Posted on 06/14/2026 8:45:39 AM PDT by rlmorel
After 7 long years, the Collings F-4 Phantom is back in the air!
A MASSIVE thank you to the museum volunteers who made this possible. Without them, there's no way any of this could have happened. And a special thank you to Harry “D-Day” Daye for allowing me to backseat this flight! We are so excited for what this year has in store for both the VWFM and the Collings Foundation planes.
And as always, thank you to the Collings Foundation for allowing us to fix and fly this beautiful jet! If you want to see more of the Vietnam War Flight Museums' aircraft or support either of these amazing organizations, click here: https://www.vietnamwarflight.com
The Phantom was part of almost every day while I was in Vietnam, from my arrival in Danang watching them take off with a full load on afterburner to watching them nail VC/NVA positions up close.
They were everywhere and they were flown by the bravest, ballsiest men ever born.
I never realized how much I missed them.
Thanks Bob!
I thought you might have a range of emotions on that great aircraft that might align with, and go deeper than mine do!
I shall never forget a pair of F-4s barreling down the parallel runways at Danang in 1969. Seemingly at full throttle their noise raided the hair on my head as they passed overhead my Pilatus Porter. They dodged left and over the South China Sea headed north. Unforgettable.
Funny how things like that stick in your head vividly for life...
F-4 Phantom II. Proof that with enough thrust even a brick can fly.
I was nine years old when we visited my oldest brother at Seymour Johnson AFB, NC. He was a radar tech on the F-4Ds there and his Wing Commander was Col Chuck Yeager.
He got us an upclose look at an F-4D in a hanger and I got to sit in the pilot’s seat.
One of the highlights of my young life.
I remember all about the Porter, which was dancing madly on the tarmac, and I honestly felt that the F-4s were going to turn it belly-up. In my two years, and discussions with pilots, I never heard a bad word about the F-4.
I spent 4 years at Zweibrucken AB, an air traffic controller working in the GCA. I must have worked thousands of F-4s flying PAR approaches.
PAR= Precision Approach Radar
GCA= Ground Controlled Approach.
Excellent-thank you for serving-I assume you were Air Force and not civilian?
I have always found the job you folks do to be fascinating...and it must be high pressure too. Oh, the things you must have seen!
That’s great to hear...I have never heard that job characterized that way, and I like it!
To those of us not in the know, it seems that it would be less fun than stressful and difficult. Thanks for the insight, and thanks for your service.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.