Several facts point towards the McDonnell F-4 Phantom II being the West’s greatest Cold War combat aircraft. Uniquely, it was the only fighter of the period to equip the squadrons of the US Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force, being equally at home operating from airfields and the decks of aircraft carriers. It also served with the armed forces of 11 other countries. The seven major variants produced gave rise to more than 50 sub-types over the years.
Between 1958 and May 1981, when Mitsubishi rolled out the last, a total of 5,195 were produced. Phantoms chalked up more than 320 aerial victories during conflicts in the Middle East and Asia. From the 1970s, more than 400 US airframes were modified as drones and suffered the indignity of being shot at by their own side. Forty years after the last F-4 was built, it still flies with the air forces of Greece, Iran, South Korea and Turkey. However, back in the early 1950s, McDonnell’s problem was persuading the US Navy that it even needed a new fighter at all.
Spawn of a Demon
Failure can be a powerful motivator. For James S McDonnell, it was his company’s failure to secure the contract for the US Navy’s first supersonic fleet interceptor in September 1953. Rival Vought won that contract, producing the F8U Crusader. Having designed the US Navy’s first jet powered carrier-based fighter – the FD/FH-1 Phantom – and having followed it up with the F2H Banshee, the company made the mistake of using the ‘wrong’ engine in the F3H Demon. The F3H-1N Demon was handicapped by the Westinghouse J40 turbojet, which was replaced by the Allison J71 from F3H-2. Although McDonnell went on to build 521 Demons as interceptors, the type was viewed as a stop gap. McDonnell and his designers were sufficiently motivated to get it right next time.
Work to produce a ‘better Demon’ began in May 1952, resulting in the F3H-C Super Demon design with a Wright J67-W-1 (Bristol Olympus) engine and interchangeable nose sections for different roles. It was refined as F3H-E (Model 98A) without the Demon’s nose-high attitude on the ground. The design was enlarged as the Model 98B (F3H-G/H) with larger wings and four 20mm cannons. Power was to come from a pair of Wright J65-W- 4s (Armstrong Siddeley Sapphires), although the mock-up hedged its bets with both a J65 and General Electric J79-2. An unsolicited proposal was submitted to the Navy for review, but the F8U that was selected in May 1953 remained the preferred option.
“Phantoms chalked up more than 320 aerial victories during conflicts in the Middle East and Asia”
McDonnell continued to work on the basic configuration as a single seat multi-role fighter-bomber. In September 1954, it was asked to submit a more specific proposal, optimised for ground attack with 11 pylons and the four cannons.
That November, a contract for two flight test aircraft and a static test airframe (as the AH-1) was issued. The AH-1’s Demon ancestry remained evident. Much of this changed in early 1955, when several alterations were incorporated, the most important being the adoption of the J79 engine. The J79 was designed to power the Convair B-58 Hustler supersonic bomber and promised to give the AH-1 Mach 2 performance, although alterations were required to the design’s inlets and nozzles. Provision for a second crew member was added, while the outer wing sections gained 12° of dihedral and an extended cord creating a distinctive ‘dogtooth’, while yaw stability was increased by giving the tail planes 23.25° of anhedral.
In April 1955, McDonnell was informed that the Navy no longer wanted an attack aircraft, but rather a long-range interceptor. The 11 pylons (and later its four cannons) were removed and recesses for four AAM-N- 6 (later AIM-7C) Sparrow III air-to-air missiles were added under the fuselage. The AH-1 was redesignated the F4H-1.
Several different names were contemplated for the aircraft. Project manager Don Malvern wanted to name it ‘Satan’! James McDonnell originally considered ‘Mithras’ – the Romanised version of Mithra, the Persian sun deity – before settling on Phantom II.
Initial versions
Test pilot Robert C Little completed the maiden flight of the new fighter on the morning of May 27, 1958, from Lambert-St Louis Municipal Airport in Missouri. All did not go as planned. The YF4H-1 (marked ‘F4H-1’ on the nose) suffered hydraulic problems during the flight, resulting in the nose wheel door remaining open after the landing gear was cycled up. Post flight analysis discovered that one of the J79s had suffered damage from a foreign object. However, additional flights over the weeks that followed demonstrated that McDonnell had got the basics right.
The Phantom was not only a leap forward in terms of performance, but also introduced new levels of complexity. Designed under the ‘weapon system’ concept then in vogue, a lot of developmental work was required to make it an operational platform. This was the task of most of the initial 45 F4H-1s, which were built to many different standards. The large number of pre-production and development aircraft allowed the programme to progress quickly and a pool of pilots to be trained.
Initial shipborne compatibility trials from the USS Independence took place between February 15-20, 1960, off the Atlantic coast, followed that April by tests from the smaller USS Intrepid. Few difficulties were encountered.
“The Phantom was not only a leap forward in terms of performance, but also introduced new levels of complexity.”
Formation of the first Replacement Air Group – VF-101 ‘Grim Reapers’ – began in 1960. Integration of the Phantom’s AN/APQ-76 radar and Sparrow III radar-guided missile were relatively problem-free, giving the aircraft the tools it needed to defend the fleet.
On March 23, 1961, Thomas Harris flew what was considered to be the initial production F4H-1 – the 48th built – with J79-GE- 8A engines in place of the -2A and -8 of earlier aircraft. The initial F4H-1s (along with the surviving prototype) were redesignated as F4H-1Fs on May 1. When the tri service Mission Design Series was introduced in September 1962, the F4H-1Fs became F-4As and F4H-1s became F-4Bs.
The F-4B would be the most numerous naval variant, with 649 built. It was the Marines that first embraced the potential of the Phantom in the air-to-ground role, retitling its squadrons flying the jet from Marine Fighter (All-Weather) (VMF(AW)) to Marine Fighter Attack (VMFA).
Air Force Phantoms
Phantom crews quickly discovered they could beat the best fighter of the US Air Force, the Convair F-106A Delta Dart. An official f ly-off between the two, Operation Highspeed, highlighted the superiority of the F4H-1 in virtually every parameter. The US Air Force arranged to borrow a pair of F4H-1s as F-110As for a 120- day evaluation from January 1962 and quickly decided to acquire a minimal-change version with added ground-attack capability and air force-specific equipment, as the F-4C. To speed up service entry, 27 additional F-4Bs were loaned to the US Air Force, most going to the 4453rd Combat Crew Training Wing at MacDill AFB, Florida. They were followed by 583 F-4Cs, the last of which was delivered to the US Air Force in May 1966.
The F-4C was followed by the F-4D, which, although externally almost identical, incorporated all the changes the US Air Force wanted and was the first Phantom optimised for air-to-ground operations. The AN/APQ-100 radar of the F-4C was replaced by the -109 (part of the AN/APA- 65 system) with ranging modes for ground targets. Deliveries began in March 1966 to the 36th Tactical Fighter Wing at Bitburg in West Germany. The US Air Force received 793, while a further 32 were built for Iran. Crews flying F-4Ds achieved 45 air-to-air kills in Vietnam, more than any other type of aircraft.
Combat experience highlighted that the faith placed in missiles was not entirely justified. Closein dogfights with nimble North Vietnamese MiGs displayed the difficulty of getting a lock on aircraft taking evasive action. Missiles were expensive and vulnerable to countermeasures, while the rules of engagement demanded visual confirmation, negating the advantage of being able to fire at range. Although Phantoms carried podded guns, this was far from an ideal solution. What was needed was an integral weapon.
Gun fighter
Work on a gun-armed Phantom was funded in June 1965 and a YRF-4C was modified with a six barrel General Electric M61A1 rotary cannon in the nose as the YF-4E, followed by conversions of a single F-4C and F-4D. Considerable work was required to reduce vibration from the gun that affected the AN/APQ-120 radar, while any systems that had been found to be unreliable in combat were replaced.
Originally known as the F-4E Plus, for ‘plus gun’, the initial production aircraft flew on June 30, 1967, with the second introducing a slotted stabilator to become the first truly representative F-4E. The F-4E went on to become the most numerous Phantom version and, in addition to 993 for the US Air Force, 394 were delivered new to Germany, Greece, Iran, Israel, South Korea and Turkey, while 24 were loaned to Australia and others were later supplied to Egypt.
The F-4E also served as the basis for the majority of the export variants. Japan received 140 optimised as interceptors designated F-4EJs, 125 of which were manufactured by Mitsubishi. Germany originally wanted the single-seat F-4E(F) before opting for 175 F-4Fs, a lighter and simplified F-4E delivered between September 1973 and April 1976.
The model was also modified for the suppression of enemy air defences as the F-4G Wild Weasel V. Building upon the interim ‘EF- 4C’ Wild Weasel IV, 36 of which were used between 1969 and the mid-1970s, a total of 136 F-4Gs were produced.
Carrier-based fighters
The US Navy also sought to build on the capabilities of its F-4Bs with the F-4J. Take-off and landing performance was improved by adding a slot to the stabilator leading edge, creating a powerful nose-up force on launch or recovery. Locking the inboard wing leading-edge flap improved the slotted stabilator, while lift at low speed was increased by a 16.5° droop for the ailerons. These modifications reduced approach speed by 12kt to 125kt. This was all the more remarkable as the F-4J was heavier and had higher sink rates, requiring a strengthened landing gear and the wider tyres of the US Air Force variants, with a bulged inner wing root to accommodate them.
Engines were upgraded to J79-GE-10s with longer afterburner ‘feathers’, while a seventh fuel cell was added in the fuselage. The F-4B’s AN/APQ-72 radar was replaced by the bulkier and heavier AN/APG-59, part of the AN/AWG-10 radar and fire-control system, while the under nose infrared search and track antenna was removed. The second production F-4J first flew on May 27, 1966, having been preceded by three YF-4J prototypes.
“Phantom crews quickly discovered they could outfight the best fighter of the US Air Force, the Convair F-106A Delta Dart”
BRITISH PHANTOMS
McDonnell expected the export market for the Phantom to be small, as only a handful of nations operated aircraft carriers. Britain was an obvious target and the company’s marketing bore fruit in July 1964, following the Fleet Air Arm’s cancellation of the Hawker Siddeley P.1154(RN) five months earlier. It was the first export order for the Phantom. To operate from the smaller Royal Navy carriers, the Phantom needed significant modifications. To permit a higher attitude during launch, the nose oleo had double extension, raising the nose by 40in, while a slotted stabilator with reduced anhedral lowered approach speed. Rolls-Royce Speys were selected to provide more power as part of the package of work for British industry to offset the political fallout from buying a foreign design. Unfortunately these changes raised unit cost and decreased maximum speed from Mach 2.1 to 1.9, while reducing ceiling and performance at altitude.
Two YF-4K prototypes and 50 production F-4Ks were ordered as Phantom FG.Mk 1s. Phantoms were originally intended to fly from three carriers, but were destined only to operate from HMS Ark Royal, resulting in half of the Mk 1s going direct to the RAF. The Fleet Air Arm ended Phantom operations in September 1978.
After the P.1154 was cancelled outright in early 1965, the Phantom was also ordered for the RAF. A total of 118 Phantom FGR.Mk 2s were acquired, lacking the nose leg extension of the navy’s Mk 1s but retaining Speys. RAF Phantoms initially entered service in the interdiction/strike and reconnaissance roles, switching to air defence from 1975. The need to provide air defence for the Falkland Islands resulted in the purchase of 15 former US F-4Js delivered between August 1984 and January 1985. These aircraft became F-4J(UK)s rather than ‘Phantom F.Mk
3s’ to avoid confusion with the Tornado F.Mk 3. Except for Australia – which loaned F-4Es prior to receiving its F-111Cs – the UK was the first Phantom operator to retire its fleet. The last RAF operator, No.74 Squadron, disbanded in October 1992.
Retreads
Carrier operations and combat over Vietnam had taken its toll on the F-4Bs. By the end of the 1960s, the fleet needed refurbishment and updating, Under the Bee Line programme, F-4Bs were flown to NAS North Island in California, where the Naval Air Rework Facility (NARF) stripped and inspected the aircraft, replacing wiring and parts to increase service life, as well as updating the avionics.
Those F-4Bs not already fitted with slotted stabilators had them installed, while the inboard leading-edge flaps were locked shut. Reworked F-4Bs were renamed F-4Ns, the first rejoining the fleet in February 1973. In all, 228 F-4Bs were reworked.
The success of Bee Line prompted a similar programme for the F-4Js to bridge the gap until they could be replaced by Grumman F-14 Tomcats in the Navy and McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornets with the Marines. One significant change was the addition of two-position slats on the wing leading edges, decreasing the combat turning radius by 50%, although the first 47 conversions initially lacked the modification until they were retrofitted.
The inital upgraded F-4J – redesignated a F-4S – made its maiden post-conversion flight on July 22, 1977, and VMFA-451 became the first of 13 Marine (plus 12 Navy) squadrons with the new model in June 1978. The F-4Ss had the distinction of being the last naval Phantom fighters in service, with VF-202 performing the last carrier landing by a Phantom on October 18, 1986, onto USS America, while VMF- 112 retired the last F-4Ss during January 1992.
“The F-4E became the most numerous Phantom version – in addition to 993 for the US Air Force, 394 were delivered new to Germany, Greece, Iran, Israel, South Korea and Turkey”
Eyes in the sky
Its performance made the Phantom a natural choice for a reconnaissance platform. The US Air Force was the first to take advantage of this, ordering a variant of the F-4C as the RF-4C, with an elongated nose incorporating windows for a variety of cameras. The RF-4C also had equipment for laser reconnaissance, radar mapping and infrared detection. No provision for armament was provided, although the RF-4C could carry a single nuclear bomb on the centreline pylon.
The first of 503 RF-4Cs flew on May 18, 1964, entering service that September. Deliveries continued until December 1973. While the RF-4B was externally similar to the RF-4C, the Marine Corps reconnaissance platform was based on the F-4B and flew after the US Air Force variant, on March 12, 1965. A total of 27 of the 46 built underwent a sensor update and refurbishment effort from 1978, which also added slotted stabilators.
McDonnell created the RF-4E by mating the nose of the RF-4C with the unslated F-4E airframe. Development was prompted by the Luftwaffe’s need for a new reconnaissance aircraft and Germany, which acquired 88, became the first and largest operator. The RF-4E first flew on September 15, 1970. A further 62 were delivered to Greece, Iran, Israel and Turkey, while 14 similar RF-4EJs were built for Japan. FP
