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
