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What Couldn’t the F-4 Phantom Do?
Air & Space Magazine ^ | March, 2015 | Stephen Joiner

Posted on 01/23/2015 9:11:46 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki

First, they tried an F-104. “Not enough wing or thrust,” recalls Jack Petry, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel. When NASA engineers were launching rockets at Florida’s Cape Canaveral in the 1960s, they needed pilots to fly close enough to film the missiles as they accelerated through Mach 1 at 35,000 feet. Petry was one of the chosen. And the preferred chase airplane was the McDonnell F-4 Phantom.

“Those two J79 engines made all the difference,” says Petry. After a Mach 1.2 dive synched to the launch countdown, he “walked the [rocket’s] contrail” up to the intercept, tweaking closing speed and updating mission control while camera pods mounted under each wing shot film at 900 frames per second. Matching velocity with a Titan rocket for 90 extreme seconds, the Phantom powered through the missile’s thundering wash, then broke away as the rocket surged toward space. Of pacing a Titan II in a two-seat fighter, Petry says: “Absolutely beautiful. To see that massive thing in flight and be right there in the air with it—you can imagine the exhilaration.”

***

For nearly four decades of service in the U.S. military, the Phantom performed every combat task thrown at it—almost every mission ever defined.

(Excerpt) Read more at airspacemag.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aerospace; f4; leadsled; mcdonnelldouglas; usn
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To: CodeToad
Speaking of gliding the unglideable....... It's Chesley Sullenberger’s birthday.
21 posted on 01/23/2015 9:37:22 AM PST by CrazyIvan (I lost my phased plasma rifle in a tragic hovercraft accident.)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

Bump for napalm....


22 posted on 01/23/2015 9:37:54 AM PST by clintonh8r (Death to islam.)
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To: KarlInOhio

I’m glad I didn’t have anything in my mouth when I read that, or else it would be all over my laptop. :)


23 posted on 01/23/2015 9:39:25 AM PST by TheGipperWasRight
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To: central_va

I heard an old F4 jockey once say that the airplane was “living proof that if you put a big enough engine on a piano, you can make it fly.”


24 posted on 01/23/2015 9:41:08 AM PST by IronJack
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To: Bobalu
Yet another F-4 driver...


25 posted on 01/23/2015 9:41:43 AM PST by Regulator
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To: Steely Tom

That’s about it.

A cannon was added once that doctrine was abandoned.


26 posted on 01/23/2015 9:41:45 AM PST by WayneS (Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos.)
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To: Steely Tom

I think that is exactly what led to that thinking; I guess hindsight is 20/20. I’ve seen interviews with pilots from Vietnam describing how it nearly cost them their lives.


27 posted on 01/23/2015 9:43:12 AM PST by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: IronJack

My primary instructor was a Vietnam vet F-4 driver. He had some stories.


28 posted on 01/23/2015 9:44:46 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: WayneS
“What Couldn’t the F-4 Phantom Do?”

How about out run a North Vietnamese SAM?

Signed John McCain

29 posted on 01/23/2015 9:52:40 AM PST by DAC21
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To: Steely Tom

But the F4 was originally built for the navy.


30 posted on 01/23/2015 9:55:44 AM PST by reg45 (Barack 0bama: Implementing class warfare by having no class.)
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To: Bobalu

teeth are appropriate on the Phantom, it has a dog nose.


31 posted on 01/23/2015 10:00:21 AM PST by lavaroise (A well regulated gun being necessary to the state, the rights of the militia shall not be infringed)
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To: reg45
But the F4 was originally built for the navy.

My mistake. Navy reaction times are at least an order of magnitude better than those of the AF, and always have been.

Everyone knows that.

32 posted on 01/23/2015 10:00:49 AM PST by Steely Tom (Vote GOP for A Slower Handbasket)
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To: sukhoi-30mki
I was USMC artillery up on the DMZ. I can't tell you how many times we watched F4s working out on Charlie just outside our wire.
We were also fortunate enough to have witnessed many F4s coming back over the DMZ from the north doing barrel rolls.
Was not aware of the significance of that at the time. F4s remain my favorite plane to this day.
33 posted on 01/23/2015 10:03:57 AM PST by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: DAC21

WRONG: McCain was flying an A4-E Skyhawk, not an F4 Phantom when he was shot down.


34 posted on 01/23/2015 10:04:52 AM PST by reg45 (Barack 0bama: Implementing class warfare by having no class.)
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To: Bobalu

Thanks for posting the photos. The top one is of VF-96 the fighter squadron I was in while serving in the Navy. At the time we deployed on USS Enterprise. When I joined the squadron we had the F4B and later the F4J which I like much better from a maintenance standpoint. By the way I worked on the flight deck for a little extra pay. We also received combat pay for being in the war zone.


35 posted on 01/23/2015 10:05:23 AM PST by Parley Baer
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To: sukhoi-30mki

In 1969 or 1970 I was standing just off the flight line having a last smoke while we finished up pre-flight. There was an F4 that had been there for a few days waiting on repairs, the pilot had been in all the bars talking about how bad he wanted to get home to Udorn. He left for home while we watched. After gear up he circled back and made a low level pass over the runway at full afterburner. At the end of the runway he pointed the nose sfraight up and disappeared in a slow spiral, almost wet myself. Then we climbed aboard our Goonie Bird. The most unimpressive takeoff ever, I almost cried.


36 posted on 01/23/2015 10:05:37 AM PST by jstaff
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To: DAC21

Johnny boy was an A-4 driver. Different bird.

One thing the old F-4 couldn’t do is turn. Well, it could but it took a few square miles.


37 posted on 01/23/2015 10:05:50 AM PST by biff (Et Tu Boeh-ner)
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To: Parley Baer

You are welcome for the photos...and thank you for your service! :-)


38 posted on 01/23/2015 10:09:45 AM PST by Bobalu (Programming is the art of adding bugs to an empty text file)
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To: reg45

Similar doctrines around that time frame RE: fighter jets, though.


39 posted on 01/23/2015 10:09:59 AM PST by WayneS (Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos.)
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To: Steely Tom

First time I saw an F4H was at MCAS Beaufort. We were working a rare Saturday (F8U-2NE squadron), so everyone was working off a hangover. Two F4H planes took off and immediately hit afterburners. Three guys fell on the ground holding their head, screaming.


40 posted on 01/23/2015 10:13:46 AM PST by NTHockey (Rules of engagement #1: Take no prisoners. And to the NSA trolls, FU)
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