The American Fighter That Changed Air Combat Forever

there are few aircraft in history that have shaped the world of modern air combat much like the F4 has while designed for killing bombers the F4 would end up becoming the premier multi-roll fighter of the Free World from Germany to South Korea and Japan to Iran the F4 was one of the most heavily dispersed American built fighters in history I'm Falcon and today we're taking a trip down memory lane in anticipation for heer's simulations release of the f4e she went by many titles St Louis Slugger the Lead Sled the Rhino but the world over knows her by her original McDonald Ghost Fighter name the [Music] [Applause] [Music] Phantom the F4 Phantom has her Origins just after the second world war the McDonald aircraft Corporation in St Louis Missouri had spearheaded the naval jet age with their FH phandom and f2h Banshee both were conventional straight-wing jet fighters following many of the conventions held over from World War II the Banshee would see extensive service in the Korean conflict however its conventional design put it at a disadvantage when put against the swep wi Mig 15 the more advanced landbased f86 took on the role of keeping Mig alley Mig free relegating the Banshee to a ground attack role post Korea the primary threat to American Carrier fleets came in the form of long-range Maritime Patrol bombers like those of the t95 bear family a new type of fighter was needed for the threat an aircraft that could launch from the boat fly at high speed to intercept the threat track it down with its own radar system and shoot it down all this while keeping the bombers outside of range of their own anti- ship missiles thus the Fleet air defense mission was born in 1956 McDonald put out the f3h demon which was a vast departure from their previous Jets unlike the other ghost fighters before the demon was equipped with swept wing Wings a single after burning j71 turbo jet engine and a modern Fire Control System to sling the new sparrow and Sidewinder missiles as modern as the demon was for its day she still had some issues to iron out for one the f3h had a very low thrust weight ratio which meant that thrust put out by the engine was minuscule compared to the Hefty airframe the engine also had a slow throttle response time that was a problem that plagued many jet aircraft of the period now we have to talk about how quickly technology was advancing in this time period in modern times we have Frontline airframes dating back 50 years and it seems insane to have such a quick turnover of planes but back in the day things were different literal days would make the difference in whether or not a fighter was new or obsolete for example the f11f tiger built by Grumman was only in service for about 5 years at the fleet before being replaced the changeover was that fast to give you a comparison this would be like if the f-35c which was operationally introduced to carriers in 2019 was taken off the decks and sent to the Boneyard this this year in 2024 so going back to the 1950s the Navy was searching for a new attack aircraft to replace the propeller driven ad Skyraider while the demon was far from perfect McDonald proposed a so-called modular super demon the idea was that it could be built in various configurations for attack Fleet defense or reconnaissance the Navy seemed interested however they would end up purchasing the Douglas a4d Skyhawk for attack and the VA f8u Crusader for air combat the Crusader is a favorite of mine don't get me wrong but it was really intended to fight other Fighters still versus you know going out long range to attack bombers the Fleet air defense rule was still to be filled the air defense rule is a really tricky one Soviet Maritime Patrol aircraft could operate in all conditions to launch their cruise missiles be it in a raging storm or a moonless night a replacement for the demon would have to engage these bombers with radar guided missiles in whatever conditions were at play a feed the Crusader just couldn't do so the new interceptor would need the following a reliable and Powerful engine a pulse stoppler radar capable of painting targets at long range and room to carry numerous sparrow and Sidewinder missiles McDonald went to work and they adapted their super demon concept to the specifications the newly dubbed yf4 was rolled out in 1958 she was a unique build departing from the old dark blue painted Navy fighters of instead of flat Wings a 5° dihedral was applied to the outer half to eight in lateral stability her horizontal tail plane followed suit in a 23° decline giving the front aspect a look unlike any other aircraft the fuselage of the yf4 was to put it lightly a brick I really don't know how else to describe it but even a brick can fly if you throw it hard enough two j79 turbo Jets were buried in the lower part of the fuselage and they provided almost 18,000 lb of thrust with After Burner another break from The Norm came in the crew Arrangement most other Navy fighters of the day had just one pilot but McDonald reckoned a second crew member would be more suited to operate the complex AP Q50 radar crewmen assigned to the slot would be dubbed radar intercept officers and they would free up the pilot from having to devote attention to the radar leaving them to their flying unimpeded several names were proposed for the yf4 including mithis and even Satan to follow McDonald's Supernatural namesakes given this was the 1950s the decided to just settle with the more conservative Phantom 2 to honor their first jet on May 27th the new St Louis Ghost Fighter was ready to take off for the first time the intention was to break the sound barrier on the maum flight but faulty hydraulic components prevented the veritable Flex despite the setback the Navy was interested in the design competing with the Phantom 2 was the Vault f8 u3 super Crusader while a strong competitor the super Crusader lost out as the Phantom had a larger payload and a more redundant engine Arrangement the Navy also found that the workload for the super Crusaders radar and Fire Control System was much more labor intensive for a single pilot than the Phantom's 2 crewman who could split the flying and fighting duties thus on December 17th 1958 McDonald's yf4 was selected as the new king of the carrier deck having been redubbed [Music] [Applause] f4h the first f4h squadrons received their Phantoms in 1961 with vf-74 B devilers becoming the first Squadron to deploy on the USS Forest Hall in August of the next year the Phantom quickly became beloved by its Crews for its reliable engines and better carrier handling than previous Jets Not only was the f4h robust it was fast project Sage burner in 1961 saw the Phantom maintaining an average speed of 92 mph at less than 125 ft over a 3 km course another record was broken in a time to climb challenge known as high jump on April 4th 1962 the McDonald Marvel peaked at 98425 FT in under 372 seconds damn this thing is awesome the phandom wouldn't be exclusive to Navy service for too long because this is around the time when SE def Robert mcnamer was starting to put his fingers into military Affairs a former CEO of the Ford Motor Company magn era took a very business-oriented approach to military procurement he figured he could slash excess cost by reducing different equipment being issued among various branches now on paper this makes sense the same boots belts and uniform patterns for all branches yeah I could see that working it's when you start applying the same philosophy to bigger toys that it gets complicated like when you try to develop an aircraft for every branch that is supposed to do every job under the sun while maintaining as much parts commonality as possible I'm looking at you UF 1111 program but now we're getting off track mecham wasn't just about developing inter service equipment he also wanted to push for pre-existing kit to be spread among branches in the early 1960s the US Air Force had a multitude of interceptors and fighters in service with a turnover rate of aircraft being what it was in the time period it isn't senseless to have the Air Force try their hand at a Navy jet that was shattering records almost every month now if you'll indulge me with another tangent mcamera also changed how aircrafter designated prior to 1962 the Air Force and navy had completely different naming conventions for their aircraft let's take the B25 missile for example this was a World War II bomber that Saw Service in both the post-war US Air Force and Navy on paper they were considered different aircraft with the Air Force maintaining the B25 designation and the Navy calling their missiles pbjs pre-1962 Naval conventions were a bit complicated well to be frank in my opinion it was aing mess most aircraft were designated with two to four characters typically ending in a code letter for the manifacturer then you'd often shove a number into the end to differentiate submodels each manufacturer would have their own line of aircraft if we look back at the Douglas attack aircraft post World War II we have the letters A and D for attack and Douglas a d then if you had a later model of the ad you'd plug in a number like 2 3 4 Etc now when Douglas would have to put out a completely new attack aircraft they put a number between the A and D to give us wonders like A2 D1 Sky shark A3 D2 skywarrior and the A4 D5 Skyhawk honestly the Air Force namic convention was easier to keep track of on the books you would have an aircraft type than the numerical designation of which plane it was the manufacturer would just be emitted and improved models of the aircraft would gain the designation a letter at the end when mcnamer started the new naming convention he changed every naval aircraft designation over from zero but left the Air Force designations as is whenever feasible the designations were kept as close to their Old Navy monikers as possible so if we go back to the Douglas aircraft example we see the following changes ad became the A1 a3d became the A3 and the a4d became just A4 with a numerical denomination shifting to according alphabetical letters the same treatment was applied to fighters in the Navy the North American f J Fury became the F1 the McDonald f2h Banshee became the F2 and the f3h became the F3 you get the gist the f4h was in a momentary limbo however for while the Navy's f4h ones became the f4b some were sent to the Air Force for trials under the designation f110 so does that mean the F4 was also kind of a century series fighter I'm just making my brain hurt in the end the F4 monikers stuck for all services the f4b would only need need minor modifications for the Air Force primarily the refueling probe for toad baskets was traded out for a boom system and the Catapult Bridal hooks under the wings were fared over the air force F4 also included full flight controls in the back the Rio redubbed wizo or weapon system officer could fly the F4 just like the pilot if needed be it an emergency or a training event now a lot of folks say that the naval f4s landing gear is beefier than the air force model to handle carrier Landings but that isn't exactly the case the Air Force's underc Carriage is extremely similar to the Navies but the differences come in the main Wheels themselves the Air Force had wider but with lower pressure tires for the varieties of Landing strips the Phantom would have to operate from on May 27th 1963 on its first flight the first f4c off the line punched past Mach 2 in my opinion making up for McDonald's initial failure to go supersonic on the first go in 58 so there we have it the f4c for the Air Force and the f4b for the Navy and yes the Marines adopted it it too the F4 quickly became the US military's big stick seemingly ready for any Challenge from the Communists [Music] right oh boy while we never technically declared war on North Vietnam I can't call an event that ended the lives of over a million people on both sides a mere conflict it wasn't good for anyone be they American Australian Vietnamese or the people of Vietnam's neighboring countries I'm not even going to touch the political ramifications of n but just for reference for those not in the no the north was supported by the Soviet Union and China and the South was supported by the United States going into Vietnam the F4 was the most advanced fighter in the world help it was a record breaker armed with The Cutting Edge in radar and missile technology when it wasn't expected to tangle with Soviet built migs it could still be counted on to drop bombs on ground targets at the outbreak of the war North Vietnam only had two dozen MiG 17 frescos the MiG 17 also known as the J5 under licensed by China was an upgrade of the infamous Mig 15 the Fresco was armed only with a battery of cannons and lack the modern Fire Control Suite afforded to the F4 the Navy and Air Force didn't see the Antiquated fighter as much of a threat especially since the North Vietnamese Pilots were expected to be rookies with little flight time even China's Air Force which was in theater to Aid the North Vietnamese weren't expected to put much resistance either April 99th 1965 would pit the Phantom against the Fresco for the first time a four ship flight of f4s of VF 96 Fighting Falcons launched on a combat Air Patrol near High Fong among the pack was Showtime 602 and f4b flown by Lieutenant Junior grade Terrence Murphy and Rio ensen Ronald Fegan now Murphy and Fegan were replacement aircraft for another that had crashed on Toff so they were separated from the rest of the showtime Birds trailing them was another F4 flown by lieutenant and Don Watkins before Watkins could rejoin Murphy he heard him report three contrails no doubt communist migs details on the engagement are scarce and still mostly classified but Murphy and Fegan scored a kill on a MiG 17 later identified to be of the Chinese plaf this would be the Phantom's first airto a victory but as the Americans returned to their carrier they found that Showtime 602 was missing it's unclear what happened to Murphy and Fegan with some reports stating another of the migs was able to gun their down there's also talk of accidental Friendly Fire being involved but neither story has been truly confirmed June 17th saw Lou page and JC Smith from vf21 taking down another MiG 17 in the first truly confirmed Victory against the North Vietnamese Air Force as the war progressed the F4 while able to maintain superiority over the migs barely held the torch on June 20th 1965 an f4c of the 45th tactical Fighter Squadron was shot down by a MIG 177 with Captain's Paul carry and K RI successfully ejecting this would be the Air Force's first loss to the Fresco so what the hell was happening surely the more advanced F4 should have been able to wipe the floor with the migs but the exchange rate was almost 1 to one and yes yes we will cover Robin SS in the legendary operation bolo don't you worry I've heard a lot of people attribute the lack of f4 success to the sled not having an internal Cannon and having to rely on missiles and what I have to say to that is kind of the F4 was designed for longrange engagements where their Sparrow missiles would reach out and touch someone unfortunately Vietnam's rules of engagements required visual identification of enemy aircraft before shooting in order to reduce friendly fire now this is for good reason is identification of Friend or Foe or iff did exist at the time but it wasn't exactly perfect and not every American aircraft had it in theater the f4s would have to get in close make sure their targets were hostile and then take shots but by that point you were inside the mig's own weapon envelopes and let me tell you the F4 was a big Target okay so even if you're in close you could still shoot right well maybe if you could get onto the ass end of a MIG and radar lock in a mountainous jungle environment versus a flat ocean oh I forgot to mention Air Force and navy Pilots didn't train to dog fight in Phantoms given their primary jobs were to kill bombers so okay okay even that aside let's just say for a moment that you had everything lined up everything was good to go to waxm Mig about 2 miles behind in a straight line because older generation missiles couldn't follow a turning Target well and you take a shot no screw it you're hungry you want to paint a MIG on your nose so you take three shots one missile drops off and doesn't ignite one ignites but ends up tracking the Sun and fcks off the third hang fires and the rocket motor burns the belly of your Phantom I know airto a missry was less than 10 years old but it really did fail a lot early on 1968 was the worst year for American Air Crews for North enemies Pilots now in possession of the Mig 19 and 21 achieved an adverse kill ratio for 18 American losses only five migs were shot down absolutely dismal between July and November 1968 Navy Captain Frank alt created the report of airto a missile system capability review in which he deled into why none of our goddamn missiles were working the whole report is available online and I recommend reading up on it but in short missiles were poorly treated when in storage and Pilots weren't firing them in the proper envelopes the issue was not the F4 itself which was being thrust into a fight it wasn't meant to take on to begin with the Navy and the Air Force both want to work to mend the problem first thing first both Services improved their missile care the Air Force also created a gun pod as a backup to faulty missiles just in case then ordered the f4e which contained an internal Vulcan Cannon the f4e was based on the rf4c reconnaissance variant in short McDonald now merged with the Douglas Aircraft Company modified the long nose to contain an internal Cannon slung below the smaller but improved anap q120 Fire Control radar Air Force successes did improve and several gun kills were achieved including a supersonic gun kill of a MIG 19 performed by Major Phil Handley now the Navy took a completely different [Music] approach [Music] instead of the cannon being a Band-Aid fixed for the poor missile implementation the US Navy formed Top Gun with the goal of bringing out the best in their pilots there's this idea held by experts like the late Pier spray that the dog fight centers on close-end turning capabilities and little more but what what's actually more important are Mastery of aircraft systems weapons and tactics to employ the fighter to its best ability now I'm not going to say a P-51 is going to beat an F-35 just because the P-51 pilot is able to fly to the edge and bring the best out of his plane but I will say that understanding the capabilities of your fighter coupled with Superior Tactics is a hell of a lot better than just strapping a gun onto the belly despite what the holy scriptures of the 1986 film of the same name suggest the real Top Gun isn't some kind of Trophy winning contest for the top pilots in the Navy instead Navy squadrons would send their most professional and promising air Crews to myramar California there they would undergo a syllabus and learn enemy aircraft strengths and weaknesses at the same time they would be taught important tactics that to best employ their weapon systems and beat set enemy Fighters sometimes they would have a chance to train against the real thing captured Mig 21s and Mig 17s were commonly flown over the Nevada desert out of Area 51 but that's a story for another time after graduation they would return to their squadrons and pass on the knowledge they learned to their fellow Pilots skip forward to operation linebacker 2 at the tail end of the war in 1972 and there was a dramatic change of pace in that year alone Navy Phantoms scored 24 air-to-air kills almost half of the 57 Navy victories claimed in the entire War now the Air Force claimed 48 kills in 1972 while that's a higher number they still lost 24 Phantoms in enemy aircraft totaling a kill ratio of only 2 to1 the Navy by comparison only lost six to migs and don't think I'm trying to bash the Air Force here but the different philosophies really were put to the test and the results were clear while Vietnam was the f4s right of passage It Is by no means the end of its Tale in fact most Phantoms we know today were built on the Lessons Learned in that terrible [Music] War even as far back as 1963 the f4c was sent overseas to the Outback in an attempt to export the slide to the Aussies it didn't pan out and Australia would end up picking up the f111 but they would still play around with the sled as late as the 1970s it wasn't until the next year of 1964 that the UK formally adopted the phantom for both Naval and Air Force purposes while it didn't spend too much time on Royal Navy carriers it still served as a throbbing dick of the fading Empire the f4k is McDonald Douglas Boys called it was powered by Rolls-Royce spay turbojet engines the engines coupled with a radar made this Phantom dubbed fg1 by the UK an American frame with a British heart it truly became its own beast and served into the late 1980s when the tornado laid it to rest and it wasn't just the UK and Australia that had the F4 Egypt Germany Greece Iran Israel Japan Korea Spain and turkey would all use the F4 in various configurations the St Louis Slugger truly became a worldwide phenomenon the Phantom saw extensive combat with the Israelis busting caps in 6 66 enemy aircraft between 1969 and 1982 and would you believe it the F4 still sees service with the helenic South Korean and Iranian Air Forces to this day in 2024 that's almost 70 years of service not bad for a humble carrier fighter originally built for Fleet defense the phandom evolved into a versatile platform taking on every Duty from dropping bombs busting Sam sites and was even built in a reconnaissance configuration it's no exaggeration to call the F4 the premier multi-roll fighter of the free world as for me I'm in talks with this fellow near me who owns a fully restored F4 cockpit he's already made the grave mistake of giving me the okay to film it come springtime so next time I talk about the trusty F4 we're going inside the hatch let's welcome 2024 as the year of the F4 if you want to support further Endeavors such as this I'd love to get more patrons believe me you won't regret it and it really helps me out a lot special thanks to my Ace of Aces tier Saku 2 Shockwave FB Wei Chris Quinn Hunter S 5 Deuce pet Ops Chuck 45 Jake Fuentes too and the administrator you guys are the bomb until next time gang keep that son of your back Phantoms [Music] forever [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [ __ ]

Channel: Falcon's Fighter Tales

Views: 222,855

Keywords: f-4, phantom, dcs, heatblur, history, free world, usaf, usn, navy, marines, america, sled

Id: ciWBGblvw0s

Length: 24min 16sec (1456 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 07 2024