F-4 Phantom picture thread

[M813rc]

God, when will the pics stop???

Not soon, I hope!

Being a child of the 60s, the Phantom was THE fighter when I was young. It is still my all-time favorite fixed wing aircraft.
For my 14th birthday I received a copy of "...And Kill Migs" by Lou Drendel, which was my introduction to his superb artwork (see post 6 for examples), and the stories of what that bird could do. I highly recomend it.
One shelf of my bookcase is still nothing but books on the F-4.

I used to build models, and tried to do all the Phantoms I liked in 1/72 scale. When I stopped, I had built 41 of them roll: ), and still have some more unbuilt kits stashed away. I should dig all those boxes out...

When we did dissimilar air combat with our CH-53s Vs Phantoms, we called them 'Smokers'. When they were at lower power settings, you could often see their exhaust plume with a dot at the front, so we were able to pick them up visually earlier than we otherwise would have. When they bumped the power up, the smoke disappeared.

I saw the Collins Foundation Phantom at the Randolph AFB airshow last year, very cool to see one again.

Cheers

 

[Gastrap]

My favorite! I was disappointed when I went to basic at Lackland & our squadron display plane was not the F-4 That was a couple buildings down.

There is one on display about 20 miles west of me at a golf course. I think a local guy had piloted that same aircraft. It doen't photograph well because it's fenced in, otherwise I would have pulled the deuce up next to it for a pic.

 

[mtnrebel]

No pics of the F-4 being flown by the Blues? C,mon!!!

 

[pvtjorge]

An awsome site to see on drop it's payload within 5 hundred yards. Rockets, Napalm, and HE.

 

[Tinwoodsman]

I always think of the F-4 as the "Wild Weasel" A legendary plane.

 

[usafe7ret]

The Phantom was my first aircraft. My first duty station after tech school was Hahn AB, GE. with the 50th OMS. We had the D model and our pilots were assigned to the 10th TFS. The other squadron on base flew the E model and had the Zulu intercept alert watch while we had the Victor Alert which was nuclear strike.

I can still remember the engine start sequence on this bird as I ran the engines on them often enough. I was the only 2 striper in USAFE qualified to run them at full afterburner. Pretty amazing thing sitting there on that ejection seat and pushing the throttles up to 80% for the specialists and feeling the nose crouch down on the landing gear. Just like a cat getting ready to pounce.

I don't have many pictures of the F-4 but I cherish the ones I have with friends and the plane in them.

 

[maddawg308]

No pics of the F-4 being flown by the Blues? C,mon!!!

Ask and ye shall receive....

 

[swbradley1]

Finally, someone else who worked on them! I spent six and half months my first cruise working night flight OPS on the F-4Js in Fitron 114 (VF-114) Fighting Aardvarks (yeah, dumb name). The skipper wanted to be first (alphabetically) in everything.

VF-114 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


I've spent more time working on that plane than any other. I have fond memories of sitting on the starboard engine nacelle one night in the South China Sea. My legs were straddling it and I fell sound asleep with the J79 turning at low power.

Another time I was adjust the vane on the nose, port side when the throttle server screwed up and the engine went into full afterburner. Although I didn't get sucked into the safety screen it was harrowing to say the least when the air was rushing by me and I could see flames shooting out the tail end.

Ah, good times.

Mike if I ever get my pics scanned in I'll send you copies.

sw

 

[mtnrebel]

Thanks maddawg, love the Blues in F-4's!!

 

[chaplain]

My favorite restaraunt was at the end of the runway at Clark AB. It was upstairs and when the Phantoms would take off om tamdem and at full afterburner they would cause the tables to shake. Loved that birdsnest soup there.

 

[Yohan]

Just a heads-up to you photo collectors:

I learned in an electronic evidence class that data preserved in jpg. format can lose information over time and compromise the photograph. We saw examples of this during the presentation. The instructor recommended we use other formats (mpg., etc?) to save digital evidence that would maintain the data integrity more reliably. I don't know anything about picture formats and forgot everything else from the class, but if this helps maddawg308 preserve his F4 Phantom pics for generations to come- GREAT!

The F4 has always been one of my faves. I'm a big fan of the A10 Thunderbolt, too!

 

[TiredIron]

I was stationed at Holloman AFB in the 49th TAC Fighter Wing from 1973-1976. This was always my favorite pic of one of our birds.....

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c4/Hol-f4e.jpg

TiredIron

 

[aspann]

Any pictures of ones with red diamonds? VF-102

 

[swbradley1]

I learned in an electronic evidence class that data preserved in jpg. format can lose information over time and compromise the photograph.

What your instructor was referring to is that if you open a JPEG in something like an editor and save it you will lose data.

JPEG photos or any other file format will not lose data over time (that is unless the media suffers from some sort of degradation).

So long as you have the image and don't open it in an editor you can look at it forever in anything and not lose picture quality.


sw

 

[No.2Diesel]

Big Bertha

Hi,

Here's another to add to the collection. Not the highest quality but a very unique shot from an airbase some where in Vietnam. Enjoy!

 

[usafe7ret]

I was stationed at Holloman AFB in the 49th TAC Fighter Wing from 1973-1976. This was always my favorite pic of one of our birds.....

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c4/Hol-f4e.jpg

TiredIron

Ah, then we may have crossed paths if you ever participated in any REFORGER exercises during that time frame. I was at Hahn AB, GE from 1973 - 1975 with the 50th Tac Fighter Wing. Supposedly, we were at "Sister Bases".

We used to steal AGE equipment from you all and paint it OD Green real fast. They got upset when we "acquired a MB-4 with the automatic transmission though...

 

[Tahoe]

I remember seeing this video at Holloman AFB about the mighty Phantom II.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdL93jwVK-c[/media]

There is also an A-10 vid at the end.



Tahoe

 

[wreckerman893]

This one is sitting at Fort McClellan. I don't know who has the pink slip on it but there is a small museum on the National Guard compound.