I got to spend a good, long night in front of Walter Reed a few years back with some of your brethren...:)
I have a lot of respect for you guys, except for one.
Posted on 06/26/2013 2:09:54 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
PICTURE: German air force to bid 'Pharewell' to last F-4Fs
Germany will retire its last operational McDonnell Douglas F-4F Phantom IIs on 29 June, with the veteran type's duties having been assumed by Eurofighter units.
After almost 40 years of service, the final interceptors will be retired during a decommissioning event to be staged at the Luftwaffe's Wittmund air base.
The final German examples are operated by the air force's JG 71 "Richthofen" squadron, which was also the first to begin flying the type, in March 1974. Delivered in 1973, its first F-4F, 37+01, received a special livery for the occasion.
A total of 263 Phantoms were acquired by Germany, the air force says, including 88 in the RF-4E reconnaissance configuration, from 1971.
Flightglobal's MiliCAS database shows Germany's retirement of the Phantom will reduce the global frontline fleet of the type to 431 aircraft, operated by the air forces of Egypt, Greece, Iran, Japan, South Korea and Turkey. The US Air Force also has more than 150 examples, which have been adapted for use as QF-4 aerial targets.
There was something about the Phantom that made it look both beautiful and deadly.
The way the wingtips came up, the elevators drooped down and the nosecone had that characteristic shape to it gave it a predatory look!
Lucky you! Thanks for flying em!
Contract the Israeli's to do their 600 mods, new flight deck, maybe fly-by wire, and oh ya, a couple of P & W 100-229's or F119's....
Oh man she would be a rat rod of the sky for sure...
I was on Swift Boats and I can remember crusing along off shore a mile, 115-degrees, barely coherent, 3/4 asleep, patroling along at 5kts and an F4 would do a little practice run on us. About 100-feet overhead with full burners, requiring an immediate change of underwear.
*smiles*....yea, they’ll do that to ya
I got to spend a good, long night in front of Walter Reed a few years back with some of your brethren...:)
I have a lot of respect for you guys, except for one.
I SAID, LUCKY YA GOT ANY EARS LEFT!!!
oh,thanks
8^)
Great photo!! I’m saving it to my Boat collection. I have a couple hundred “slides” that I need to digitize. Not sure what is the best way to do it...buy one of those little hardware digitizing units or send them off to a pro??
Yes, I too am very proud of my fellow Swifties...except one.
I would take it to a reputable place and have it done. Unless you have a special scanner on hand to do it, and you have an aptitude for it, it isn’t worth it.
You can rent a slide scanner, too. I had a friend who did that. But unless you have experience setting up the scanner, color correction and all kinds of stuff like that, let someone do it for you.
But, if you do have an interest, it can be a huge amount of fun to scan them yourself, color correct them and balance the brightness and contrast, and clean them up of any scratches or dust in Photoshop. That’s what I like to do...:)
(Heh, made me think of this joke I heard the other day):
Monica Lewinsky had an expensive jacket with a food stain on it. She took it to her local dry cleaners, and upon entry, spied the owner pulling clothes off the racks.
She politely waited, but the elderly gentleman clearly didn’t hear the bells on the door, neither did he hear the phone ringing.
He was obviously hard of hearing from working in this noisy environment.
She cleared her throat and said: “Excuse me sir...I’m Monica Lewinsky, and I have stain on a jacket I need removed.’”
No response. She repeated herself again, only louder, and this time the preoccupied old man whirled around, cupped his ear and said “Come again?”
She replied “No...no, just a food stain this time.”
My last task with Hughes Aircraft Company was managing the integration of the AMRAAM on those. That was in 1989. They bent up the wings on their captive carry missiles and I took a team to Munich right in the middle of Octoberfest. MBB was tbhe company doing the integration.
LOL!!!
Seymour Johnson had F-4s and a hodge podge of other aircraft! B52’s and such.
Was like 1974. I usually worked flight line and recieved a super treat. A SR-71 came in went right by me could have almost touched it!What a sight 3 orange chutes behind a pencile with 2 fat ass engines on board. But the special treat was when that baby left the next morning! Full after burners and gone in 3 secs.
The crew cheif wound up my room mate and could not belive I saw that aircraft seems they had like 3 mins to have it in a hanger upon touch down! Was funny when I first met him I asked the usual where you from what do you do etc all answers were can’t tell you thats top secret well when I said I saw it he lightened up just a little bit! Story for another time was the SR- Pilots drinking with us at that Airmans Club! See we had young chicks the Officers Club always sucked! lol
cool...
Wow! That’s a great story. Did the plane abort its’ mission, or was it able to continue?
To correct myself, this happened in the spring of 1970, not '67. That was another cruise on a different ship.
Just like the F-4, I'm getting old. Time is taking a toll on my ever-shrinking brain.
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