move as far to the right as he could. Climbed up the boarding ladder and stuck my head in and am reaching below the console for the radio on the interface mount. Replaced a fuse and didn't drop the old one (that's never a given). Fixed.
I calibrated the radar and weapons control systems on the F-4D during the Vietnam War, spent 1970-71 at Ubon, Thailand. The Guy In Back (GIB) is pronounced gib (as in the Gibb brothers of the Bee Gees), not jib. He was also know as the PSO, pilot systems officer, WSO, weapons systems officer, EWO, electronics warfare officer. In addition to the mentioned armament, the Phantom carried at times an OGB, optically guided bomb, which when turned on prior to release, the camera in the bomb's nose could be monitored through the radar scopes like they were televisions. The GIB would lock on to the light/dark contrast of a cave opening, then release the bomb. It would glide into the cave opening. Boom. The Phantom also carried napalm canisters and CBUs, cluster bomb units. A center-line SUU-23 Vulcan gatling gun was mounted at times. The heaviest ordinance the Phantom could carry was the 3,000 pound "Fat Albert" laser guided bomb, on the center-line, with no other ordinance due to the weight. Some D's had their own on-board laser, some required another D to illuminate the target. The D model had vacuum tube technology in the radar system, the E model was transistorized, and carried a gatling in the chin. Watching the Phantoms depart from Ubon on the way to Vietnam, they were so heavily armed with bombs that they literally used every inch of runway to take off...the wheels lifted as they touched the grass at the end of the runway. I felt their designation should have been FB-4D, for fighter-bomber.
As an enlisted member of ship's company, the Phantom 4-J was my favorite fighter/bomber. The power was palpable as they staged on the catapults. There was no missing them in full afterburner as they left the carrier USS America (CV-66). Oh, we also deployed a couple of RA5C Vigilantes for high-level recon.
There are a couple of Phantoms I know of, that are in private hands. First one is an F-4D being returned to flight worthiness by the Collings Foundation and there is an F-4H-1F up for sale (it’s the 11th pre-production aircraft off the line, and one of the Sageburner Phantoms).
The Phantom was built on McDonald Douglas’s principle that if you put big enough engines in it, you can make anything fly.😂 I was a Phantom Phixer, ‘76-‘79.
Ex-AIF maintainer here. Regarding the statement starting @7:20, we had the F-4E, with foldable wings that had a manually operated locking mechanism running the whole length of the "piano" hinge. On the top of the wing there is large red painted pin theat protrudes and is visible if the wing isn't locked. In our weekly safety training for Phantom maintainers, we were shown a tragic accident where the ground crew neglected to lock the wing hinges. When the Phantom became airborn, the wing tips folded up. The pilot could not hold the altitude, pitched up and eventually stalled and crashed. The air crew did not survive the crash. Very sobering for us ground crew.
Actually it was a 30mm cannon electrically fired shells with tracer rounds. A huge shell! I crewed F4E/G in my first 8 years in the USAF from the mid 80s till 92 when they closed a George AFB in California and moved them to Nellis for 6 more years after they were going to retire them completely.
@@nicholasklangos9704 Wrong, Nicholas. It was 20mm. The U.S. military uses 30mm in the A-10 , AC-130 and AH-64 Apache. Loading tracer rounds is optional and certainly was not standard practice on the F-4E or J. Normally it was lead rounds on training missions and HEI in combat.
I was stationed on Nellis AFB when the Thunderbirds flew F4s. The power was incredible. They could fly them straight up until they were out of sight in a few seconds. I saw it many times. I was sent to Holloman AFB on TDY to work on the F4s for three months, back in 1970. I didn't like it. To test the radar you had to get out a messy old hydraulics cart to operate the antenna, when I was used to the servo operated antenna on the F111. Also, ducking under the plane was dangerous to your head, there were so many instruments and devices sticking down.
Dripping hydraulic oil, leaky fuel and getting "chewed" by the under belly of the beast. What's not to like about maintaining Phantoms ? Do you still have any battle scars left ?
@@Tinbender-zr4jd If I had some structural repair to do under a sitting Phantom, I would often commandeer a chair. As a guest specialist, invited to fix someone elses booboo, the guys at the squadron would accommodate me.
A well maintained-6 cart was neither messy or dirty. As a WCS 3-level maintainer it was my job to hookup and disconnect. As I rose in skill and rank I still did the occasional hookup because I was short and faster than most guys. Yes, my head and back have scars from those days.
I worked on AF, Navy and Marine Corps F4s. I was a crew chief on an F4 E while stationed at Osan AB, Korea. It was harder to work on than an F15, but truly a wonderful aircraft.
I was lucky enough to work ok the QF4 program for several years. On the delivery of our 200th aircraft delivery our pilot did a flyby over our hanger. 200 feet at 240 mph it was amazing. The sound, the speed, and the smell of the jet fuel was amazing. All I could say was "again, again, do it again". Iconic aircraft at a time when aerospace was still raw,
There's also a story about Iranian F-4's where an F-22 was able to fly under the F-4's, count their armament, and then maneuver to a visible position to tell the Iranian pilots to go back home, while remaining completely unnoticed by the F-4's sensors.
I was a weapons control tech. on F-4 C, D, & E's assigned to the 12th T.F.W. Cam Ranh Bay, S. Vietnam. Many of the bombing missions performed caused the air crew to exceed the max. "G" force limits of the aircraft. Aircraft were regularly sent to the Philippines to repair cracked wing spars. Crew chiefs told me that they regularly just reset the "G" meters & sent the planes back up. I also know from debriefings that on several occasions the frt. seater passed out due to "G" loads & the R.O. took over until the pilot recovered. So as far as I know in combat, the back seater was also a pilot only younger & lower ranking. Our F-4's were equipped with the M61 Vulcan 20 mm Gatling Gun on the centerline.
Found out after a Wizzo's death about a Vietnam incident. Low level fights and the front took a missile hit. FCP canopy gone (in the rain) and pilot slumped. Wizzo turned the aircraft to overfly the sea and was about ready to eject when he saw the pilot move. He turned the aircraft heading for the nearest field, which was a Marine base. The aircraft landed safely and the pilot taken to the hospital. The pilot survived but there's no other information. The Wizzo got a Silver Star and had never mentioned it to anyone. It was in his Obituary.
I love the Phantoms!! Nasty mean looking and a hell of a plane!! I think the biggest problem they had was the smoke trail it left. I've watched em so many times and sat in them and it's just a freaking cool aircraft!!
That was due to the engines they used. It was not much of an issue for the job it was designed for - i.e. intercepting bombers and shooting them down using long-range missiles - but for close-in fighting, that can make it difficult for an opponent to lose track of the plane (not impossible, as some pilots did pull it off, though mostly by pure chance). In fairness, it was possible to get rid of the smoke trails, but that typically involved using the afterburner, and that, unfortunately, burns through fuel much faster, cutting flight time down quite a bit and facilitating a greater need for aerial refueling.
@David Richardson Yeah I know all of that. I just didn't want to make my comment longer than it already was. Thanks for the input. Nice to know there's others out there interested in this stuff.
Notes about the F-4 Gun/No Gun issue: (1) The F-4 was originally a Navy aircraft without a gun. The Navy never added a gun to the F-4. That was done later by the Air Force, first as an external gun pod. (2) The main reason a gun was added was due to the minimum arming range of a missile. The Vietnamese figured out that the air-to-air missiles were little more than arrows until they reached a safe arming distance from the launching F-4, so the MIGs simply flew as close to the F-4s as practical and used their guns with impunity in many cases. Several F-4 pilots lamented having a MiG right in front of them, at close range, with no way to kill the MiG other than ramming it, a technique not highly recommended.
The video didn't mention the RF-4, the Recon version with a camera pod under the nose. When the E's first shoed up the MiG's mistook them for RF's and an easy kill - didn't take long for them to learn otherwise.
It also did not help that the Air Force took until 1972 to actually get a version of the sidewinder that was better suited to tight dogfighting (Aim-9J). The Navy had better training, systems (AN/APG-59), and sidewinders (Aim-9D/G/H) throughout most of the war. There was never a need for them to have a gun, and the 13-1 kill ratio they had my war's end shows that.
The REAL reason the USAF got the F-4E with the gun in the nose was because GOLDA MAIER insisted on it for the Phantoms the Israelis were 'buying.' And the first Phantom with an internal gun was a modified RF-4C - already had the long nose!
When I joined the USAF the C model was my first aircraft to load and we shortly transitioned to the E model. I have a nice Phantom bite scar on my back.
I served with these, 74-79 on CVA-62. I was A Gang AC&R Shop, MM3... The biggest mistake of my life was getting out !!! I was addicted to watching A6 A7 F14 and the Phantom... (Almost forgot S3's)we towed a target and they would target practice with Guns and these little Blue Steel Bombs... what a blast... smoke from the gun... then rounds hit the water then a *ZIP ZIP* Sound... can still hear it all... can hear the Cats... can hear the Cables spool out an slapping the deck... damn... and the FOOD was THE BEST IN THE WORLD !!!
I was a crew chief on F-4's and we called the back seater a PSO pilot systems operator but I guess my 14 years in the USAF don't make me knowledgeable.Yes a F-4 "c" model did fold wing tips in flight, after there were safeties made to prevent this.
There was one time at Clark airbase where the outer wing panels didn't lock in the open position. Th plane took off, one of the outer panels folded up, and the jet nosed over into the jungle. That was in 86 or 87.
I was in Okinawa flying F-4s at the time of this incident. My good friend, fellow Texan and fellow Air Force Academy grad Bobby Lee Henry was killed in that crash but his backseater successfully ejected. RIP Bobby Lee - everytime I drive through Muleshoe I think of you. You are missed.
TJ, since you’re on the iconic aircraft of the Vietnam War, could you do one on A-1 Skyraider, which was originally designed during WW2 but didn’t see action until the Korean War, and was an aircraft much loved by grunts on the ground in Vietnam.
I have a story for you about the A-1from a VN veteran. SVN also was given some, but wooden blocks had to be attached to the rudder pedals so the pilots could reach them and still have the seat high enough to see out. He also told of a SVN pilot returned to base with concertina wire rapped around parts of the plane, when asked about it, he said he ran out of ammo... but he got the enemy he was after. Not really public funny, but for combat soldiers... hilarious.
@@sleepyhollow783 In Vietnam, Skyraider was probably the only prop aircraft that did shoot down jet aircraft. But in other wars, F4U Corsair shot down MIG-15 in Korean War and P-51 Mustang down Me-262 in WW2
@@donscheid97 As for your last sentence; as Larry the Cable Guy would say: "Now that's funny, I don't care who you are". I'm also going to believe it just because it's so bad ass.
My father’s squadron, the 45thTFS/15thTFW scored the Air Force’s first MiG kills a month after the Navy. They also lost the first aircraft to a Surface to Air Missile a month after that, an event that led to the creation of the Wild Weasel SAM killers. I seem to recall that they also had the first aircrew recovered after a shootdown. It all happened in 4 months in 1965.
Lt Col told us about time in Vietnam -- SAMs look like telephone poles about to be up your ass. 😂He at that time he headed up a reconnaissance ANG unit. Took a picture of my HS!! YEEE!!! Kept it for a while, he'd framed it, he and WSO signed and dated it, it was a very thoughtful & nice gift. I gave it to the school after about a decade, and saw it mounted in the school office a few years later. Yes, I was a bit geeky. Took everything "Advanced" and my hardest classes and teachers were the best classes/teachers. Paid off well. I went back to see them, see how they were.
5. RIO for me was the common term, tail section was called a Stabilator, 4. D as a chase plane for Gemini rocket launch, ir also used w GE J79 afterburner engines and I don't remember the thrust per engine, The F4 was made by McDonald Douglas, same as the F15 which is also a high flyer though not at 98,000 ft, 3. 20mm cannon later, it was there when I joined in 1973. I didn't know #4 but I knew that Iran was still using the Phantom as well at the Tomcat. One weekend on the base that I was stationed at has an in transit Navy F4 coming in for some reason. I don't know if he thought he was landing on a flat top or not but he caught one of the catch cables that are on both ends of the runway. That screwed up the landing gear door that covers the landing gear when it's retracted. I also got to see 2 SR-71s while there, the highlight of my brief Air Force career.
I was at Clark AB. from about june 1978 thru about Feb 1980 and worked in Barrier Ops & Maintenance. It WAS A BUSY RUNWAY. That 10 K foot runway went on forever. Resetting the cable was intense, & spacing the doughnuts was like a wind sprint across that 300' width. Serious time constraints, especially during sortie surges. We had 2 BAK-13s basically "centered" off of the midpoint, then one of two BAK-12s on the far sides of the 13s, and then some BAKt-9 /MA-1A webbing, arresting Cable and SHIPS' ANCHOR CHAINS all interfaced at the runway ends just before the overrun area. HATED those PO Crap 9's. The ultra wet weather , rain/gen'l humidity made the Control Boxes (that could raise the webbing) for the MA-1A a royal pain in the ass. Water would leak into the pits (MA-1A) & --sometimes the Boxes worked/sometimes not; same thing went for when the tower tried to raise the webbing. I only vaguely recall some doofus pilot/plane that wound up in the netting--forget why; that was 40+ years ago. I do recall it was a half-assed engagement & it barely moved the cable & tore some of webbing interconnecting straps. Seemed like the Navy birds/pilots liked to take the barrier for no good reason; a bit of bad weather & bang there they were making extra work for us. I don't recall what they were flying, but they & USAF visitors could be flying 16s. 14s/15s-- something other than the F-4s (Stationed at Clark). And then there were the C-5s..... I'm curious how that Navy bird's landing gear door got screwed up. F-4s ran over the cables repeatedly with no damage, & even when they engaged, I still didn't see any damage occurring, and I was right up front marshalling the bird out of the cable. Sorry for being long winded; being at Clark AB on the flightline was seriously heavy & exciting work & I liked it (Well I was only 22/23 YO then), lots of memories from the flightline & off base too for that matter.
GIB Bear Wizzo. All depends when you’re talking about. They’re all right. However, I’ve never heard GIB called JIB. Why would you use a soft ‘G’ for a letter that represents Guy? We don’t say Juy.
My dad flew the Marine variant in Vietnam with VMFA-314. He once told me the F4 was the only aircraft ever fielded by the US military where the ejection seat had a better glide ratio than the aircraft it was in. lol On the other hand, standing in front of the Vietnam Memorial - having just found the name of his former GIB who'd earned his wings, moved to the pilots seat and was shot down a week later - was the only time in my life, I saw my father cry. The F4's been around a long time and been involved in a lot of things....there's a ton of emotion surrounding that bad ass looking monster.
I was a crew chief on the F 4 during the time that the Air Force was transitioning to F 16s. It was a fantastic aircraft. We had mostly E ,C and R models. The E model had the built in gun. Prior to it, they had a gun pod that was mounted on the center line.
A pilot once told me that a centerline gun pod and one also mounted on the outboard 370 positions would be used for attacking train and other targets. If all fired at the same time would stop a diving F4 in flight. Not sure if this is true, but interesting.
@@davidb6659 D's never had an internal gun, G's were converted E models and had had the gun system permantly removed. The space was used for its SAM radar sensors.
I saw Israeli Phantoms while I was in Israel during the Yom Kipper War. My first encounter was amazing. It was while above the clouds on a moon lit night in an Air France 707 coming in to Lod airport. At about 10PM on Oct 14, 1973 I was at the window on the wing. I pulled up the blackout curtain and there at the wingtip of the 707 was an Israeli Phantom protecting us as we landed. One was also on the other wingtip. What a thrill.
My state's air national guard is stationed at an airport not far from where I grew up, and they flew F4s up until 1989. I remember F4s being a common sight when i was a kid.
In the beginning of my Mechanical Design career (1983-1984 as a Draftsman) I worked on F4's for the Navy out at China Lake, helping design and document parts and installation assemblies to convert some F4's into drones to shoot missiles at. Got to see and crawl all over them in the hangars out there, got to talk to tons of mechanics who were in 'Nam, and saw a lot of the internals, in particular the giant GE J79 engines. Worked on a lot of the other weapons that came out of China Lake back in the day. WAY cool way to start my career as a teenager! The new planes may be smarter and fancier, but, the F4 was and IS still an extremely formidable and legendary plane, my personal fave.
My dad and my uncle both flew the RF-4C's as part of the Idaho Air National Guard. My dad flew multiple fighter jets and business jets over his 50-year flying career, but the Phantom was always his favorite!!!
I was a weapons loader there too (Yellow section.. 561st), were where you at ? Yellow or Blue section (562nd)? Started out over at Black section (21st) with the E models when they were there. When the E models were retired ...moved "down" the street to the other units over there
You can see a Hog coming from about 20 miles away, they throw out black exhaust something fierce, a twin trail that gets smokier the closer to the deck they get. Glide slope of a frickin brick. Scary the way the sudden appearance of a shark's head in close proximity during a dive is scary.
The Phantom burned enough fuel in 60 seconds to drive the 1960s average American car coast to coast and back. Those J79s burned a whole lot of fuel and created a black smoke that the enemy could see from a great distance.
Not sure if its been mentioned to Carl Parlatore but Digital Combat Simulator will be having a very realistic F4E joining the line-up early this year. It seems like he has everything he needs handwear wise. Thank you for your service Carl !
Absolutely love the F-4. Have many RC models of it and they all fly the same... under power they're beautiful, gliding they are a brick. During my training 30 odd years ago as an airccraft engineer, one of my instructors was an Airforce engineer here in Australia in the early 70's. We had them for a few years (F-4E's on loan from the USAF) as an interim while we waited for the F-111 to be completed. Many in the RAAF wished we kept our F-4E's instead of buying the F-111's they were that loved by everyone. Many said the F-4 was much better suited for the RAAF and a better aircraft all round. ...they were finally retired from the US military in 2016 where they bowed out as QF-4's.
My oldest brother and his RIO were shot down in Vietnam flying a F-4. My next older brother flew the F-4 when he joined as a Navy Aviator. Great plane.
A friend of mine was a Phantom driver and would tell me stories about flying that Beautiful beast. Somethi gs only a guy who was there would know. Amazing video TJ. Keep up the great work GOAT
In the early '90s I whitnessed first hand a Kurnass-2000 being chased by an F-15C Baz. The Baz was pushing hard to keep up witha near vertical Phantom twisting to inverted, all 4 engines in afterburner on a quite Sabath morning. Take a look at the IAI display of the upgraded F-4 in La-Bourget from 1987
My dad was in the Airforce and ended up stationed in Germany. Ramstein, AFB, to be exact. And we( I ) were lucky enough to get an apartment, opposite the base from the flightline. Iused to love watching Phantoms take off at night. Or any time. Love that bird. Then, one afternoon, some German F-104 Starfighters scared the hell out of me by flying right( LOW) over my building. Thought the windows were going to shatter. Would you be so kind as to do a video regarding the A-10 Warthog.
Many years ago, I worked briefly with a gentleman who had served as the interlocutor between the flight crews of both the Phantoms as well as for the Gemini spacecraft. I may be wrong, but I believe his name was Gillespie. He had some amazing stories about his work and would be an excellent information source if he is still alive.
@@dalegillispie8436 You are very lucky to have such an interesting person as an uncle. I hope he has written a number of books on his life experiences because considering what he related to me in the short time we worked together, many could learn much and he, and the work he did working with McDonnell.
I was told the F4 was designed to be an interceptor, not a fighter. Another reason no guns were put in. Designed to shoot down Russian bombers. Plus, the high ranking idiots said no more dogfights.
I was once buzzed by a pair of F-4s while training at 29 Palms. One was a Marine F-4 and the other was Navy. We were camped out next to a small ridge repairing a flat and I was mostly just bored and watching these two dancing around the desert. They finally disappeared and I was starting to doze off in the heat. The next thing I know, they both came over the ridge low enough that if I were on top of it, I swear I could have touched them! The noise was beyond loud and as I looked up completely freaked out, all I saw were four tailpipes spitting fire as they flew away! I could even smell the JP-4 fuel and the deuces were just rocking like all get out! I couldn't stop shaking for about half an hour afterward and had this weird pit in my stomach for over an hour! Yeah, they scared the shit out of me alright...!
@@timtrewyn453 We were Army doing wargames there. I swear those sons of bitches knew that, and did it just to mess with us! I've never heard anything near as loud since that day! I'd seen F-4s before and knew they were loud, but good god! I'd swear they were going better than Mach 1 but there was no way to tell amid the noise! They even kicked up dirt as they pulled up!
Soesterberg afb 1974-1976 assistant crew chief, rode the brakes at the engine test cell super powerful engines...many stories about this aircraft, many fond memories
Love those F4 Phantoms! My Dad did sheet metal repairs on them & I used to see & HEAR them all the time flying over from Cherry Point MCAS when I was a teenager
Jim McDonnell liked spooky names. Must have been the Scot in him. From goblins, and ghoulies, and long leggedy beasties, and things that go bump in the night, good Lord, deliver us.
If you ever see a Voodoo and a Phantom side by side (Gate Guards at Shaw years ago) you start to see the DNA from the Voodoo in the Phantom. Lesson learded from the 101's T-tail resulting in some unrecoverable spins was the Anhedral slab on the Phantom.
I was stationed at Homestead AFB in South Florida in the mid 70's and located on the east end of the flightline where these planes lifted off. The J-49 engines were so strong they literally shook or operations building every time they took off. I was Air Rescue and at that time and always on alert because the Soviets were still in Cuba training their pilots.
I was in Navy aviation on land based aircraft in the early 1970s. We always saw these and at one base they used to do touch and goes at night not far from the ramp where our aircraft were. We always saw the long flames in the dark when they took back off. One time we were working long on hours on a detachment where we caught naps on bubble wrap on the ramp and early one morning 4 Marine F-4s came low over us. What a way to wake up.
My dad was a safety officer 73-75 at Woodbridge & Bentwaters. I was in elemetary school which was near the flightline at Woodbridge. When F4 took off side by side, it was incredibly LOUD! Teaching had to stop until the squadron launched. BTW someone on base had a winged Superbird or Daytona. I often wonder where that car is.
I was at Phu Cat AB RVN as an engine mechanic on the D model. Great aircraft. Our birds carried a Vulcan 20 mm gun on the center line at times, 12 500 lb bombs with 4 sparrow missles at other times.
Used to watch them come in, in the early sixties, below the peak of Hull Mountain, Calif. No restrictions on speed and very, VERY motivated pilots! Was an awesome display.
Love the Phamtom! Got three of five questions right, so more study required. Such a magnificent plane in appearance and performance. Still more amazing is that with upgrades, it would be competitive so many years after its introduction. Thank you for the video!!!
When I was at Shaw in the late 70s a backseater had to land an RF-4C after a bird strike knocked out the pilot. I know this because I got to clean the bird guts off of the front seat viewfinder. Watching the F-4 I had the impression that it wasn't so much operating on Bernoulli's Principle as much as it was the power of the angled engines and uplift from the wings being tilted upwards and the air acting on the bottom of the wing.
I was at the March Airfield Museum in Moreno Valley California a few weeks ago. When I walked up to one of their Phantoms, I was stuck with how very large it is.
If you stick your head into the nose wheel well and look aft you'll see a hinged panel. It's got placement pins along either side and 4 Dzeus fasteners. 2 top 2 bottom. The center hinges towards you. A lot of avionics behind it. On the top right of the panel you'll see a smaller hinged door. Open it and there's the box where we would code Mode 4; Identification Friend or Foe.
I really enjoyed this, thank you! I love the "lead sled", I think it's the most iconic and sexiest jet ever made. The last of the 'fly by the seat of your pants" jets. I actually joined the Air Force in the hopes of working on them, but unfortunately they were removed from service the same year I went in...broke my heart so I opted for munitions instead.
Wow, interesting bit of history about USS Ranger CV-61. I made the 1976 Bicentennial Westpac Cruise onboard Ranger. Never knew the first combat kill of F-4 originated off Ranger. Kinda sad, Ranger was scrapped in 2017.
I beg to differ that the F4H Phantom II was the first two-seat jet fighter in US service. There was the F3D Skyknight of the US Navy and the F-89 and F-94 of the USAF. The Skyknight had side-by-side seating and the two Air Force jets had tandem seating with the radar operator in the back seat. The Skyknight saw combat in the Korean Conflict. I got all five "things you didn't know about the F4 Phantom" correct. I heard that several Navy planes had accidentally taken off with folded wings and that there were more than one Phantom--some crashed, some managed to return for a landing (and a tongue lashing for the pilot). Other jets that survived this were the F8 Crusader and A7 Corsair II. Here are two more trivial items. The UHF AM two-way radio in the Phantom was the AN/ARC-51 and I know that because my Marine Corps career was repairing these radio sets. The Phantom starred in the television series, The Man from UNCLE--when Napoleon Solo needed to get somewhere in a hurry, he hopped a ride on a Marine Corps F-4B.
Was the ARC-51 the original with the integrated UHF/Nav Control Box? And on the back of the Control Box a small hinged panel (with little movable balls, or something like that) where you could set presets? The radio itself was off roundish and flat. This one bird was going to the boneyard and got permission from the pilot to pull the ARC 164 system as I needed it for my mock up in the shop.
@@GeorgeLittle-uu4jq Yes, it was, if I remember correctly. I was fixing those sets from 1976 to 1979. Most of my AR-51 radios went into H-53, H-46, Cobras and Hueys--with some A4, F4, and C-130 radios. Once the Army sent some of their Chinook radios to my shop because for a while I was the only UHF tech on Oahu.
@@alancranford3398 Thank you. We had gotten 3 units and I don't recall how many control boxes. We had no way to test them other than installing it. I recall the first one didn't. About 3 hours out the radio died, on way to bone yard, and they sqwaked emergency on the IFF and it happened to work.
