Phantom Pharewell - USAF F-4 Phantom Last Flight 

I was with the 6585th Test Group at Holloman 1977-1980. I saw a BUNCH of QF86's blow up on White Sands Missile Range from AMRAMS to AIM-9's. They were bringing in the QF-4's because they ran out of those beautiful F-86's, as I was leaving for ROCKVILLE Iceland. And Holloman squadrons had switched to F-15's

God bless him for his service and you for being an amazing son.

Same here Aug 66 to Aug 21 ,,,70 ,got discharged at McDill Tampa, was crew chief F4-C ,one yr in Ubon thailand 1968,497th

Major Tom I was a teenager when a German f4 recon crashed on training mission on Holston Mountain in East Tennessee, USA. Parts of the aircraft can still be found today. Nice monument placed at crash site.

Dean Martin's son died flying a F4. He apparently became disoriented in cloud cover and flew it into a mountain.

Heroes All !!!

I was lucky enough to see one take off at Cherry point where I was stationed. It lost both engines and started a stall. The pilot went for a restart instead of ejecting. Black smoke and a lot of power got him back into the air from only a few hundred feet. It was just incredible. I had a back seat ride in an A-4 two seat with a former F-4 pilot, Major "Mad dog" Maddox. It was a simulated dogfight. Such memories... Thank you for your service sir. Semper Fidelis

absolute truth ... eternal Blessings All !!!

The F4 looked beautiful in the BA paint scheme with no bombs/missiles. Those lines, beauty while still looking mean & with brute strength

Do you know American soldier in Vietnam war name Don E.Day ? He might me very old now or maybe die.

Mr Shreve- All of you men who served in SE Asia were a breed apart! I grew up around many a great F-105 and F-4 pilot as my father was a 105 pilot. He said he had the easiest job (relative) during the war, mostly flying SAM suppression (yea, real easy!) missions, he slept in a bed every night and had good food. His perspective was truly impressive!

Best planes ever built flew the RF-4D in 1969 in Southeast asia, loved the plane.

Do you know harry fenstad?

Douglas Shreve - I know what you mean. Those pilots are the real heroes. Captured or not captured, they deserve our utmost respect.

Florida Patriot - i was WCS on the F4D &E 1969-72 and I remember BITS test on the Sync module, the AIM dot was supposed to circle the center cross not erratically, not elliptically but circle. A few years back I could have told you what potentiometer to turn to adjust it. The antenna would circle bore-sight too. I was in tech school in Denver - Lowry, OJT at EDwards - Mojave, CA then Udorn, Thailand. While I was at Edwards I was part of the original TISEO team trained in PALOS VERDE - Northrop and St Louis McDonnell Douglas. The Flight from Vegas followed me to Thailand. I noticed these birds all had a place for TISEO on their left wing leading edge.

Destroy the F-16s instead.

There are still in service, in Greece. Just watch the video "200 th year of independance Greece"... I found that video typiing "Hell march greece".

@@earlwyss520 the f16s are good there's gonna be a time were we will be praising the f16 when it retires

@@lunabobles4526 You're probably right, but I'm still in love with that F-ugly beast we call the F-4E.

@@earlwyss520 I agree with you the f4 is beautiful I'd rather have the f35 destroyed would also rather an McDonnell Douglas av8 or it's British counterpart than an f35

My first duty station was McGuire. Got there early 1990, the Guard still had the -4Es. I worked midshift, and had to stay up until their morning launches were done because the sound of those F-4s coming over the barracks, well, you weren't getting to sleep during that.

Totally agree. The most beautiful ever!

Agreed :)

@Mrlightning 101 oh u mean F14 Hornet da!

I love this thing too, is was such a great fighter bomber only comparable to the p 38 lightning. I still have a decent model of the f-4 on my shelf.

@Derp 101 moron

I

Thank you for sharing that story friend. As a kid I grew up marveling at the F-105 Thunderchiefs flying over my house routinely, and then spent about 7 years working on F-4s in the USMC. So I can totally relate to your fascination as a kid marveling at these aerial wonders. Even today I cannot resist looking up when a plane flies over me and OMG very very occasionally I have had a Huey fly over in my later years and send goosebumps all over me.

service record of 36 years, 15 altitude and speed records, inventoried in air forces of 11 countries, over 5,195 units produced.... along with the SR-71 Blackbird you will see the F-4 Phantom Jet in Heaven!!

I think the tomcat fits that better than the phantom another gone aircraft

Well, I have to disagree, the F-105 Thunderbolt was just as menacing.

@@richardlowenstein8234 Both Air force and Navy flew the F-4's in multiple configurations. Never worked on the F-4's. Being in the Navy I mostly worked on A-4 Skyhawks , A-7 Corsair, F/A-18 Hornets all great aircraft. I guess if I had to choose a favorite, It would have to be the A-4 Skyhawk (Scooter) with F/A-18 Hornet a close second. All gone now except for the Hornet.

@@jimw5227 Could not agree more. A-4 was a great machine to fly, fit like a glove.

You ever go to SHAW ? AFB/NC.

@@bilboardman3430 No, six years at Nellis plus a couple of TDYs. Didn't get to see the world but Vegas was a good time.

Shaw was SC...you do Red Flag out in the sand ?

@@bilboardman3430 Have things changed? Red Flag and William Tell were both done on the range at Nellis back in the 80s.

I was at Holloman AFB in 1972 , never was sent to Germany for exercises, but stayed put and flew a few to bomb remote controlled tanks out in the combat desert and afterwards, to Camp Bullis, for combat training, then back home to family, get my affairs in order in case of my death, and then straight to Cam Ranh Bay Air Base, S Vietnam for 1 year, and afterwards, to Randolph AFB for the rest of my tour.

Love the Super Bee. My best friend owned a 1969 Super Bee 383 cu. inch motor.

X

I came from Greece. We have phantom in service until 2027, maybe and more. If want live again this experience you could come again in Greece!!!!

You’re welcome and thank you for getting ‘em ready to go! Bill Meeker 335 TFS, 4th TFW, Seymour Johnson AFB 1973-1976.

@@belaymlast Shakey Jake

My father was a project engineer on the RF4-C Acceptance Program and went TDY to St. Louis for months at a time. (My grandparents lived nearby so we went too.) And I was at Hollloman when Maj. Richard Corbett flew the first one in.

@ If you can read he never says anything about the seat. The Team is bigger than any one player. GiddyUp USMC

I was at McDonnell from 1963 until 1969. Worked on all models from B to M. Went all over to help mod the RFs that went out with the lead radar. Beautiful aircraft.

Dave Dennis this is the best believe me and I know

Still better than mig 29

Kent Allison MCConnel AFB in Wichita, KS had F4’s and 101’s.along with the KC135’s.

@@lmccluer Hi Louis! I was stationed at McConnell from Nov 77 to Nov 79 in Air Traffic Control with the 2155 Comm Sq. KANG had F-105's when I arrived then transitioned to F-4's. Because of the Titan II mission, the base had a handful of UH-1's too. In ATC, we were able to tag along on an "orientation flight" on base aircraft. Although I was able to catch a ride with the 135's and UH-1, I really would have loved to go up in a two-seat Thud or Phantom. Oh to be young again! Cheers!

Kent Allison what’s neat was I was working with a security company when we got the contract when all the Titan silos were decommissioned. As each missile was removed, with started taking out fuel, then they started taking out what they wanted, then what was left was set out, and they let the public come out and buy things they wanted. Things like the refrigerators, furniture, some of the consoles after equipment was removed from them. Then once everything was removed, they took out the stairs with explosives, then blew the silo doors. They brought out cement and rocks, then dirt to fill it all in per agreement sign Russia. I was able to take a couple tours after the missiles were removed before they blasted it. I was told the very large generators were left in the silo walls because it would be to hard to get them out plus the time involved. During overnight and weekends they didn’t work, so that’s when we worked. One big problem was a couple of biker gangs threatened to break in and steal the explosives, which at Winfield I think it was, they did try to come through the gate, but the guard called in to 911, and luckily a couple of deputies were close and caught them before they broke the lock. It was real fun during t-storms as the trailer with the explosives was only 50 yards away from the office trailer we sat in, and the fuel tank was only about 25 yards away. We also had a couple of incidents. We had one guy that was afraid of storms, and when a bad one started rolling in, he decided to go down the entry stairs into the first part after the first steel doors, which were about 4’ thick. The problem was he didn’t know it, but the stairs had been blasted on Friday night and it was Sunday after midnight when the storm came through. He of course fell to the bottom which was about 10-12 ft if I remember, and had no way to let anyone know. Cell phones wasn’t a deal yet, and shattered an ankle or the lower leg or both. He wasn’t found until workers arrived Monday morning and saw his car still there. Upon looking for him, found him there. He was lucky he didn’t break the femur or get an open fracture, because he may have bleed to death or died from shock or both. Then we had another guy that decided he wanted to climb down the silo to see what was at the bottom and what it look like. On the way back up, he sliced his leg on something, but was able to get out, and bandage himself up and call Sgt to get someone there to relief him so he could go get stitches. He was lucky he didn’t get contaminated from fuel or anything else. Made some big money there, but wouldn’t do it again. I wouldn’t have minded getting one of the silos though. Never understood why some were sold and not all of them.

@@lmccluer Hello again Louis. Were you there when the seal blew out of the missile and the nitrogen tetroxide flooded the silo at Rock, KS near the jct of K-15 and US-77 in the summer of 1978 and killed some of the Security and Maintenance personnel? That was a pretty BIG deal. I left McConnell in Nov 1979 for a remote tour in Alaska but I'll never forget that. Cheers!

Kent Allison I did not respond to it, I was a volunteer fire fighter at El Dorado when it happened. I don’t remember jf they got called or not.

Robert Klump is this at Holloman AFB. I was stationed at WSMR back 95 96 97 we would play basketball on Holloman and I would see these land all the time. So badass. Love the PHANTOM

The F86 would like to have a word with you

I always thought that both the F86 and the F4 were inferior to the Migs in dogfighting scenarios. F4 was too big, not maneuverable enough and lacked a cannon?

@@jtwilliams8895 The F4 Was always inferior in a dogfight with the Mig-17/15. Early F4's lacked a cannon yes, but the Navy version the F4F had a cannon on board. The F86 was amazing at fighting Mig-15s and was the better plane in terms of top end performance.

Your point?

the F-15 will like to have a word with you

I prefer Robert Wilcox's "Basically it's a Corvette with wings"

Jayne Gus hi hope you are fine,, About a brick than can fly was taken from a movie , Red flag the ultimate game, surprising to note red flag movie is about f4 drivers in combat school long before Top gun and more realistic, Great movie stay well my friend d

Shantel Mcreavy 6th

"The engineers put all the square corners on the F-4 to hide the design flaws" -- F-4C pilot

I mean, enough bad stuff is said about it in the hands of an ignorant US pilot early on in the Vietnam war, and late war for the USAF, but the USN got smart and invited the Israelis to come teach them how to fly it, and we all know how well they did vs. MiG-17 and -21 right? the plane did alright as a fighter if you knew how to employ it, and it was a bomb truck!

Only disadvantage as I know is that had no machine gun when it came to dog fight. But other than that it was a hell of a fighter.

@@lars-ivarcarlsen9722 The F4E model had an internal cannon.

@ Stop Talking: My ex girlfriends father (Col.Scott) was a fighter pilot in WW2, Korea, Vietnam, and a test pilot at Edwards AFB. The F-4 Phantom was the fighter he flew in Vietnam, and the last fighter he flew before retiring as Wing Commander, 4th Fighter Wing, 335th Tactical Operation Squadron at Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina. Col.Scott turned down promotion to General....twice. In his own words, "I wasn't born to fly a desk".

AMAZON does not have it but Barnes and Noble still does in paperback, 8.95

Who would bag a Phantom? Amazing aircraft.

Was it designed by people who knew what a run on sentence was?

The Phantoms actually had quite a bit of computing power in the avionics, optical gunsight system, weapons controls systems and scan conversion sections, particularly the later models. *

I'd have to say, out of all the planes, the F4 has to be the most loved out of everyone I know! It seems to be universal all the world around. I fell in love with it back in the 60's during the Vietnam War when I was just a kid. Never wavered on that!

@@Elthenar proubly not.But was designed by people who supported the idea to keep you safe an free so you could learn that.

Bob G XD grace more like eat fucking fuel and get fucked up by farmers in jets

Thanks Captain VC... think you'll find what you're looking for in another vid.. Was mean't to be a farewell vid.. but some people just wanna make a point.. yeah Russian aircraft are better in MANY ways.. but this The Phantom bro...She served a long and varied career... And ate shitloads of fuel.. (and Fuck yeah for that alone!!!!!!) and held a lot of records for a loooong time too! not a lot of modern aircraft these days can say they've had 50 years service.... Fighters/bombers...yeah B52 excluded cos'... damn!! Epic aircraft!!! anyhoooo carry on.... ;)

Fire Power701 Yet there’s 2 million Vietcong’s died in Vietnam War than 50,000 U.S troops that died. It might get shut down by a farmer or eat a fuck ton of fuel but it never fails dropping Napalm on your shitty country.

Palmer Nesbit Amen - was a kid in Germany 77-80 near Mainz/Wiesbaden and heard these beauties fly over all week long and break the sound barrier. My granddad flew with Chuck Yeager in Korea (F-86) and test piloted the F-100 and F-105 and early years of the F-4 before passing away of esophageal cancer. Built many Revell models of this plane. The most formidable plane in our history.

Aint nothing better a true anchor that could fly. J79 awsome. Ive seen them come home with so many holes lol. We spent alot of time kballing. But they flew with grace and piwer

I was stationed at McGuire AFB and there was a squadron of F4's there (I believe reserve Wild Weasels.) Man it was awesome to hear them take off, afterburners glowing!

Heard those afterburners plenty enough. Love the memories.

I worked on the j-79, the thing was a monster!

The F-14 is my favorite, after the F-22. But the F-4 is a beautiful aircraft with a lot of history. I would love to see them update the aircraft with some new engines and avionics and sensors. But even with that, I don't think it would have the maneuverability of everything that came after. Although, it might outfly the F-35. It is certainly faster at least.

Danny, get back on your meds. Good luck!

And with that sharks mouth on it- oh yeah it was a sleek mean & nasty looking bird.

I was an EMC troop in the 418th AGS (RF-4C) from 81 through 82

thank you for your service

Comm/Nav 418th, April 88 - late 89. E's and G's 562AMU George AFB, 90-92.

Gerard Scholl Thank you for serving us and our country.

вельмi магутная i прыгожая птушка.я у захапленнi !

I was an F4C/D/E WCS specialist. 68-88. Terry Waller.

My first position in the USAF was a F4 C/D WCS mechanic.

Who is flying these modern phantoms ?

WCS Mechanic, 1983-1988 at Seymour Johnson AFB, Osan AB, Clark AFB

Armament systems specialist at Moody at the same time. Transitioned to F-16s during my tenure. Always have a soft spot for the Phantom.

F4 crew chief Vietnam 1970-1971. She was an awesome bird !!!

In your dreams, maybe.

@@clinc2464 there is a youtube video backing up what he said, the f4 has been improved alot, it just saying modified and enhanced recon my guess.

@@clinc2464 the-japan-news.com/news/article/0005462062 Yeah, dreams....right.

We, myself as a M-Douglas staff, welcomed the first two Phantoms flying in Komaki, near Nagoya, Japan in early seventies before Mitsubishi/Kawasaki launched her license production. I love Phantoms, in particular her F-4EJ.