f-4 phantom

One of the enigmas of the Israeli airforce is F4-E #187, painted with, arguably the largest sharkmouth on any Phantom ever. Much conflicting information has been written, but to this day remains somewhat of a mystery. What is known, is that this particular early model F4-E was sold to the IAF in the late 1960's, arriving with the first or second batch received. F4-Es, at that time were not equipped with the forward maneuvering slats as standard equipment. The late Tim McGovern, wrote in his book on the F4E, that McDonnell Douglas engineers refitted an Israeli F4 (#68-544) with fixed slats in October 1970. After extensive flight testing, the data was collected from the Israelis and would be used by McDonnell engineers to incorporate the actuating leading edge maneuvering slats in later models of the "E".

An official Israeli military photographer, Mr. Moshe Milner, took a series of in-flight pictures at various airshows in the early 1970's that show an early "E", with fixed leading edge slats, an extremely garish sharkmouth on the sides of the nose, and camera register markings forward of, and on the sides of the intakes. Further photos appeared, that show the same camera register markings on the inboard pylons and on the aft fuselage. This photographic evidence might confirm the identity of the plane as #68-544. To my knowledge, no other IAF Phantoms from that era have these markings.

Now the rumors..... the story has been told that the plane was the 69 squadron ("Ha Patishim"/ "Hammers") commanders personal aircraft, and he had the sharkmouth painted on during the flight test program. The mouth markings were not "blessed" by the IAF high command and later painted over. Some observers contend that the markings were similar to the French Ouragon, in IAF service in the 1950s-60s, of #113 squadron, and that in abit of official disinformation, attempted to show that an additional Phantom squadron was in service.

The Yom Kippur war of October 1973, saw the Phantom and Skyhawk squadrons take heavy losses in the early days of the conflict, with #187 purportedly flying a single combat mission against the Syrians. Apparently the damage inflicted on the plane during that sortie was severe enough to sideline it for the remainder of the war. A photo published in Israel after the war, showed the aircraft at the Israel Aircraft Industries facility at Lod airport during repairs. The white teeth had already been painted out, but the outline of the mouth was still evident.

A single photograph taken by the author in the mid 1970s, while serving with the military in Israel, revealed a new incarnation for #187. Now appearing in the markings of 119 squadron, with red chevron on the tail and "Bat" squadron markings. The aircraft tail number and a unique patch of brown camouflage on the LHS tail confirmed its identity. The nose markings had been oversprayed, and curiously a patch of green which normally would appear on the nose camo scheme was absent, further confirming the indentity of the A/C.