Inside The Cockpit: F-4 Phantom II FGR.2 

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“World’s Leading Distributer of MiG Parts!” I like that. Very clever!

As a young Marine pilot, I spent a lot of time looking at that instrument panel. I flew the F-4B at Mach I at 500 feet over the Yuma desert and Mach 2 at 35,000 feet. It was a hell of a ride and I loved every minute of it. It brought me home from Vietnam and I will always have a soft spot in my heart every time I see one.

Phantoms have a very majestic rugged look that I really love.

3 Phantoms used to practise at combat speed through our village, probably suppressing AA sites, for an accompanying Buccaneer, which practised lobbing a nuke over the ridge above the village. A Canberra reconnaissance plane would appear before & after, the first appearance was the only warning we got. The attack group came in well below chimney height, often level with the 1st floor windows of the houses along the edge of the little valley the village is built around. It was very, very loud. We assumed we were a topographical twin of a target somewhere in Europe.

The F4 was always refered to as a muscle jet with good reason. The full amount of ordinance load was incredible making it so versatile it lasted a long time in the Navy's and Air Force's arsenals.

I learned that a friend of mine flew these while he was in a Air Force. He never mentioned that he was in the military, much less a pilot, to any of us and we all learned of this part of his life only after he died very unexpectedly. Had I known that he flew the F-4 I would have had a thousand questions for him.

18:12 "Jelly Baby Dispenser". Obviously a critical modification for the UK version...

The Phantom did everything. Didn't do anything great but it did everything it was asked to do. Including bringing my uncle and a lot of other pilots home while absorbing a lot of damage

I was a signalman on the USS Saratoga (CVA-60) 1962-1966. We had two squadrons of F-4 Phantoms on board, which are probably more responsible for my old-age hearing problems. But that never stopped me from standing on the signal bridge, watching those lovely birds taxi to the catapult, light their afterburners and take off in front of two trails of smoke! Their landings were just as awesome. Great memories.

My uncle Jack piloted the F4 phantom in Vietnam late 60's early 70's, I was a young boy and in awe, I wanted to ask him about it on the rare times he was home for holidays but back then you kept your mouth shut, plus I don't think he'd want to talk to me about his missions or his experiences. Cool show, thank you 🇺🇸🙏

My dads buddy flew an F-4 in Nam, he did napalm sorties. My pop flew the Cobra Gunship in nam also. I I met his buddy and he had a hanger full of birds, 1 pitts s-1 and a cessna 190? It had a radial engine, and I got to sit in the co pilot seat for a fun ride. He said the phantom handled like a trash truck but it got the job done. Thanks Mr. Bismark for good av-history videos!

Jim Powell here. I served in Navy fighter squadron VF-154 in Vietnam. Two deployments from 1967-68 and 1968-69, we flew the F4 Phantom. I worked on the radar systems. I was a fire control technician. Our last cruise we had the F4J bird. The F4 was a work horse. It could fly as a bomber with a significant payload or as a fighter in a support role carrying sparrow missiles and side winders. The F4 was a big fighter, the engines were J79’s. They could fly right at Mach 2. They were a magnificent and very durable aircraft. I really enjoyed being part of the Navy and being part of VF-154, the Black Knights. The best fighter squadron in the Navy.

worked on them for 4 years, usn, f4-b, vf-11, 1967-71. brought back allot of memories.

i can imagine how many times Heatblur looked at this video, despite having their own real F-4E to module graphically, looking more and more to other F4 planes is never too much when you want to achieve perfection like They did, this plane in DCS is a master piece to fly

20:00 i like "Luftverteidigungsdiesel" (Air defence diesel) which was given to the F-4 because the trailing smoke of the engines

The phantom was the first jet I ever fell in love with,it didn’t help all the stories my grandpa would tell me about them and the Cobras during nam. He would always say “when you would hear that roar over the mountains coming towards you you’d always hear a sigh and a little cheer over the guys when they came around”

This series is definitely helpful for us modellers. I realized I may have missed something out on the Phantom FGR.2 I finished and in turn, this video along with my 2gb folder are probably why I have 4 of them now.

The F-4 Phantom, AKA a Brick with engines.

My favorite plane of all time. My first contact with the Phantom II was the Blue Angels flying in a airshow my father took me to in 1971 when I was 6 years old. I've been in love with "Old Smokey" ever since.

My grandad flew a variant of the Phantom in the German air force. I still think it is one of the best looking post ww2 planes out there.

Thanks for making this vid!!! My great grandpa was the Captain of the carrier USS Ranger for the US Navy and was previously the head test pilot for the E variant of this plane. Currently looking into his tapes for more information about him, just thought it was nice to share.

When you are so american that even your airplane manufacturer is a Mc Donald.

The Flying Brick. Jet powered Dump Truck. Cannot dance the Tango, but is still loved by many.

I also like „Americas proof to the world that even a brick can fly, if the engines, are powerful enough“

I had the pleasure of watching two phantoms scramble from raf wildenrath when I was at school; my teacher was the squadron commanders wife. Amazing sight that is still vivid 30 years on. Great video, thanks!

OK the Iron Pig fits this plane so well.

Australia didn't order Phantoms mate. We got them on some sort of lease to use until our F-111's were ready. I'm told the pilots liked them so much they didn't want to return them.

This is the Jet that I first fell in love with, and discovered aviation. When I was 8 years old my grandpa bought me a model of the F-4 Phantom II to put together with him. I've always loved everything about the F-4 and still do. The absolute greatest aircraft ever made and to fly. Thank you McDonnell Douglas.

When I was younger, every day, every hour and every half our, the sky was filled with jets.. Sometimes even with US-Navy jets.. Now the skies are empty

As a kid I’d go through the NASA air and space museum and the F-4 phantom always caught my eye, it’s perfect war face painting lit up my young mind. I love the F-4

I remember in the 80s when the phantoms were at coningsby with RAF 228 ocu,I used to see them running along the seafront at Mablethorpe on there way to RAF Donna nook bombing range,you could see the gun pack under the fuselage,great days,better days here for aviation spotting,range is fairly quiet nowadays

Great job - so fun that you had access to cockpit controls. Thanks for such an intimate look at one of my top favorite aircraft. One of the last plastic models I made was a 1/32 scale model of the F4E flown by Captain Ritchie USAF in Vietnam. Fun to get a closer look at the things I was toiling over when I made the model!

Good presentation Chris on my beloved F-4 Phantom 2. I flew them in W.Germany days as a Reconnaissance fighter over a 10 year period. To illustrate the USAF's initial adoption of the F-4 one of my military instructors was an evaluation pilot in the early 1960s and told me of that process. In the late 1950s the USAF had the idea of a multi-role fighter to reduce costs. They proposed an interceptor, strike, reconnaissance, bomber, eieio. General Dynamics and Boeing won the proposal and eventually, GD won it as the F-111. At the same time during the Kennedy admin Robert McNamara ( the greatest disaster for the US military readiness affecting decades of damage) tried to force the Navy into adopting the F-111B. The aircraft eventually worked but only as a light bomber. That left a void in the other roles for the USAF which if they could not cover them then the interservice conflict may lead to a transfer of missions. SO they scrambled to find existing alternatives for the F-111. They tried the Navy's Phantom 2 as the F-110, the A-7 for Close air support, and the Skyraider as the B-66 light bomber. All functioned admirably and were timely replacements but this led to a political decision that the USAF would never adopt another services platform for the primary missions.

As a corporate jet pilot and airplane freak in general, there is something menacing and just “plane” brutal about the F4. Looks like it could take endless fire that would just bounce off. Love it. True unadulterated power and ruggedness. Use to love watching these as a little kid living near Hill AFB. I can see the runway from my house and I remember the huge black smoke trails as those monsters would take off. Being in my late 30s the majority have been F16s (which I miss already) and now F35s, but I still remember those F4s like it was yesterday. Thanks for sharing.

I worked F-4Cs, Ds and RF4Cs from 1978 to 1981 then the F4Gs and Es from 1988 to 1991. The plane is MUCH better than most people can imagine.

Yip! Eisenschwein .. I like it - somewhere between a mega-train, a hyper-tractor and a thunder-bike, only in the sky. Cool. ;o)

I love the F-4 Phantom II's. They remind me of that quote from Halo, "For a brick, he flew pretty good!"

II Royce Spey engines were not simply a pointless addition soley to keep British jobs, while the FGR phantoms were slower than the American counterparts at high altitude Mach 1.9 appossed to Mach 2.2~2.3 it was faster at sea level. Also the British phantoms at low altitude out accelerated the American phantoms having a 20% shorter take off distance and a faster initial climb rate also. This was important to the Royal Navy given their carriers relatively small size compared to their American cousins. So this demand was largely at Royal navy's request while the RAF was happy to receive the F-4 Phantom II as it was. Still amazing video for a rarely covered variant of the F-4!

As a USMC Phantom Phixer, I worked fire control on the F-4J and F-4S for 6 years; spent my days and nights in both cockpits, in the nose radar, and down at the missile stations. A lot of good memories, except when one of them pulled in to park across from me and I would get a face full of exhaust. Of note, in the late '70s, we intercepted Russian bombers every night during our deployment to Iceland.

1. The Royal Navy was originally planning to replace its (then) present aircraft carriers with new fleet carriers with displacements falling between the American Midway and Forrestal fleet carriers (see the correction by Force A1 in comments). This was dropped due to the opposition of all things sensible in British military affairs...the Treasury. So, the F-4K had expensive modifications to let it fly more easily from HMS Eagle and HMS Ark Royal. (Note that Eagle had just been - expensively - refitted to fly the new F-4Ks when the Treasury insisted that the Navy had to lose a carrier. Inexplicably, the Navy chose to lose the just refitted Eagle and retain the increasingly decrepit Ark Royal - which promptly spent more time in port than at sea until being decommissioned and scrapped). 2. As Calemb Jackson notes elsewhere in the comments, the Spey was draggier but much more powerful and, at low level, this was fine for the RAF and RN flight profiles, which emphasised low level tactics in the light of US experience in Vietnam and (you guessed it) Treasury reluctance to actually spend money on things like...ECM or decoys. It was also less smokey than the J79 turbojets (until GE finally fixed the fuel burn ratios in the 1980s). 3. The F-4J(UK)s were not retrofitted with Speys because the engine was thought a bad idea by then but because the RAF needed to station a squadron of Phantoms in the Falklands, the existing squadrons were already committed in the UK and West Germany and there was not the industrial capacity (or time) to build new F-4s, so a new squadron was stood-up and took over. These were only intended as a stop-gap solution. The F-4J(UK) had better high-altitude performance, so the role of air-defence over the Falklands was better suited to this model. (addendum) 4. The pod on top of the vertical stabiliser is a RWR pod, not an ECM pod.

Used to be an armourer on Phantoms, finishing up on the now long since defunct Phantom Servicing School at Coningsby as an instructor. Military jet noise, the sound of freedom.

A Royal Navy F-4 cross-decked along with a Buccaneer in 1972 on my ship the USS JFK from the HMS Ark Royal. I got pictures of that. We had 2 squadrons of F-4 onboard at the time.

I once went to an airshow in Florida, and I think I saw a phantom take off and fly back low and fast. I'll never forget what I felt that day.. The rumble from its two mighty engines roaring through the sky, it muffled anything else around me. That roar of the engines making every part inside me tremble. I didn't know if I was feeling the sound waves, or in shock and awe of this powerful machine. It's shark decals near the nose as it flew by, stuck me with the thought that it could take down anything it saw, and that anything it faced was going to feel fear. It certainly scared me. As it passed I saw its two engines glowing a bright yellow, it looked like a pair of eyes of a monster, a big scary one, it looked mighty angry too. It flew away beyond the horizon, making way for another jet. But just like a phantom it came, striking fear, before leaving as if nothing happened.

You are so freaking lucky! There’s nothing more beautiful than an F-4

F4s used to fly out of the base I lived at as a kid - Clark AFB in the Philippines. I always thought they were just an unattractive plane. That and their engines left a trail of black smoke. But hearing them go supersonic over the South China Sea occasionally on their way to Vietnam was kind of neat.

Jim Powell speaking here. The F-4 Phantom was my bird in the Vietnam war. I joined the Navy in 1965, after boot camp and A school, I was ordered to fighter squadron VF-154, the Black Knights. Was stationed at NAS Miramar. Went on my first Westpac cruise in 1967-68 and my second cruise in 1968-69. I was a radar tech otherwise known as an AQ, which was a fire control technician. Our squadron was in in the carrier air wing that served aboard the USS Ranger. We were the best fighter squadron in the Navy, on the best Aircraft Carrier in the Navy at that time. I may be a bit biased, but I don’t think so.

My father worked on the F-4 Phantoms, and once he brought my brother and I down to check it out. First thing he said while putting me into the pilots seat was "Don't touch ANYTHING", and the first thing I did was grab the stick and press the fire button! He pulled me right out! Not sure if my brother made it in or not. I was like 8 or 9. F-4's are cool!

My father was an F-4 pilot in Vietnam from 1967-68, flying out of Tan Son Nhut AFB. 210 missions. Dad said that his navigator would get sick more often than not on takeoff!!

Largest distributor of MiG parts XD I remember when the Blue Angels flew these monsters.

The opening line was pretty funny Bismark 'first used in the second world war......jets' got me hooked and questioning my understanding of the chronology for a second! Keep up the amazing work!

“First used during World War 2” *imagines Germans getting wrecked by that jet*

Something worth mentioning is that the Phantom was designed without a gun largely due to it's intended role, which was to intercept Soviet bombers and attack aircraft. It was never really intended to fill the role of a multi role fighter bomber, because the Navy believed that the F8 Crusader and F11F Tiger would be more than sufficient in that role, so the Navy didn't think a gun would be worth the trade-offs. After all, if you're only expected to be firing Sparrows at Tu-95s from beyond visual range, what's the point in wasting weight on a gun?

Great vid! Anyone here after buying the Phantom F-4e for DCS?

As an army fixed wing aviator assigned to a non flying position at a ROTC unit, I wanted to keep my flying skills honed and was fortunate to have the flight simulator facility at George AFB, Victorville, CA. Whenever there was an opening and the F4 simulator was not in use, they let me climb in and use it for as long as I wanted. It was a complete F4 cockpit with motion, sound and video. Using some basic information and a checklist, I taught myself to fly the F4. Did a bunch of IFR flights around he Southwest including approaches to LAX. It was so realistic that I’d finish up a session soaked in perspiration.

Loaded weapons on this type of aircraft, F4-E, when I was stationed at George AFB, CA in 1978. Saw the last active duty F-105 retire. The aircraft that I worked on were marked for the German training squadron, 20th AMU. Originally Blue section, later changed to Silver section. Was a member of the 35th MMS.

Good video, my grandpa died in one of these in Laos at night, so helps to see what was going on a little bit more

I remember when these aircraft were the main stay and you'd see them tooling along leaving their big smoke trails through the sky. Eventually they got versions of the engines that didn't produce all that smoke. Yes. A very capable aircraft for a very long time. .

I grew up on Air Force bases. Mainly SAC. B-52's. During 'Nam the F4 Phantoms would blast over base housing at night doing napalm bomb run training or something. The smell of that all. Jet fuel, the burn pit, (They had to practice putting out fires! So training for that was pretty real and regular.) The DDT they sprayed my neighborhood with would be diesel based, the alert sirens going off, the B52's doing hot starts. Sweet. Hanging in the foggy still night air. I will never smell that mix of odors again. The memory of it is so strong that 55 years hasn't diminished them. The F4 represented America and freedom's champion fighter.

Thanks for that, great detail of the F4 cockpit, much appreciated. The Phantom was always one of my favorites growing up especially as we had the 74th Bengal (Tiger) Squadron based just down the road from me at RAF Wattisham in Suffolk. We often saw them coming and going from their daily exercises :)

Thanks for the vid. I was a Nav Insty on 29(F) Sqn in the 80's (RAF Coningsby). Brought back loads of memories, my favourite ever aircraft, the Toom.

While on an aircraft carrier during the Vietnam War I watched F4's ladened with huge bomb loads that defied belief how they could get airborne in such a short launch. Those F4 powerplants we're something.

The Rolls Royce Spey, the engine that melted the flight deck of an aircraft carrier

Dad was in this bird in 1967 1968. Thanks for posting.

I flew in an FGR2 but it's so nice to see GF F3 with the black 43 (F) tail. I was on 74 with the F4J and FGR2 and 43 with the F3. Great memories,

The F-4 Phantom shines forever in its great and majestic history, and its brilliant achievements will be handed down to future generations as a part of the great history of the country that operated the F-4 fighter. The F-4 fighter and I commend the pilots for their hard work.

If you think about it, the first flight of F-4 Phantom was back in 1950s...for more than half of the history of human powered flight, F-4 Phantom was in service in various air forces around the globe, and it is still flying today. That itself is a feat of it's own.

I just went to that museum back in June and it was one heck of a place. Loved every building and aircraft

I worked 20 years on the F4C,D,E. Weapons Control Specialist, Radar, Gunsight, Bombing System, Missile Firing. Tech school almost a year.

There's just something that's beautiful about the Phantom.

A tank with wings. I saw some return to our base in Thailand and wondered how they made it back. But they did. The F-4 was a beast.

Amazing knowledge of the aircraft, professionally explained in fantastic English. 👌

Another great video Mr Bismarck, thanks. I have the good fortune to know a few guys who flew these for the Fleet Air Arm (as well as having sat in a few as well, on the ground - but i have had a go at a sim) so it was comfortingly familiar. One thing they did mention was the amount of drag produced by the 'bins' at the back of the engines as well. Looking fwd to your next video - cheers.

Always liked the nickname of the F-4 "triumph of thrust over aerodynamics"

Thank you Bismarck, another great video! When i was young, kynda thirty years ago, i'd have to struggle for days, visit libraries and send letters to gather a FRACTION of the infomations you presented us with in this video. What exciting modern times we're living in (quote from capt Aubrey). Keep up the outstanding job!

Mate I'm just so glad I found your channel. The methodical thoroughness that you have going through the aircraft and cockpit really appeal to me as someone with Asperger's. When I research aircraft types there are a lot of grey areas which I cannot easily find and you clear a lot of these away.

Love your channel, Bismarck! Thank you for sharing your expertise.

For anyone not in the know this particular Phantom weapon fit is a C44+ (2 x wing supersonic drop tanks, 4 x Sparrow AAM's, 4 x Sidewinder AAM's Plus a 20mm 6 barrel cannon pod on the centre line position), not bad for a truck with afterburner's!

Have been blessed to work VERY closely with the RF4…. Priceless time in the GEAF and it’s Recce forces! But the UK version of the carrier based bird, priceless! We called them the air diesel, since they would throw a never ending smoke tail, because their prat and Whitney’s would do that w/o the suppressor cartridges!

R.A.F Museum Hendon. Love that place.

I really don't know how one person can work all these instruments and fly/fight at the same time. Amazing workload.

Really really cool video. Awesome thorough cockpit walkthrough - this was great. Thank you!

Thank you for the nostalgia trip! I worked the RAF F4 simulators for 10 years!

Australia had ordered the F-111 which fell behind in delivery, so the phantoms were provided as a stop gap aircraft, though hardly a poor choice. It was much loved, and I recall the amazing performance of the Phantom II at airshows. as a strike fighter, it held an enviable reputation.

About 25 years ago I knew a fast jet pilot who had just retired from flying Tornado GR1s out of RAF Cottesmore (I was school teacher in the area at the time so we often met in the pub, as was entirely normal for pilots and teachers in those days!). I was a childhood fan of the Phantom but I'm afraid he burst that particular bubble when I asked him about it. He referred to it as a "flying turd". I'm afraid I can't remember why he said it - I suppose I was too shocked to take anything else in for a while. Or too drunk. He was more complimentary about the F-15, however - positively gushing. He'd flown in it on some kind of exchange thing with the USAF apparently and he reckoned that was the best war plane ever built. Much better than his Tornado. And light years ahead of the "turd". I took his word for it!

Love the detail of the cockpit controls, switches, instruments, etc. Very useful when configuring buttons on my HOTAS :)

Such a beast deserves an excellent Audiobook - I recommend Ed Cobley's 'War for the hell of it'.

And I get confused checking the 6 display dials on my car's dashboard. I don't care what anyone says, to be a fast jet pilot you need to be a very special breed. My respects and admiration to those pilots, both past and present.

13:28 "the tiger is a lot more comfortable" does this mean you've also sat in the f5s cockpit?

Russian SAM: "the worlds leading distributor of F-4 parts" Oh, well.

I like the statement, this was the time that air to air missiles were beginning to work, Sort Of. In 1966-1968 when I flew F4’s in Vietnam they didn’t work work a shit!

Ya I'm a grampa and I did serve with F-4's on the Franklin D, Cva 42. Known affectionately as ROSIE. Since I was a parachute rigger at sea, all while the Yom Kippur in 73 raged. I didn't hear any mention of the safety equipment for the pilot, that he sat on during the launch and flight and then, of course, the landing. The parachute clearly in sight .. Oh well maybe next time

The F-4 ...an awesome & iconic aircraft. Great video Biz !

If you haven't seen one in person they're MASSIVE.

Once again you don't have your facts right. The F-4E nose gun had about 850 round drum. The fire rate for this was low speed 4,000 rounds per minute or high speed of 6,000 rounds per minute. The hydraulic system was actually not bad. It had 3 separate hydraulic systems in it. Utilty,PC-1 and PC-2.The utility system was the main system,PC-1 was a back up for the l/h side flight controls,ailerons and spoilers. PC-2 was the back up system for the r/h side ailerons and spoilers if something happened to the utility hydraulic system. Then it had an pneumatic system that was used if no hydraulic pressure was available for the landing gear and the leading edge flaps/slats and trailing edge flaps. This system actually had a hydraulic driven air compressor to keep the pneumatic system up to 3,000 psi. The F-4 might not have been as maneuverable as the migs,but the loss of F-4s was contributed to the bad air to air missiles and the lack of proper pilot training in air to air combat. That is what started Top Gun. And Red Flag with the Air Force.

My favorite feature of the F-4 Phantom II cockpit was always the Jelly Baby Dispenser.

A lot of history attached to F-4 Phantom II, Great review.

One of my favorite jet fighters, especially the USAF F-4Es and F-4G Wild Weasels. The story of those Wild Weasels made those pilots sound like Spanish bull fighters as they draw aggro from enemy SA-2 and later SA-3 SAM batteries. I have 7 1/48 scale models of this jet sitting in my cabinet.

You missed one of the nicknames: Lead Sled.

nice video! i love these field trips you take us on.... i love this channel : )