First time I saw an F-4 was on my first night on duty in the war, Kunson AB, S.Korea. As a Security Policeman I was assigned to guard eight Priority A F-4’s in revetments under the lights. Around 11 PM flares began to go off on the south perimeter and tracer rounds began dancing out to see. Suddenly the SAT jeep roared up to me and gave me two bandoleers of 5.56 and told me to watch myself, we had sappers in the perimeter and sped away. My first thought was damn, I thought this war was over 15 years ago! Next my years of watching WW2 movies kicked in and I quickly took cover where I could see all of my aircraft without walking in plain sight. Eventually there was a flash of light offshore and the N.Korean spy boat was dispatched by S.Korean patrol boat. Pretty exciting for my first night on duty. When I rotated back stateside I was assigned to Nellis AFB (Las Vegas) and was able to enjoy watching the Thunderbirds practice in their F-4’s as they rattled the windows of every building on base. Good times.
My dad was an F4 pilot. First time I saw one was when he returned from the war. We were stationed at Holloman AFB in New Mexico. We could hear them before we could see them. Then out of the blue they came in over the mountains one after the other. They put on quite a show for the families waiting on the flight line.
They each did a low pass, touch and go and dipped their wings. What a magnificent plane!