Phantom Pharewell

That would be a treasure.......F4 deciding to fly formation with you.

Two memories stick in my mind for the Phantom.  I used to work at McDD in St. Louis.  In summertime it was often too hot to walk outside at lunchtime, and those of us who liked to walk after lunch would walk through the factory where the F4 fuselage was made.  That fuselage was very standard construction, formers formed out of sheet aluminum, skin riveted on by two men, one with rivet gun, the other inside with bucking bar.

Second- in 1976 McDD had a Phantom painted up in patriotic bicentennial livery.  I had an Ercoupe at the time, and was flying near Smart field, a small airport northwest of St. Louis.  Looked out off my right wing, and here was the bicentennial bird, flying along side- everything hanging out or down to keep down near my airspeed, looking me over.  I guess he was interested in antique aircraft!  Real thrill!

I recall being at Homestead AFB in 1976 and watching the F-4s take off in pairs then going vertical on full afterburner shortly after lifting off. That was a sight to see and still remains fresh in my mind.....very impressive.

Egilman;

 Sorry , you're wrong . That's not the sound of victory .That's the sound of total air domination .  T.B.

There was an airshow I once went to many years ago. they had the stands lined up in front of a hangar along the flightline. It was a team of F-4's. We watched them through the opening, load up and take-off, then they dissappeared. Seems like we waited for a long long time for them to re-appear doing something when all of a sudden, they came out from behind the hangars behind us, about 500 ft in the air, in full afterburner, then go verticle.....

If that doesn't make an impression, nothing will.

I love the sound of J-79's winding up in the morning, it's sounds like victory!

I wrenched on R4C's E's and a few D's.  Even worked on 67-463 while she still had her stars on the splitter at Udorn.  Was an ECM tech.  Looking back, some of the fondest memories, though 45 years ago didn't think so.

The guys that had big brass ones the size of the burner cans were the RF crews.  Only armament was the sidearm they carried and the flash carts.  Late in 'Nam they couldn't even run at max "get outa dodge", because they couldn't blow the inboard pylons and the ECM pods.  Lost too many of them early on, so the decision was made to remove the ability to blow the pylons.  After we would hang a pod, we give it a pat and tell it "do your thing".

I guess it happens to everything in it's time.....you get old and tired and fade away.

Hmmm;

 I guess I am going to miss the old gal too . Even though I never flew or worked on one . They did look mean enough to kill just sitting there waiting to be bombed and missiled up .

    I will say this , Between them and the guns I got to shoot , My hearing is toast  . Ah , Well , that way when someone says something I think isn't worth an answer I can just say " HUH ? "

 Daughter number two was first introduced to " Big " birds in one . She loved it ! T.B.

Nice YouTube video. Gotta love that jet noise

Wish I could of seen one fly in person.  Hopefully next year I'll be able to see the one on display at the base close up.

Nice article on the old girl, and some nice pics.

Not only BBQ, but enough feathers to fill a feather bed....