Moments & Milestones: The Phantom at 50
Producted in Cooperation with the National Aeronautic Association.
- By George C. Larson
- Air & Space magazine, May 2008
The last U.S. F-4s were retired in 1996 (a U.S. Air Force RF-4C during the Vietnam War); about 800 still fly worldwide. USAF
It is the very image of a combat aircraft—all lines and angles and bulges, with cranked wingtips and a swollen crocodile fuselage topped by a broad trapezoidal fin; later versions were festooned with pods and camera housings that simply added to the clutter. At takeoff, the beast weighed in at more than 60,000 pounds; by contrast, an F-86 Sabre at max takeoff weight barely topped 18,000 pounds.
The McDonnell F-4 Phantom II began as an idea for a flying radar platform with missiles capable of protecting a carrier battle group, but it evolved into one of the most versatile strike fighters ever built. It made its first flight in May 1958, and it would be built in great numbers: 5,195, according to Boeing, of which 5,057 emerged from the production lines of heritage company McDonnell Aircraft, and 138 under license by the Japanese company Mitsubishi. It still holds the record for production of a supersonic jet aircraft in the United States. (Russia's MiG-21, with more than 10,000 built, holds the all-time world record.)
The Navy, which initially ordered the airplane, knew what it had once the fighter was equipped with a pair of the then-new General Electric J79 afterburning turbojets, and it sent its new Mach 2-capable acquisition off to set a spate of speed and altitude records. The airplane made its first appearance in combat in Vietnam in 1964. The Air Force ordered it as a multi-role fighter and attack aircraft, eventually buying more than the Navy and Marines did, and it got its guns in 1967, when another pod was added to the C model, this one containing a Gatling cannon. Ordnance totaling 16,000 pounds was attached seemingly anywhere it would fit. A B-29, the heaviest U.S. bomber of World War II, carried only 4,000 pounds more.
When it debuted in combat with a mission flown from the deck of the USS Constellation, the B model was an all-missile airplane. When the E model first flew in 1967, it had the Gatling cannon built into the airframe, thanks to the lessons learned in combat against more agile, gun-wielding Soviet fighters in Vietnam.
For a time, the F-4 flew as the demonstration fighter for both the Air Force Thunderbirds and the Navy Blue Angels, the only fighter to hold that distinction. When it was replaced by newer and more economical types, airshow crowds missed the noise, the smoke, and the sheer size of the Phantom. To conduct its maneuvers, the big airplane was reputed to use up the boundaries of the county in which the airshow was being held.
When a fighter is sold to all three U.S. air arms, economies of scale come into play and the cost per unit is reduced. In the case of the Phantom, overseas sales expanded the scale even more. Eleven nations acquired either retired U.S. military aircraft or newly built examples, totaling almost 1,200 aircraft. About 800 Phantoms still operate today, flown by Egypt, Germany, Greece, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Spain, and Turkey. Another blessing of volume production is the spare parts pool that results. Surplus aircraft in boneyards get picked clean to keep others of the type flying. Today you can buy components for your F-4 from such firms as Derco Aerospace, Inc., a subsidiary of Sikorsky, as easily as finding a carburetor for your '67 GTO down at the parts store.
Nobody gives trophies to airframes for enduring service, but if they did, the F-4 would be a winner.
Related topics: Jet Aircraft Fighters Vietnam War
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Comments (6)
Having been an engineer assigned to the F/RF-4 from 1962 thru 1991, when I retired, I wonder if anyone can tell me if the F-4 still holds the worlds three kilometer course, low altitude high speed record set on 28 August 1961 ?
It was called "SAGEBURNER', achieved 902.769 MPH, MACH 1.2 at no more than 125 feet max altitude.
Posted by Bob Mattson on March 22,2008 | 05:37 PM
Mr. Mattson:
I actually saw "Sageburner" at the Paul E. Garber Restoration and Storage Facility in what then was Silver Hill, Md. in August 1981. So I doubt it's been disposed of. It has not made it into public display yet. It definitely wasn't in the National Air & Space Museum nor the Udvar-Hazy Center when my family and I visited in late December 2005.
Posted by Fred Tannenbaum on March 28,2008 | 08:02 PM
Darryl Greenamyer set a new record of 998 mph in the F-104 that he restored. He did it 80 feet over Mud Lake near Tonapah, NV, in 1977. I used to fly the F-4, F-105, and F-111. In the F-111F, we routinely flew 700-800 knots at 200 feet. We could go much faster, but the wingman has to have some extra throttle available, and we wanted to avoid using the afterburner to save fuel. We could have broken the record (and I'm sure it was done many times), but my understanding is that the US Services will not claim a record if it is currently held by a US civilian.
Posted by Chuck Banks on April 18,2008 | 12:15 PM
I cut my "maintainer teeth" on the Marine Corps Phantom F-4B, F-4J and F-4S aircraft before transitioning the Corps to the F/A-18A, C and D. The "Triple Nickel" series were my most prized aircraft and my guys and I put a lot of TLC in keeping those birds in the air. They were sometimes maintenance nightmares but seeing them in air-to-air or air-to-mud missions was definately a sight to behold.
Posted by Larry Muhlenforth on April 26,2008 | 01:31 PM
I was a Phantom Phixer for 10 years on F4Ms (FGR2) with the RAF. I agree they were maintenance nightmares sometimes but they were definitely mean machines. Of all the aircraft I worked on I still hold the F4 in the highest esteem. It was a sad day when the UK scrapped them.
Posted by Gordon Windridge on April 30,2008 | 04:27 PM
Although I was in SAC and familiar with the B-52 (BUFF), I was always excited to hear and see a F-4 Phantom land at the air base where i was stationed. We called them "droopy tails" due to their downturned tails. Great aircraft!
Posted by C. Jones on June 10,2008 | 06:22 PM