Years In Service: 1960-1996
Initial Flight: May 27, 1958
The F-4S Phantom II is an upgrade of the F-4J carrier-based fighter aircraft, modernized with smokeless engines, reinforced airframe, leading-edge slats for improved maneuverability. First flight July 1977; 302 converted.
September 1953, the design of the Phantom II was headed by Herman Barkey. The F-4 was to be the successor to the highly successful F-3H Demon and fourth in a series of the McDonnell Corporation’s jet fighters. The ungainly looking F-4 Phantom II is considered one of the greatest and most versatile jet fighters ever built. The 19th F-4A’s (F4H-1F), canopy was redesigned to improve visibility and a bulbous radome was installed to accommodate the new larger 32″ radar dish for the AN/APQ-72 air intercept radar as well as an under nose bulge for infra-red heat seeking equipment creating a droop nose effect. Provisions were provided for six Sparrow III air-to-air missiles under the wings and fuselage. For air-to-ground missions, the aircraft was capable of carrying 16,000 lb of ordinance on four under-wing pods and one center-line station or a single nuclear weapon. In place of ordinance, external fuel could be carried in three tanks and a retractable in-flight refueling probe was installed on the forward starboard fuselage.
The F-4 Phantom was first in many aerospace innovations. One system introduced in 1959 was the buddy tank inflight refueling system which was tested successfully at supersonic speeds as well as new weapons were tested such as the GE/Philco AAM-N-7 sidewinder missile. The Phantom II was the first fighter aircraft to be completely reliant on its own radar and detection systems rather than ground based fighter control and was the first fighter to be designed without guns or cannons-being armed with missiles only. However, the elimination of guns proved to be a detriment during close-in air-to-air encounters in Vietnam, which resulted in the installation of guns starting with the F-4C.
Conceived during peacetime, it served as an interceptor, strike and reconnaissance aircraft, and was the second most produced jet fighter after the North American F-86 Sabre. The Phantom II was one of the largest postwar programs with a total of 5,195 aircraft constructed – 5,057 built by McDonnell Corporation and 138 under license, by Mitsubishi Aircraft in Japan. It was the first fighter aircraft to fly simultaneously with the US Navy Blue Angels as well as with the USAF Thunderbirds, and was the first US Navy fighter to be adopted by the USAF. By January 1962, it was flying with three branches of the military-the US Navy, US Air Force and US Marine Corp.
Its maiden flight was on May 27, 1958 and by December 6, 1959 it would set its first world record by achieving an altitude of 98,556 ft , and on December 5, 1961 set a new record for a sustained altitude at 66,443.8 ft over a 25 km course.`It could carry a bomb-load greater than the Avro Lancaster or Boeing B-29 Superfortress, and would serve with twelve nations including Great Britain, West Germany, Spain, Australia, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, Iran, Japan and South Korea. It was first in many areas of aerospace engineering innovations that would go on to break thirteen more world aviation performance records.
Aircraft Specifications
Height: 16′ 3″ Wingspan: 38′ 5″ Length: 58′ 3″ Crew: 2 Armament: Combinations of: 4 x AIM-9 Sidewinders; 4 x AIM-7 Sparrow or upgraded AIM-120 AMRAAM; 6 x AGM-65 Maverick; 4 x AGM-62 Walleye; 4 x AGM-45 Shrike, AGM-88 HARM or AGM-78 Standard ARM; 4 x GBU-15; 18 x Mk.82, GBU-12; 5 x Mk.84, GBU-10, GBU-14; 18 x CBU-87, CBU-89, CBU-58; Nuclear weapons, including B28EX, B61, B43 and B57 Payload: Up to 18,650 lbs of weapons Thrust: 11,905 lbs w/out afterburner, 17,845 lbs w/ afterburner No. of Engines: 2 Max Speed: 1,470 mph. at 40,000 ft. Ceiling: 60,000 ft.