User Panel
Posted: 11/7/2022 10:06:34 PM EDT
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Started going to that air show in the 60’s.
Blue Angels in F-11’s. I’ve had a hard on for airplanes ever since. |
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I win the powerball lottery and I’ll put an F-4 back in air shows.
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Quoted: A friend sent me this image of a VX-4 zorching along the short runway at NAS Point Mugu during an airshow circa 1984. https://www.vaq34.com/junk/VX-4_Aircraft_15_SV_F4_zorch.jpg View Quote |
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Quoted: Sweet pic, but the 1984 date seems odd: the F-4 has a white belly and what appear to be AIM-9Bs. If I had just seen the photo, I would've guessed late 60s or early 70s. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: A friend sent me this image of a VX-4 zorching along the short runway at NAS Point Mugu during an airshow circa 1984. https://www.vaq34.com/junk/VX-4_Aircraft_15_SV_F4_zorch.jpg VX-4 kept their F-4s longer and in their own schemes, including some fairly colorful camos. Same with their F-14s, they kept higher-vis schemes for a good while even as the tac schemes became more standard, and they held onto their snazzy painted helmets for a long time as well through around '86 or '87. VX-4's been high on my interests lately, I wanted something to go with a helmet and ended up with a mug from a pretty significant guy in the F-14 and Top Gun history: Shared by the Naval Base Ventura Facebook page from the 1980 Point Mugu airshow, you can see an F-4 cockpit in the foreground and F-14s in the background. |
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I always thought the F4 Phantom was so cool looking. I remember as a teen watching the evening news about the Vietnam War. There was always a clip of the Phantom.
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Quoted: Sweet pic, but the 1984 date seems odd: the F-4 has a white belly and what appear to be AIM-9Bs. If I had just seen the photo, I would've guessed late 60s or early 70s. View Quote The images she sent me were from her time with VX-4. She was there from 1981 to 1985. That plane does not have the bunny on the rudder, it does not have the aircraft side number (last 4 of the BUNO) in large numbers on the side and it has the stars and bar behind the cockpit. At one time that plane had an experimental white paint scheme with a big bunny on the tail. It was called "The White Bunny", that was in the late 70's. |
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Quoted: Those were the days! View Quote Those were the days, my friend We thought they'd never end We'd sing and dance forever and a day We'd live the life we choose We'd fight and never lose For we were young and sure to have our way La-la-la-da-da-da La-la-la-da-da-da Da-da-da-da, la-da-da-da-da |
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Quoted: A friend sent me this image of a VX-4 zorching along the short runway at NAS Point Mugu during an airshow circa 1984. https://www.vaq34.com/junk/VX-4_Aircraft_15_SV_F4_zorch.jpg View Quote |
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View Quote That's like seeing a Mustang GT with a Lamborghini. |
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Quoted: I always thought the F4 Phantom was so cool looking. I remember as a teen watching the evening news about the Vietnam War. There was always a clip of the Phantom. View Quote I had a class date to go be a F-4C WSO with the INANG in Ft. Wayne. Turned it down because I wanted to be a pilot. That would have been a fun gig. Still sorta wish I’d done it. F-4’s have always had a special place in my heart. |
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"Put enough power behind it and you can make a brick fly"
That was from a book about Phantoms I read when I was a kid. |
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Quoted: I win the powerball lottery and I’ll put an F-4 back in air shows. View Quote It is such a travesty that so many military aircraft are scrapped or used as targets without being offered for sale to the public anymore. It's not the military's job to preserve historical artifacts but it's now much more difficult for others to do so. Collecting military rifles from the last 50 years is going to be extremely challenging, even for museums with FFLs, with so many being deliberately destroyed. |
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Quoted: It is such a travesty that so many military aircraft are scrapped or used as targets without being offered for sale to the public anymore. It's not the military's job to preserve historical artifacts but it's now much more difficult for others to do so. Collecting military rifles from the last 50 years is going to be extremely challenging, even for museums with FFLs, with so many being deliberately destroyed. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: I win the powerball lottery and I’ll put an F-4 back in air shows. It is such a travesty that so many military aircraft are scrapped or used as targets without being offered for sale to the public anymore. It's not the military's job to preserve historical artifacts but it's now much more difficult for others to do so. Collecting military rifles from the last 50 years is going to be extremely challenging, even for museums with FFLs, with so many being deliberately destroyed. Does the Collings Foundation no longer fly their Phantom at airshows? |
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Quoted: My dad and his GE crew testing nitrogen cooled exhaust nozzles https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/5205/3093C440-B683-4EDB-8282-455873474B87-1915888.jpg View Quote Wow, people were so much thinner back then... |
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I know a lot of people consider them ugly, but I think the Phantom is a beautiful plane.
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I think F4's used to purposely ride around the countryside on Sunday morning strafing church services in my area. No mistaking them when hearing them fly over.
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The F4 is positive proof that anything can fly if it has a big enough engine. The amount of oil those pigs leaked was phenomenal. You could always tell the F4 maintenance crews as they had oil stains all over their uniforms.
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I remember when the F4's ( 557th Tactical Fighter Squadron) were activated at MacDill AFB in the early 60's - we'd see them all the time screaming around Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico belching smoke.
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Quoted: How about this: https://64.media.tumblr.com/1a89543fde53cc36de7308d9827a1503/tumblr_n4eb4lj2do1rn8k76o1_500.jpg https://preview.redd.it/fxgvkzyaauz81.jpg?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=e85e033879091605bb47496875c4d09240dc4767 The story:The photo flight wasn’t officially sanctioned by the USAF, it was coordinated between the Blackbird flight crew, the pilot of Jeannie 69 and the crews of the two T-38 Talon chase aircraft. It meant the photo shoot had to be carried out while the Blackbird was flying it’s normal mission profile of a 450 knot climb out. Wiley Sanders, owner of the modified North American P-51 Mustang "Jeannie 69" recalled: "This "The Fastest Prop and The Fastest Jet" one-liner inspiration, this scheme-like challenge to even attempt this flight between diametrically different performance aircraft was typical of what we would have called a "brain-fart" idea in a fighter squadron. In a quick look at the SR-71 profile coming off Edwards AFB or Palmdale, we knew we would have to have a full-up race engine, with available race power of 120 to 125 inches manifold pressure in order to maintain formation flight with the 450 knot departing and climbing SR-71.” In the end, Skip Holm, who was flying Jeannie 69, took off and loitered in the area around Palmdale. Once the Blackbird was airborne, Skip began his run in to formate off its wing. One of the T-38 chase planes out of Palmdale 'aborted' it’s mission about the time Skip arrived on scene and took its place on the radar screen. All the pilots were briefed, and it was done as the SR-71 was climbing out on its regular mission profile so there were just a couple minutes of Jeannie running at full-power to keep formation. View Quote That was pretty cool. Thanks for sharing the story, too. |
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