Colonel Charles B De Bellevue a former F-4 pilot
reminisced about his days flying the F-4 Phantom. The F-4 was the last plane that looked
like it was made to kill somebody. It was a beast, it could go through a
flock of birds and kick out barbecue
from the back. In the days before onboard computers and
fly by wire flight controls. The pilot
and the pilot alone was responsible for
flying the airplane.
You didn't get into the F-4, you put it on, it became you, the Bellevue explained. It was a manual airplane, not like an F-16 or F-15 they were aerodynamic and
designed well.
The F-4 was a large muscular twin engine
jet designed as in fighter bomber and
interceptor that was intended to rule
the skies over vietnam. When it debuted in 1961 it was perhaps
the most capable airframe for its role
in the world.
The F-4 platform also set 16 time to
climb altitude and speed records. In 1959 the F-4 flew above 98,000 feet
and in 1961
the F-4 was the fastest jet in the world
2581 kilometers per hour or
1604 miles per hour. The airframe
surrounded two engines that gave the F-4
a massive amount thrust.
During engagements in vietnam american
pilots were able to engage and disengage
from engagements virtually at will a top
speed over twice the speed of sound. However Vietnam revealed some glaring
deficiencies with the F-4 design that
needed to be rectified. The air force assumed that by relying on
sheer speed, acceleration and a high
weapons load. The F-4 would destroy north
vietnamese migs.
Engineers estimated that dogfights at
supersonic speeds would happen so fast. Cannons would not be useful, so early
production airframes didn't come
equipped with any on-board guns. At low speeds however the F-4 was not
very maneuverable and was out bought by
agile, tight-turning Mig-17s and Mig-19s. So F-4 were then equipped with
an onboard 20 millimeter cannon after
suffering an outsized number of losses
against groups of Migs using hit and run
tactics.
The F-4 platform is still in service
today with a few countries nearly 60
years after its introduction. In 1971 japan bought licenses for
mitsubishi heavy industries to build F-4 domestically. The first F-4 that japan assembled in
1971 carries out monthly flights for a
surprising mission. The F-4 is equipped with a dust
collection pod sniffer that samples the
air in order to detect radioactive
particles. In addition to monitoring north korean
nuclear tests, the sniffer monitors other
environmental pollution. Iran also flies american built F-4.
In 2014 at least one F-4 was filmed
on a bombing run in Iraq. Though iran has
denied any involvement. As i wrote previously, F-4 in
iraq could be evidence of a
non-interference agreement between the
united states and iran. Though the F-4 was eventually replaced by
more capable F-15s and F-16s. These
frames drew on lessons learned from the F-4 service history. Phantoms held their own up until
operation desert storm, where specially
modified wild weasel F-4 were
used in suppressing iraqi air defenses. Not bad for a jet designed in the 1950s.
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