F-4 PHANTOM II, ONE OF THE WORLD’S GREATEST EVER COMBAT AIRCRAFT

The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, one of the world’s greatest ever combat aircraft, was designed to meet a US Navy requirement for a fleet defence fighter to replace the F3H Demon and to counter the threat from long range Soviet bombers. The US Air Force also ordered the Phantom when F-4 was shown to be faster than their high performance F-104. The F-4 Phantom was first used by the US Navy as an interceptor, but was soon employed by the US Marine Corps in the ground support role. 

Its outstanding versatility made it the first US multi-service aircraft to fly with the US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps concurrently. The remarkable Phantom excelled in air superiority, interception, close air support, air defence suppression, strike, longer range, fleet defence, attack a reconnaissance.

The sophisticated F-4 was without direction from surface based radar, able to detect and destroy a target beyond visual range (BVR). In the Vietnam and Gulf Wars alone, the F-4 Phantom was

credited with 280 air to air victories. As a bomber, the F-4 could carry 5.08 tonnes/5 tons of ordnance and deliver it accurately while flying at supersonic speeds at very low level.

Capable of flying at twice the speed of sound with easy the Phantom was loved by its crews, who considered it a workhorse that could be relied on, that could do the job and get them home safely. F-4s have also set world records for altitude (30,059m/98,618ft on December 6, 1959), speed (2585kph/1606mph on November 22, 1961) and low altitude Speedy record of 1452kph/902mph that stood for 16 years.

Phantom production ran from 1958 to 1979, resulting in a total 5195 aircraft. Of these 5057 were made in St Louis, Missouri while a further 138 were built under licence by Mitsubishi Aircraft Co. in Japan. F-4 production peaked in 1967 when McDonnell plant was producing 72 Phantoms per mount. The USAF acquired 2874 while the US Navy and Marine Corps operated 1264.

The F-4 was used extensively by the USA in Vietnam from 1965 and served in many roles including fighter, reconnaissance and ground attack. A number of refurbished ex-US forces aircraft were operated by other nations, including the UK, who bought a squadron of mothballed ex-US Navy F-4Js to complement the RAF’s F-4Ms.

Regularly updated with the addition of state of the art weaponry and radar, the Phantom served in with 11 nations around the glove Australia, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Iran, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Spain and Turkey. Britain’s Royal Navy and Royal Air Force both operated Phantoms from 1968, and the last RAF Phantom were retired in January 1992. For a time RAF F.G.R.2 Phantoms with the ability to carry eleven 454kg/1000lb bombs were based in Germany in the tactical nuclear bomber role.

In 1971 Spain bought 36 F-4 to equip the Ala 12 at Torrejon de Ardoz, 32 F-4C and 4 RF-4C (reconnaissance). Phantom was a deployment of unknown potential for the Spanish aviation, by their ability to be refuelled in flight, its operator of arms and its great capacity for weapons that could carry to 7 tons of weapons under the wings. In the mid-eighties started the final stage of his life, leaving only the RF-4C of reconnaissance that gave capacity in this regard to the Ala 12 until 2002.

1996 saw the Phantom’s retirement from US military forces, by which time the type had flown more than 27.350.000Km around 17 million miles in the nation’s service. At present Egypt, Greece, Japan, South Korea, Turkey and Iran have undertaken or plan to upgrade their F-4s and keep them flying nearly 60 years after the Phantom’s first flight.