[ARCHIVED THREAD] - F4 Phantom Thread (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 4/16/2016 9:30:25 PM EDT
One of the most badass aircraft ever designed
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First plane I ever sat in, 1976 for the Bicentennial when I was 4. When I was in college my girlfriend's dad was a former Phantom driver and it was the plane that he'd flown that he loved the best. He said the Mirage III was sexier, and the F-15 was deadlier, but the Phantom "sang" to him...and he loved that it looked like it wanted to rip someone's face off even sitting still. He was cool like that.  |
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A very good, older than me, friend of mine flew two two tours in viet nam. First tour he drove a Thud. Second tour he was a Phantom II driver. He loved the Thud & completely disliked the F4.
He's deceased now & would not talk about combat flying when he was alive, but I gathered that there was a preference for being alone in the 105, with a single engine & the missions were what he considered 'better' than what he did with the Phantom. He said the 105 was the best sounding aircraft he ever heard. Aparently very distinct. The closest I ever heard him talk about combat flying was when he once said 'Nothing would take hits like an F-105...' He caught himself. Then the subject changed to something totally different. He later flew in the airlines till Graves' disease ended that. I met him long after that. Pancreatic cancer got him, in the end. Great guy. LOTS of non combat flying stories... |
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It pisses me off so much that the government destroyed them rather than allow some to be owned by civilians. I'd love to own even just a demillitarized version for display. Meh, they died well serving as test targets to develop our latest and greatest air to air missiles. Their sacrifice means an American pilot in some future conflict doesn't die because he went to war with a faulty weapon. |
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A very good, older than me, friend of mine flew two two tours in viet nam. First tour he drove a Thud. Second tour he was a Phantom II driver. He loved the Thud & completely disliked the F4. He's deceased now & would not talk about combat flying when he was alive, but I gathered that there was a preference for being alone in the 105, with a single engine & the missions were what he considered 'better' than what he did with the Phantom. He said the 105 was the best sounding aircraft he ever heard. Aparently very distinct. The closest I ever heard him talk about combat flying was when he once said 'Nothing would take hits like an F-105...' He caught himself. Then the subject changed to something totally different. He later flew in the airlines till Graves' disease ended that. I met him long after that. Pancreatic cancer got him, in the end. Great guy. LOTS of non combat flying stories... Not Ed Rasimus perchance?? |
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I remember seeing these fly over when I was a kid. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/F-4D_171st_FIS_Michigan_ANG_in_flight_1987.JPEG And I remember the B-52s doing low level in the U.P. too https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/5b/05/f6/5b05f65a4254c7b010a35f7289c59914.jpg I was out fishing on my Dad's dock. Lake Lucerne, Northern Wisconsin. Sawyer AFB was still open in the U.P. A stealth fighter came over the trees no higher than 500 feet. Creepy, yet cool as hell. 
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Quoted: One of my absolute HEROES as a Kid.......too bad he turned out to be a shitbird as a politician  Quoted: Quoted: I just saw Cunningham & Driscoll's phantom that they became aces in. It's in a museum in San Diego. I was in awe of the machine. One of my absolute HEROES as a Kid.......too bad he turned out to be a shitbird as a politician No doubt. He possibly holds the record for the fastest fall from "I really like this guy" to "Seriously? Dude..." in my personal estimation. |
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As Airman of the Month, I got a ride in an RF-4C when I was stationed at Bergstrom AFB. The pilot did everything he could to make me sick, to no avail.
As luck would have it, my stomach finally caught up as the crew chief was leaning in helping me get out and I puked all over him. I really felt bad for the guy.
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This picture is just badass: <a href="http://s4.photobucket.com/user/phuzzygnu/media/breaking_sound.jpg.html" target="_blank">http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y109/phuzzygnu/breaking_sound.jpg</a> My father was a crew chief in '67-'68 for this squadron. F-4 fans should know why the 366th was notable in F-4 history: <a href="http://s4.photobucket.com/user/phuzzygnu/media/1612b95e0.jpg.html" target="_blank">http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y109/phuzzygnu/1612b95e0.jpg</a> There were a few Notable things.. The Gun Kills ("Gunless Wonder" Fuck You ) and Lance Sijan just to think of a couple...
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You saw one painted like it. Showtime 100 was lost in combat Quoted:
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I just saw Cunningham & Driscoll's phantom that they became aces in. It's in a museum in San Diego. I was in awe of the machine. You saw one painted like it. Showtime 100 was lost in combat Showtime 100 - Navy BUNO 155800, McDonnell constructors number 3074. Flown by Lt. Randy Cunningham and Lt. JG William Driscoll. Damaged and crashed into Gulf of Tonkin May 10, 1972 after shooting down 3 MiG-17s over North Vietnam. The first aces of the Vietnam War. Both crew ejected safely. It has 1813 hours before it was shot down by a SAM. |
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My family and i flew out of St.Louis For Orlando in a D.C.9. A flight of 4 MO. Air Guard F-4's took off at the same time. They climbed with us to altitude and my son then 8 had the window seat. The two phantoms closest to us waved before peeling off and I thought my son was was going to die from his first erection,he was soo excited. Then I realized every passenger in the plane was yelling one big Fuck Ya! It was the high light of the whole trip for me. |
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My family and i flew out of St.Louis For Orlando in a D.C.9. A flight of 4 MO. Air Guard F-4's took off at the same time. They climbed with us to altitude and my son then 8 had the window seat. The two phantoms closest to us waved before peeling off and I thought my son was was going to die from his first erection,he was soo excited. Then I realized every passenger in the plane was yelling one big Fuck Ya! It was the high light of the whole trip for me. I was flying into St Louis and two MOANG Phantoms were flying a formation approach to the runway next to ours. Really neat to see the two of them just hanging there off the wingtip of the DC-9 I was on. We must have flown alongside of each other for two or three minutes before they eased ahead of us just before touchdown. |
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I just saw Cunningham & Driscoll's phantom that they became aces in. It's in a museum in San Diego. I was in awe of the machine. The original Showtime 100 was shot down on their last mission. The one at the museum is a replica. Cunningham was a Congressman from San Diego. |
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https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4118/4770484343_a797a6ce8e_b.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/F4_Phantom_in_USAF_Thunderbird_colors_(5732720060).jpg http://i.imgur.com/rd928p6.jpg http://theaviationist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/F-4-Phantom-II-intercept-Tu-95.jpg http://www.seaforces.org/usnair/VF/Fighter-Squadron-84-Dateien/image071.jpg I think the best shows the Thunderbirds ever did were in the F4 days. Loud and smokey...unlike their T38 Whisperjet days. |
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Not Ed Rasimus perchance?? Quoted:
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A very good, older than me, friend of mine flew two two tours in viet nam. First tour he drove a Thud. Second tour he was a Phantom II driver. He loved the Thud & completely disliked the F4. He's deceased now & would not talk about combat flying when he was alive, but I gathered that there was a preference for being alone in the 105, with a single engine & the missions were what he considered 'better' than what he did with the Phantom. He said the 105 was the best sounding aircraft he ever heard. Aparently very distinct. The closest I ever heard him talk about combat flying was when he once said 'Nothing would take hits like an F-105...' He caught himself. Then the subject changed to something totally different. He later flew in the airlines till Graves' disease ended that. I met him long after that. Pancreatic cancer got him, in the end. Great guy. LOTS of non combat flying stories... Not Ed Rasimus perchance?? Nope. Last name was Harper. Lived NW of the twin cities in MN. I started farming his parents place when they quit farming. I later bought it, after they both passed. I know he flew an airline route from Minneapolis to Alaska, somewhere, quite a bit One of the best F4 stories I heard, I first heard from his Dad. Seems the younger Harper had once flown over the farm & dropped what must have been quite a bit of toilet paper that landed pretty much everywhere, as it unrolled & floated down. The old man told the story like he was still pissed about it. He was a pretty gruff old codger & liked to act tougher than shit. Of course he really wasn't & he was as proud as he could be about his boy had done. He just didn't want that part to show as much as it did. Later, after the old man had passed, Mrs. Harper told me that same story, but she showed how proud she was & laughed at how the old man had acted pissed. Later, when he down visiting once, I asked Harp about it. He said they were ferrying new F4's from California to Florida fairly often. On this flight he'd loaded all the TP he could get in behind the flaps, I believe he said. Somewhere over St Louis he radioed the flight leader that he thought something was a bit off & wanted to break formation to test it out. Of course that was just a ruse for the benefit of the folks watching the radar, everybody on the flight knew what was up. Anyway, he said he broke off & headed towards the farm. Once over it he set the flaps so the TP would drop out as he buzzed the house & farmstead. After the release he pulled it up & booked it back to rejoin his flight,mprobably grinning like a possum all the way. |
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Nope. Last name was Harper. Lived NW of the twin cities in MN. I started farming his parents place when they quit farming. I later bought it, after they both passed. I know he flew an airline route from Minneapolis to Alaska, somewhere, quite a bit One of the best F4 stories I heard, I first heard from his Dad. Seems the younger Harper had once flown over the farm & dropped what must have been quite a bit of toilet paper that landed pretty much everywhere, as it unrolled & floated down. The old man told the story like he was still pissed about it. He was a pretty gruff old codger & liked to act tougher than shit. Of course he really wasn't & he was as proud as he could be about his boy had done. He just didn't want that part to show as much as it did. Later, after the old man had passed, Mrs. Harper told me that same story, but she showed how proud she was & laughed at how the old man had acted pissed. Later, when he down visiting once, I asked Harp about it. He said they were ferrying new F4's from California to Florida fairly often. On this flight he'd loaded all the TP he could get in behind the flaps, I believe he said. Somewhere over St Louis he radioed the flight leader that he thought something was a bit off & wanted to break formation to test it out. Of course that was just a ruse for the benefit of the folks watching the radar, everybody on the flight knew what was up. Anyway, he said he broke off & headed towards the farm. Once over it he set the flaps so the TP would drop out as he buzzed the house & farmstead. After the release he pulled it up & booked it back to rejoin his flight,mprobably grinning like a possum all the way. Quoted:
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A very good, older than me, friend of mine flew two two tours in viet nam. First tour he drove a Thud. Second tour he was a Phantom II driver. He loved the Thud & completely disliked the F4. He's deceased now & would not talk about combat flying when he was alive, but I gathered that there was a preference for being alone in the 105, with a single engine & the missions were what he considered 'better' than what he did with the Phantom. He said the 105 was the best sounding aircraft he ever heard. Aparently very distinct. The closest I ever heard him talk about combat flying was when he once said 'Nothing would take hits like an F-105...' He caught himself. Then the subject changed to something totally different. He later flew in the airlines till Graves' disease ended that. I met him long after that. Pancreatic cancer got him, in the end. Great guy. LOTS of non combat flying stories... Not Ed Rasimus perchance?? Nope. Last name was Harper. Lived NW of the twin cities in MN. I started farming his parents place when they quit farming. I later bought it, after they both passed. I know he flew an airline route from Minneapolis to Alaska, somewhere, quite a bit One of the best F4 stories I heard, I first heard from his Dad. Seems the younger Harper had once flown over the farm & dropped what must have been quite a bit of toilet paper that landed pretty much everywhere, as it unrolled & floated down. The old man told the story like he was still pissed about it. He was a pretty gruff old codger & liked to act tougher than shit. Of course he really wasn't & he was as proud as he could be about his boy had done. He just didn't want that part to show as much as it did. Later, after the old man had passed, Mrs. Harper told me that same story, but she showed how proud she was & laughed at how the old man had acted pissed. Later, when he down visiting once, I asked Harp about it. He said they were ferrying new F4's from California to Florida fairly often. On this flight he'd loaded all the TP he could get in behind the flaps, I believe he said. Somewhere over St Louis he radioed the flight leader that he thought something was a bit off & wanted to break formation to test it out. Of course that was just a ruse for the benefit of the folks watching the radar, everybody on the flight knew what was up. Anyway, he said he broke off & headed towards the farm. Once over it he set the flaps so the TP would drop out as he buzzed the house & farmstead. After the release he pulled it up & booked it back to rejoin his flight,mprobably grinning like a possum all the way. That would have been behind the speed brakes. It was a standard location to store sandwich bags full of chaff strips before the ALE-40 chaff and flares dispensers were installed on AF Phantoms. |