McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II

The Phantom was used for reconnaissance and Wild Weasel (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) missions in the 1991 Gulf War, and finally left combat service in 1996.A second crewman was added to operate the powerful radar;[4] designers believed that air combat in the next war would overload solo pilots with information.As in the McDonnell F-101 Voodoo, the engines sat low in the fuselage to maximize internal fuel capacity and ingested air through fixed geometry intakes.[24] To avoid redesigning the titanium central section of the aircraft, McDonnell engineers angled up only the outer portions of the wings by 12°, which averaged to the required 5° over the entire wingspan.After an F-4B won the "Operation Highspeed" fly-off against the Convair F-106 Delta Dart, the USAF borrowed two Naval F-4Bs, temporarily designating them F-110A in January 1962, and developed requirements for their own version.MiGs usually could outturn the F-4 because of the high drag on the Phantom's airframe;[61] as a massive fighter aircraft designed to fire radar-guided missiles from beyond visual range, the F-4 lacked the agility of its Soviet opponents and was subject to adverse yaw during hard maneuvering.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.In addition to the loss of performance due to drag, combat showed the externally mounted cannon to be inaccurate unless frequently boresighted, yet far more cost-effective than missiles.[69] Navy fighter pilots were unused to flying with a non-pilot RIO, but learned from air combat in Vietnam the benefits of the GiB "guy in back" or "voice in the luggage compartment" helping with the workload.[22] The first Phantom air-to-air victory of the war took place on 9 April 1965 when an F-4B from VF-96 Fighting Falcons piloted by Lieutenant (junior grade) Terence M. Murphy and his RIO, Ensign Ronald Fegan, shot down a Chinese MiG-17.[24] There continues to be controversy over whether the Phantom was shot down by MiG guns or, as enemy reports later indicated, an AIM-7 Sparrow III from one of Murphy's and Fegan's wingmen.[70] On 17 June 1965, an F-4B from VF-21 Freelancers piloted by Commander Louis Page and Lieutenant John C. Smith shot down the first North Vietnamese MiG of the war.Marine Phantoms of VMFA-323, flying from Puerto Rico, provided air cover during Operation Power Pack for the evacuation of US citizens from the Dominican Republic[75] and assisted the 508th Infantry Regiment in taking and securing a position east of the Duarte bridge.[76] Marine F-4 pilots claimed three enemy MiGs (two while on exchange duty with the USAF) at the cost of 75 aircraft lost in combat, mostly to ground fire, and four in accidents.The VMCJ-1 Golden Hawks (later VMAQ-1 and VMAQ-4 which had the old RM tailcode) flew the first photo recon mission with an RF-4B variant on 3 November 1966 from Da Nang and remained there until 1970 with no RF-4B losses and only one aircraft damaged by anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) fire.The first Phantoms that the USAF operated were F-4Bs loaned from the Navy, with 27 jets delivered to the 4453rd Combat Crew Training Wing at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, in November 1963.[82] The first USAF Phantoms to participate in the Vietnam War were F-4Cs from the 45th Tactical Fighter Squadron, who deployed to Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, in April 1965.Its reliability proved no better than others and its complex firing sequence and limited seeker-head cooling time made it virtually useless in combat against agile fighters.As the F-105 force underwent severe attrition between 1965 and 1968, the bombing role of the F-4 proportionately increased until after November 1970 (when the last F-105D was withdrawn from combat) it became the primary USAF tactical ordnance delivery system.[98][99] In early December 1989, USAF F-4s, from Clark Air Base, participated in Operation Classic Resolve,[100] President Bush's response to the 1989 Philippine coup attempt.[111] The final unmanned flight took place on 17 August 2016, with QF-4E 72-0166 being fired upon by a Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II before returning safely back to Holloman AFB.The rocket struck the fuel tank of an A-4 Skyhawk attack aircraft, starting a fire which quickly spread to other airplanes, setting off several bombs.[122][123] The Phantom has served with the air forces of many countries, including Australia, Egypt, Germany, United Kingdom, Greece, Iran, Israel, Japan, Spain, South Korea and Turkey.A total of 24 German F-4F Phantom IIs were operated by the 49th Tactical Fighter Wing of the USAF at Holloman AFB to train Luftwaffe crews until December 2004.[138][139] Following the success of the German ICE program, on 11 August 1997, a contract was signed between DASA of Germany and Hellenic Aerospace Industry for the upgrade of 39 aircraft to the very similar "Peace Icarus 2000" standard.[141] The Imperial Iranian Air Force saw at least one engagement, resulting in a loss, after an RF-4C was rammed[142] by a Soviet MiG-21 during Project Dark Gene, an ELINT operation during the Cold War.[161] However, on 20 November 2020, the 301st Tactical Fighter Squadron announced the earlier retirement of their remaining F-4EJs, concluding the Phantom's long-running career in the JASDF Air Defense Command.[191][192] In 1988, Sandia National Laboratories mounted an F-4 on a "rocket sled", then crashed it into reinforced concrete to learn about the collision of aircraft with structures such as a nuclear power plant."[226] German Luftwaffe crews called their F-4s the Eisenschwein ("Iron Pig"), Fliegender Ziegelstein ("Flying Brick") and Luftverteidigungsdiesel ("Air Defense Diesel")."[231] The aircraft's emblem is a whimsical cartoon ghost called "The Spook", which was created by McDonnell Douglas technical artist, Anthony "Tony" Wong, for shoulder patches.