October 2019 / Volume 3 / Article 46
USAH
Feature:
The F-4 Phantom ii
Story By Jimi Simmons Photos By Shawn Byers
remains in service with Iran, Japan, South Korea, Greece, and Turkey. The aircraft has most recently been in service against the Islamic State group in the Middle East.
Photo by U.S.N. Aviation Museum
Photo by Shawn Byers
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In 1953, McDonnell Aircraft began work on revising its F3H Demon naval fighter, seeking expanded capabilities and better performance. The company developed several projects, including a variant powered by a Wright J67 engine, and variants powered by two Wright J65 engines, or two General Electric J79 engines. The J79-powered
version promised a top speed of Mach 1.97. On September 19, 1953, McDonnell approached the United States Navy with a proposal for the "Super Demon". Uniquely, the aircraft was to be modular, as it could be fitted with one- or two-seat noses for different missions, with different nose cones to accommodate radar, photo cameras, four 20 mm (.79 in) cannon, or 56 FFAR unguided rockets in addition to the nine hard points under the wings and the fuselage. The Navy was sufficiently interested to order a full-scale mock-up of the F3H-G/H, but felt that the upcoming Grumman XF9F-9 and Vought XF8U-1 already satisfied the need for a supersonic fighter. The McDonnell design was therefore reworked into an all-weather fighter-bomber with 11 external hard points for weapons and on 18 October 1954, the company received a letter of intent for two YAH-1 prototypes. Then on 26 May 1955, four Navy officers arrived at the McDonnell offices and, within an hour, presented the company with an entirely new set of requirements.
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F-4 Phantom by Jimi Simmons
The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is a tandem two-seat, twin-engine, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber originally developed for the United States Navy. It first entered service in 1960 with the Navy. Proving highly adaptable, it was also adopted by the United States Marine Corps and the United States Air Force, and by the mid-1960's. The Phantom is a large fighter with a top speed of over Mach 2.2. It can carry more than 18,000 pounds of weapons on nine external hard points, including air-to-air missiles, air-to-ground missiles, and various bombs. The F-4, like other interceptors of its time, was initially designed without an internal cannon. The F-4 was used extensively during the Vietnam War. It served as the principal air superiority fighter for the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps and became important in the ground-attack and aerial reconnaissance roles late in the war. The F-4 continued to form a major part of U.S. military air power throughout the 1970's and 1980's, being gradually replaced by more modern aircraft such as the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon in the U.S. Air Force, the F-14 Tomcat in the U.S. Navy, and the F/A-18 Hornet in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps. The F-4 Phantom II remained in use by the U.S. in the reconnaissance and Wild Weasel (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) roles in the 1991 Gulf War, finally leaving service in 1996. It was also the only aircraft used by both U.S. flight demonstration teams: United States Air Force Thunderbirds (F-4E) and the United States Navy Blue Angels (F-4J). Phantom production ran from 1958 to 1981, with a total of 5,195 built, making it the most produced American supersonic military aircraft. As of 2018, 60 years after its first flight, the F-4
Many pilots found themselves on the tail of an enemy aircraft, but too close to fire short-range Falcons or Sidewinders. Although by 1965 USAF F-4C's began carrying SUU-16 external gun pods containing a 20 mm (.79 in) M61A1 Vulcan Gatling cannon, USAF cockpits were not equipped with lead-computing gun sights until the introduction of the SUU-23, virtually assuring a miss in a maneuvering fight. Some Marine Corps aircraft carried two pods for strafing. In addition to the loss of performance due to drag, combat showed the externally mounted cannon to be inaccurate unless frequently bore sighted, yet far more cost-effective than missiles. The lack of a cannon was finally addressed by adding an internally mounted 20 mm (.79 in) M61A1 Vulcan on the F-4E. VIETNAM WAR SERVICE The USAF and the US Navy had high expectations of the F-4 Phantom, assuming that the massive firepower, the best available on-board radar, the highest speed and acceleration properties, coupled with new tactics, would provide Phantoms with an advantage over the MiG's. However, in confrontations with the lighter MiG-21, F-4's did not always succeed and began to suffer losses. Over the course of the air war in Vietnam, between 3 April 1965 and 8 January 1973, each side would ultimately claim favorable kill ratios. During the war, U.S. Navy F-4 Phantoms downed 40 air-to-air victories at a loss of seven Phantoms to enemy aircraft.[85] USMC F-4 pilots claimed three enemy MiG's at the cost of one aircraft in air-combat. USAF F-4 Phantom crews scored 107½ MiG kills (including 33½ MiG-17's, eight MiG-19's and 66 MiG-21's) at a cost of 33 Phantoms in air-combat. F-4 pilots were credited with a total of 150½ MiG kills at a cost of 42 Phantoms in air-combat.
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Photo by Air Museum
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Because the Navy already had the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk for ground attack and F-8 Crusader for dog fighting, the project now had to fulfill the need for an all-weather fleet defense interceptor. A second crewman was added to operate the powerful radar. In air combat, the Phantom's greatest advantage was its thrust, which permitted a skilled pilot to engage and disengage from the fight at will. As a massive fighter aircraft designed to fire radar-guided missiles from beyond visual range, it lacked the agility of its Soviet opponents and was subject to adverse yaw during hard maneuvering. Although thus subject to irrecoverable spins during aileron rolls, pilots reported the aircraft to be very responsive and easy to fly on the edge of its performance envelope. In 1972, the F-4E model was upgraded with leading edge slats on the wing, greatly improving high angle of attack maneuverability at the expense of top speed. The J79 engines produced noticeable amounts of black smoke (at mid-throttle/cruise settings), a severe disadvantage in that it made it easier for the enemy to spot the aircraft. This was solved on the F-4S, which was fitted with the −10A engine variant with a smokeless combustor. The F-4's biggest weakness, as it was initially designed, was its lack of an internal cannon. For a brief period, doctrine held that turning combat would be impossible at supersonic speeds and little effort was made to teach pilots air combat maneuvering. In reality, engagements quickly became subsonic, as pilots would slow down in an effort to get behind their adversaries. Furthermore, the relatively new heat-seeking and radar-guided missiles at the time were frequently reported as unreliable and pilots had to fire multiple missiles (also known as ripple-firing), just to hit one enemy fighter. To compound the problem, rules of engagement in Vietnam precluded long-range missile attacks in most instances, as visual identification was normally required.
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QF-4Cs) operated by the U.S. military until 21 December 2016, when the Air Force officially ended use of the type. It is a fighter jet that is one of a kind and we all wish they were still in the air. There is a website that you can go to that is an international non-profit, dedicated to the preservation of the history of the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II fighter. For more details you can go to f4phantom.com.
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According to the VPAF, 103 F-4 Phantoms were shot down by MiG-21's at a cost of 54 MiG-21's downed by F-4's. During the war, the VPAF lost 131 MiG's in air combat (63 MiG-17's, eight MiG-19s and 60 MiG-21s) of which one half were by F-4's. From 1966 to November 1968, in 46 air battles conducted over North Vietnam between F-4's and MiG-21's, VPAF claimed 27 F-4s were shot down by MiG-21's at a cost of 20 MiG-21's. In 1970, one F-4 Phantom was shot down by MiG-21. In 1972, total of 201 air battles took place between American and Vietnamese airplanes. The VPAF lost 54 MiG's (including 36 MiG- 21's and one MiG-21) and claimed 90 U.S aircraft were shot down, including 74 F-4 Phantoms and two spy RF-4C (MiG-21's shot down 67 enemy aircraft. MiG-17 shot down 11 and MiG-19 shot down 12 enemy aircraft.) The struggle culminated on 10 May 1972, with VPAF aircraft completing 64 sorties, resulting in 15 air battles. The VPAF claimed seven F-4's were shot down, while U.S. confirmed five F-4's were lost. The Phantoms, in turn, managed to destroy two MiG-21's, three MiG-17's, and one MiG-19. On May 11, two MiG-21's, which played the role of "bait", brought the four F-4's to two MiG-21's circling at low altitude. The MiG's quickly engaged and shot down two F-4's. On 18 May, Vietnamese aircraft made 26 sorties in eight air engagements, which cost 4 F-4 Phantoms; Vietnamese fighters on that day did not suffer losses. Phantom II production ended in the United States in 1979 after 5,195 had been built (5,057 by McDonnell Douglas and 138 in Japan by Mitsubishi). Of these, 2,874 went to the USAF, 1,264 to the Navy and Marine Corps, and the rest to foreign customers. The last U.S.-built F-4 went to South Korea, while the last F-4 built was an F-4EJ built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan and delivered on 20 May 1981. As of 2008, 631 Phantoms were in service worldwide, while the Phantoms were in use as a target drone (specifically
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