These poor F4s are slotted to be target practice on Sunday

Oshkosh EAA today.

they are not painted for Q ship duty?

usually have a red tail

http://www.fencecheck.​com …AF%92s_QF-4_Target_Drones

That would be a very sad end for an F4, although I suppose it beats being broken up in a scrap yard. The F4 is my favorite Cold War fighter, although the EE Lightning is an incredibly close second. I got to spend a couple of day working in a hangar at RAF Coningsby changing the port aileron spoiler on a Phantom (the Phantom doesn't have traditional ailerons like most other aircraft) as an ATC cadet around about 1980.

Alan

When I first saw them I thought that they were one wicked looking weapons platform. Then I realized that they didn't have any guns mounted! Now they're target fodder... again!

I still love this design. One of the more sexy planes ever to grace a battlefield.

Frank, these are "E" models and had guns mounted under the nose until converted to the full-size target program. The gun was replaced with equipment to perform the drone mission when converted. The original F4s (B, C and D models) could carry 20mm gun pods, usually on the centerline station, although they could also be carried on both wing pylons as well. The E model 20mm gun could fire selectively by the pilot at 4,000 or 6,000 rounds per minute. At the higher fire rate you had about six seconds of continuous shooting available (640 round capacity). Pilots were taught to squeeze split-second bursts in order to conserve ammo (you didn't need many hits to down an airborne adversary), squeezing out 10 to 20 rounds per burst if they were good. When firing in a longer burst while strafing the thing sounded like a sewing machine inside the cockpit.

mhm2526 wrote in post #18081504
Frank, these are "E" models and had guns mounted under the nose until converted to the full-size target program. The gun was replaced with equipment to perform the drone mission when converted. The original F4s (B, C and D models) could carry 20mm gun pods, usually on the centerline station, although they could also be carried on both wing pylons as well. The E model 20mm gun could fire selectively by the pilot at 4,000 or 6,000 rounds per minute. At the higher fire rate you had about six seconds of continuous shooting available (640 round capacity). Pilots were taught to squeeze split-second bursts in order to conserve ammo (you didn't need many hits to down an airborne adversary), squeezing out 10 to 20 rounds per burst if they were good. When firing in a longer burst while strafing the thing sounded like a sewing machine inside the cockpit.

Thanks for the info. I was referring to the 1960s when they were first introduced.

Love the F4. I loaded nukes on the D model in Germany during the 'cold war' and lots on different conventional ordinance during the Vietnam 'war'. My favorite bird of all time.

btdrygulch wrote in post #18081531
Love the F4. I loaded nukes on the D model in Germany during the 'cold war' and lots on different conventional ordinance during the Vietnam 'war'. My favorite bird of all time.

F4s in Germany?

I'm going to guess Spangdahlem?

KWP. You've got it right. I was there from 66 to 68. 9TFS. When the 49th went to Holloman some of us went off to Thailand. I really liked working on the F4. To me it was the best looking fighter in the world. I think it to the time to climb record away from the Russians. It was fast, rugged, and if you knew how to fly it, it was a mig killer

https://www.ephotozine​.com …S-L-lens-6_1358415788.jpg


Nooooooooooooooo......​.......

here are two videos of the fly by one from the pilots pov

https://youtu.be/40fY2​IC-RLU

https://youtu.be/cVfUt​gABNbM