Posted on 06/26/2013 2:09:54 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
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 occasion.
A total of 263 Phantoms were acquired by Germany, the air force says, including 88 in the RF-4E reconnaissance configuration, from 1971.
Flightglobal's MiliCAS database shows Germany's retirement of the Phantom will reduce the global frontline fleet of the type to 431 aircraft, operated by the air forces of Egypt, Greece, Iran, Japan, South Korea and Turkey. The US Air Force also has more than 150 examples, which have been adapted for use as QF-4 aerial targets.
Noisy place.
“Guess he saved our butts,but it scared the crap outta us.”
I hope you had some clean skivvies in your ruck heh.
HEAR,HEAR!
*smiles*....heard them for a year, 24/7...loud, VERY LOUD, the trim pad was only about 1/4 mile away from my bunk....had a Marine bird rotate right after lift off once and scare the dog snot out of me when he roared over us full AB round 60ft haulin...I know he did it on purpose,can’t prove it,it was against regs, it hurt our ears...but I know it,I know it.
Heh, but it sounds so ROMANTIC!
I love the Phantom, but it would be toast against nearly any airplane built after 1974.
(all pilots being equal, of course)
The last operational F-4s i’ve seen were some german Phantoms at Holloman AFB,NM. The germans had fun names for it: flying oil stove or air defence diesel. One of the pilots told me that the only reason the F-4 does fly is the victory of thrust over weight.
That is one fine looking bird!
My best f-4 memory......
‘79, I was a plane captain aboard the FID....
They just shot off an F-4....
As it was rolling down the cat, a deck wrench came flying out from the catwalk.
the f-4 ate the wrench and spit out the engine in a million little pieces.....
The plane hit the end of the catapult, all the stores were immediately ejected, and the plane drifted below the flight deck....
We all just stopped ans stared, waiting for them to eject...no seats...
Then, way off in the distance, we saw it, at wave top level, shaking like a leaf, but sslooowwwllly gaining altitude...
It got up, came around, and caught the wire.....
Just can’t kill ‘em?..
When I was 10 years old, my dad got orders to Yokosuka, and our flight landed at Atsugi (I think)
I was ten years old, and as we taxied by those rows and rows of Phantoms in the black and dark green camouflage, I had my nose pressed against the window.
I was a fanatical model builder, and to see them live for the first time was a real thrill!
That damn plane. I fell so far behind in school because I sat in class all day drawing that plane instead of paying attention.
Two things deserve far more credit. Joe Rochefort and the TBD Squadrons
Hehe, those J79 engines were real beasts! I had a 1st class describe them to me as being able to run with fewer compressor blades left in them than a hillbilly had teeth in his mouth!
Evidently they are still flying them in Japan, at least as of 2010.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSXD0lef87I
..eyea, they hide well in camo...my base in the background *smiles*
lucky ya got any ears left...
huh?
...they aren't...:) No wonder the Germans called them "oil cans"...:)
I sure do love that plane, though!
the Luftwaffe also referred to the F-4 as der Eisenschwein ("Iron Pig") and der Fliegender Ziegelstein (Flying Brick).
Whatever. It was a helluva engine...
Not bad...to this lubber’s eyes!
Heh, I meant “oil STOVES”
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