you are correct-
The plane is from VF111- the “sundowners”this is
our sister squadron- (I was in VF51-screaming eagles)
That was a first gen model FLIR- infrared- and it
worked like - sh**- most Never turned it on-
finally removed the blasted thing-
Cannot make out the VTAS sensors in the cocpit-
so I am guessing this is an F4B- I worked on this,
and was there for the F4N upgrades-
Oh as a side note- the Coral Sea was off Vietnam when
Saigon fell- both VF51 and VF11 flew aircap during
the evacuation- then ...on to the Mayaguez rescue
Technically I think it was an IRST: infrared search and track. Same concept as FLIR, but used primarily as a targeting tool for air to air combat as opposed to safe navigation of the aircraft in bad weather/night conditions or air to ground attacks. Some Navy and early USAF (C and D models) birds had them. In later years the fairings were used to mount sensors for the ECM/RWR suite.
When the USAF adopted the gun the F-4 (Navy and Marines never did that, continued to rely on a centerline mounted gunpod) never got a longer nose and smaller radar dish/nose cone. It’s the short fat vs long skinny nose that differentiates the gun equipped Phantoms, not a blister under the nose.
One of our congressmen, Sam Johnson, was an F4 pilot in Vietnam. After taking a missile strike, he ejected a near Mach, dislocating his shoulder from the wind blast.
He spent 6 years as a captive in Hanoi.