The smoking thing with floppy ears

[hasegawa]

My father laughed when I called the F-4 Phantom II that as a small child.
Today, that is a distant memory, and the Phantom is used as a drone for missile firing. Occasionally, these machines were still flown “for maintenance” until they met their end as unmaned missile targets for training.

[Charl]

Pretty apt, and like Loxodonta, could be pretty lethal, given enough space.

I wonder how many have been shot down? And how many are left?
It's a finite resource.

I bet over weekends the QF-4 team plays the QF-16 team, hunched over consoles but with real aircraft

[simonh]

There's nothing wrong about the mighty F-4 Phantom II.
It's one of my favorite jets despite such disparaging nicknames such as The Double Ugly and Rhino.
I forgot to mention Ol' Smokey.

[deeknow]

Looks great Andreas, love that livery too

I've said it before .. I LOVE the Phantom ... my fave retro (these days) fighter. Prolly influenced by building a few kits as a kid

[chopper_nut]

I was watching Sailor the other day. Watching those FG1s operate off the Ark is surely one of the most impressive bit of F4 footage ever

[Charl]

Sailor?

[Aharon]

IMPRESSIVE afterburners

Regards,

Aharon

[chopper_nut]

Sailor?

Watch on youtube.com

Docuseries about life on board the Ark Royal back in the good old days. Great show

[Charl]

Ah, That One
Small airfield, big heavy jet.
Did they attach the catapult harness onto the wings??
That silly long nose gear looks very fragile.

[chopper_nut]

Ah, That One
Small airfield, big heavy jet.
Did they attach the catapult harness onto the wings??
That silly long nose gear looks very fragile.

Yep, that series. It's brilliant TV. The cat bridle was hooked to the wings on all Phantoms. The FG1 had a 40 inch nose gear extension next to the F4Js 20 inch extension to account for the shorter catapult run on the British Carriers.