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Specs
Contractor: McDonnell Douglas
Length: 57' 7" (17.55 m)
Wing span: 38' 5"(11.7 m)
Height:16' 3" (4.96 m)
Max Take Off Weight: 58,000 lb (26,308 kg)
Max Speed: Mach 2
Range: 2,300 miles (2,997 nautical miles) ferry range
Armament: One M61 Vulcan 20mm cannon and a mix of the following: Wasp tandem launch pods, Wasp folding missiles, BL.755 cluster bombs, GBU-14 Cruciform Wing Weapon, Durandal anti-airfield weapon, GBU-16B/B 1,000lb Paveway II smart bomb, AGM-78 ARM anti-radar missile, TAL cluster bomb, AIM-9L Sidewinder AAM, Bae Sky Flash AAM, AGM-65D Maverick, AIM-7 Sparrow AAM, Mk.82 Snakeye retarded bomb, AGM-88A Harm (Wild Weasel), AGM-12 Bullpup ASM, GE 30mm Gepod gun, Mk.82 GP 500lb bomb, Mk.83 GP 1,000lb bomb, Mk.84 GP 2,000lb bomb, AGM-45 Shrike, AIM-120A AMRAAM.
Crew: two.
The F-4 Phantom II is an all-weather multi-role fighter aircraft, all-weather multi-sensor reconnaissance, originally a carrier-based interceptor, produced by McDonnell Douglas.
It was the first Navy fighter to defend the fleet without guns, relying entirely on its missiles. First prototype flew on May 1958. At the beginning it appeared very grotesque but after it had collected a number of remarkable world records, the Editor of the journal dedicated a leader devoted to the Phantom. In it's 50 years the journal had never before published a leader about one type of aircraft. This one had the title "McDonnell's Mostest".
The F-4B was a star in its era. While it started as an all-missile fighter, it became a mainstay of the Navy, flying both attack and air-to-air missions. It successfully fought off MiGs in Vietnam and destroyed 32 enemy aircraft.
First Phantoms were delivered to the Navy. The US Air Force began to look very hard at the Navy's Phantom because the fact that it was The Mostest and was becoming inescapeable. The Phantom was a real shaker. Its originally fitted radar APQ-50 Mod, with 24inch dish aerial (Later As had a bigger APQ-72 but this is officially regarded as a F-4B change) outperformed the radar in best Air Force interceptor. It had heavier missile armament and greater versatility. It carried more bombs further than the best Air Force fighter/bomber or attack aircraft and it delivered them more accurately in all weathers.
The power came from two Wright J65 (Sapphire) engines, with which in a clean condition a high-altitute Mach number of 1,5 was expected. It flew faster, higher and got up there quicker than any. Its safety record was unrivalled. It was so fast it set a world's speed record of 1,606 mph, or Mach 2.57 on November 22, 1961. The U.S. Navy used the F-4A as its principal fighter; the U.S. Air Force used the F-4B, F-4C, RF-4C, F-4D, and F-4E versions. The Air Force turned the F-4E into an attack plane by adding a 20-mm M-61A1 Vulcan multi-barrel cannon, and used it widely in the Vietnam War. As recently as 1997, Phantoms were still flying even though obsolete by that time.
The Encyclopedia of 20th Century Air Warfare, edited by Chris Bishop, 2001, Aerospace Publishing
Korean War Aces, by Robert F. Dorr, Osprey Aircraft of the Aces, 1995
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