Free Republic

The time an F-22 flew right under an F-4 from Iran: The American-made F-22 Raptor recently made headlines for shooting down multiple objects this February, including one Chinese balloon over U.S. airspace. Back in 2013, an Iranian fighter pilot was approaching an American drone in international airspace when a pair of F-22 Raptors flew right beside him. The words uttered by the Raptor pilot was enough to make the Phantom swiftly turn around. Iranian fighters shot at U.S. drones before One year prior to the Raptor incident, a U.S. Air Force MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was intercepted by...

The air strike that March day in 1967 was on the ferociously well-defended Thai Nguyen steel mill, north of Hanoi, North Vietnam. One of the attacking U.S. Air Force McDonnell F-4C Phantoms was hit twice by anti-aircraft fire, and gas was streaming from the fuselage. Pilot Earl Aman and weapons systems officer Bob Houghton no longer had enough fuel to return to safe territory. The airplane Bob Pardo and backseater Steve Wayne were flying wasn’t in much better shape: During the strike it also caught an anti-aircraft round and was leaking fuel, and the two weren’t even sure they could...

This video is blocked in the United States on YouTube. You can get the link for the YouTube video if you're outside the US from my Asian List on my website.Asian Art and Dramas Literary Song Videos Koo Jun-Pyo, the heir of the Shinhwa company, is the leader of the high school pack, F4, which is a bunch of bullies. Jun-Pyo meets his match in Geum Jan-Di, a poor girl who stands up to bullies and wins him by her independence.

Ah, romances. Yun Ji-Hu is the gentlest member of the F4 gang. Ji-Hu's first love was the model who brought him out of his childhood isolation and, when she leaves Korea again, he makes the decision to drop out of high school and follow her. It's his love for the model that makes him not give in to loving the heroine when she loves him. And for Christmas2018 White House Christmas - In Dulci Jubilo Praetorius

"Boys Over Flowers" is a wonderful Korean drama about the effects on the lives of four rich heirs when a poor girl gets a scholarship to their high school. This shows the conflict between the first and second male leads over the girl. One of my VERY favorite Peter, Paul and Mary songs. Also throwing in a Christmas song, Dr Who – Angels in the Snow – Annie Lennox

Greek and Turkish fighter jets engaged in two dogfights over the Aegean on Thursday, after the Turkish jets violated Greek airspace 16 times in the northeast, central and southeastern Aegean, the Hellenic National Defense General Staff (HNDGS) said. Six Turkish F-16 jets, one pair of F-4s and one CN-235 transport aircraft entered Athens's FIR without submitting a flight plan, and violated air traffic regulations seven times. In all cases, the Turkish aircraft were identified and intercepted by Greek fighter planes in line with international rules of engagement. Six of the eight Turkish aircraft were armed.

Do you have dreams of buzzing the control tower after a day of barrel-rolling and air-to-air training against those goons on the red team, and then hopping on your hog and cruising to the beach so you can douse yourself in tanning oil and play a spirited game of volleyball — while maintaining eye contact with your buddies for far too long? Now, you can make those dreams a reality thanks to the folks over at Platinum Fighters: For a cool $4 million, they’ll sell you your very own F-4 Phantom II. The Phantom McDonnell Douglas F4H-1F Phantom II Bu.145310...

Life for British Phantom pilots was seldom boring. Whether it was training for near suicidal night attacks against the Soviet Navy, intercepting ‘Bear’s or performing low-level attacks. During the Cold War Chris Bolton flew the mighty F-4 for both the RAF and the Royal Navy. Hush-Kit met him to find out more. (Note: As some readers were super keen to read this now I have blatted it out warts and all. I will be correcting typos etc over the next few days) Hush-Kit: It seems the F-4 wasn’t particularly agile for its generation – is that fair? “It could roll...

20 years after it was fully retired from combat duty by the Pentagon, the F-4 Phantom Full Scale Aerial Target (FSAT) has taken its last unmanned flight. The bitter-sweet milestone was marked on August 17 at Holloman AFB in New Mexico, now the QF-4’s only home. The jet was shot at during a weapons test by a pair of AIM-120 AMRAAM slinging F-35s. Apparently the QF-4 was not lost in the test, which is not uncommon as often times these drills feature missiles without warheads. Since the AIM-120 is proximity fused and uses a continuous-rod blast fragmentation warhead, as long...

On the night of July 15, elements of the Turkish military rose up against Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdogan — and very nearly succeeded in killing or capturing their controversial leader. A few military units remained steadfastly loyal to the embattled president. Among them — the 1st Main Jet Base in Eskisehir in northwestern Turkey. The base’s F-4E Terminator 2020 fighters flew to Erdogan’s aid during the direst hours of the daylong attempted coup. But the aged fighters were no match for the much newer F-16s that the rebels had commandeered. Turkish air force squadrons led the ultimately failed coup. Apparently following many months of...

The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is a legendary aircraft — an icon of the Vietnam War and the archetype of the third-generation jet fighter designs that entered service in the 1960s. More than 5,000 of these heavy supersonic fighters were built, and hundreds continue to serve and even see combat in several air forces today. But the Phantom’s record in air-to-air combat over Vietnam — especially when compared to its successor, the F-15 Eagle, which has never been shot down in air-to-air combat — has left it with a reputation of being a clumsy bruiser reliant on brute engine power and obsolete weapons technology.

I've always loved the F-4 Phantom. Probably got it from my Marine dad who witnessed F-4s doing their thing back in the 1960s. I love their sinister appearance with their droopy nose and tail fins. Such cool looking machines.

McDonnell Aircraft Corporation’s F-4 Phantom was quickly becoming the do-all fighter by the mid 1960s, able to lug thousands of pounds of bombs on one mission and then strictly air-to-air missiles the next. The potential for evolving the already successful Phantom became especially attractive as high-end combat aircraft programs of the ‘60s began to sputter, namely the Navy’s F-111B. Enter the F-4(FV)S variable-geometry wing Phantom concept. The F-4(FV)S concept took the F-4 fuselage and omitted its low, bent-wing configuration. In its place was a redesigned highly-mounted swing-wing mated to large wing-root extensions. Within these extensions were the pivot points for...

Russia told Assad to shoot down Turkish plane, murder captured pilots, ‘leaked Syrian documents’ show. Devastating intelligence papers purport to prove jet was downed on Moscow’s orders, pilots captured alive by intelligence unit and then killed; Damascus had claimed June incident was an accident October 1, 2012 DAMASCUS,— Contrary to previous reports, the two pilots of a Turkish F-4 Phantom which was shot down by Syria in June were not killed in the crash, but were murdered by the Assad regime on Russian orders, according to a devastating series of alleged Syrian intelligence documents leaked to and published by Al-Arabiya...

When the F-15 was created, it was created to be a pure air-to-air fighter, with the philosophy of “not a pound for air-to-ground” guiding designers. So how did Israel end up turning their F-15s into deadly long-range multi-role strike aircraft well before the F-15E Strike Eagle became a reality? Here’s how. In Need Of A Game Changing Fighter Israel’s love affair with the F-15 began out of the need to procure a fighter that could trump the increasingly complex fighters that surrounding Arab states were amassing from Russian and French sources. Both the F-14 Tomcat and the F-15 Eagle were...

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...

An Iranian McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II jet has struck Islamic State targets in the eastern Iraqi province of Diyala, footage shot by regional media shows. At least one F-4 is seen conducting a bombing run against ground targets in the footage shot by Al Jazeera , which erroneously identified the aircraft as an Iraqi fighter. Iran and Turkey are the only regional operators of the F-4, and the location of the incident not far from the Iranian border, and Turkey's unwillingness to get involved in the conflict militarily, indicate this to be an Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force...

Upgrading military aircraft – fixed wing and rotary – is a common operation performed all over the world. You take an old platform, reinforce the fuselage and wings, install some new systems and it can fly for many more years. But what Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is currently doing with its old Kfir fighter aircraft is an exception. The Kfir (Lion Cub) fighter is a single-seat multitask fighter built by IAI. The aircraft was first built for the Israeli air force (IAF). The first Kfir was delivered to the IAF in 1975, and entered into service in 1976. The fighter...

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...

The Japanese government made a formal decision on Tuesday to choose the F-35 stealth jet, which is being developed by the United States and eight other countries, as the country's next-generation fighter jets… Japanese Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa said Japan adopted F-35 mainly for its high performance and 42 F-35 fighters will be acquired. The government said Japanese companies would participate in building the new aircraft. Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter, which had been reviewed along with Boeing's FA-18 Super Hornet and the Eurofighter Typhoon, will replace the country's 40-year-old fleet of F-4's.