The final flight for the F-4 Phantom set for next week

American Thinker ^ | December 14, 2016 | John Smith

[artichokegrower]

The final flight and retirement ceremony for the venerable F-4 Phantom will be December 21st at Holloman AFB, New Mexico. The Phantom is still in active service at Holloman with Detachment 1 of the 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron.

[artichokegrower]

Saw the Blue Angels perform at the El Toro Marine Base flying the F-4. Awesome show and incredibly loud.

[jneesy]

i just wonder if we’ll see any f35’s of f22’s flying in 60 years....i think not

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

My father spent a good portion of his career at McDonnell Douglas working on them. I have always liked the look and sound of the Phantom.

[EagleUSA]

Great ole plane with an amazing history. Knew a Navy pilot during the Nam era that flew them and he always described it as an example that a boxcar could fly if you put enough thrust in it -— :-)

Our air-superiority plane for many years.

[AppyPappy]

I know a few F-4 pilots and none of them flew after Vietnam. They had no interest in a pilot’s license.

One of them was offered a job by Israel after Vietnam.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

A Viet vet I know referred to the F-4 as the flying tank...

[artichokegrower]

Blue Angels with F-4

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NvGesCDMqSU

[major_gaff]

My Gunny used to call F-4's a 'rock with wings' because of their supposed lack of a glide path with out
power...still a bad a$$ bird.

[DJ Taylor]

It was always good news to learn there were F-4s above us, as they had the best bombsite of any aircraft used during the Vietnam War. In a bombing run, an F-4 might be as much as 25 meters long or he might be as much as 25 meters short of his intended target, but he would never be off target to his left or to his right by more than, at the most, two or three meters.

http://www.projectdelta.net/wrong_valley.htm

[NTHockey]

Sound? Try walking past the flight line with a hangover and two Marine pilots hit afterburner on take off.Should have claimed hearing loss. It was louder than twin 5” guns going off.

[central_va]

The F-4 was a loud, unpretentious, obnoxious, smoking hot rod beast. Why it was so cool.

My primary instructor flew them in Vietnam. He said it was the first aircraft that could accelerate going straight up vertical.

[Paladin2]

What can an F-4 do that one of the F-teens can’t?

[Sparky1776]

Phantoms Phorever !

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

Well, I never got quite that close. My dad did have to have his hearing testing regularly. It always checked out fine, but my mother was skeptical.

[cyclotic]

I used to live near a veterans park. They had an F-4 on a pedestal, about 30 ft. high angled in an attack posture. I was there one day looking at it and mentioned to the guy next to me that I remembered seeing them fly over my house when I was a kid.

He said he had fond memories of them flying over him while he was patrolling in Vietnam.

I of course thanked him. I didn’t know any were still flying.

[central_va]

bump.

[mountn man]

My dad did have to have his hearing testing regularly. It always checked out fine, but my mother was skeptical.

WHAT???

[Haiku Guy]

I loved watching the Blue Angels flying those Clean Air Converters. The raw power was awesome.

[Night Hides Not]

I was at Hahn AB from 77-78, home of the 50th Tactical Fighter Wing. Our barracks was no more than a mile from the flight line, those F-4s were LOUD, especially when the afterburners kicked in.

I had a unique view of the operations, as I was the Army Liasion Officer during tac evals (the only other officer in my unit with the requisite security clearance was my boss, the Battery Cdr of our air defense artillery battery, he didn't need to spend any time in the hole).

COL Jim Albritton was the Wing Cdr, and we had a great relationship. It helped that he graduated from West Point, before the AF Academy was built.

During the first hour of my first tac eval, I was briefing him on the locations of our weapons systems. An NBC warfare input was dropped, and his Base Disaster Preparedness Officer recommended Alarm Red, which meant everybody outside had to go full protective gear.

I was a butterbar with a year time in grade, but I was also my battery's NBC officer, and received training at the USAREUR school at Vilseck. To the consternation and surprise of the other AF colonels in the room, I spoke up and requested approval to offer my recommendation. I gave the Wing Cdr three good reasons to go to Alarm Yellow, i.e. no protective gear, but still a heightened posture.

He agreed with me, and I could see the NATO team chief nod his approval. 15 minutes later, I heard him tell his staff that, "as long as I'm in command, I want that Army LT here whenever there's an NBC input!"

I would later be "kicked upstairs" to our Battalion HQ at Spangdahlem, another F-4 base. It was a great experience.

[pfflier]

Knew a Navy pilot during the Nam era that flew them and he always described it as an example that a boxcar could fly if you put enough thrust in it -— :-)

One reason the F-4 was good for the T-Birds and Blue Angels was it's thrust to drag ratio.

You cut off the burners and the thing almost felt like it stopped. Great for aerobatics.