Pilots Remember
Those who have flown the F-4 Phantom II have a lot to say about the aircraft. In 1996, at the time the F-4 was retired by the U.S. Air Force, Flying Safety magazine dedicated its August issue to the Phabulous Phantom. It includes an interview with the pilot who took the aircraft on its first flight in 1958.
Tell Us Your Story
E-mail us and share your favorite story about the F-4 Phantom. Send us up to 250 words and include your name and squadron, the date of the event, the F-4 model you were flying, and your squadron base or carrier. We will post the stories on this page.
As a LCDR in the Naval Air Reserve, Pt. Mugu, I got a ride in a QF-4N last year. Pt. Mugu Naval Weapons Test Squadron operates about a dozen QF-4 aircraft. Sometimes they're used as targets. Sometimes they're used as launch platforms for other vehicles. I wanted to get a backseat ride, so I went through ejection seat training, water survival training, and flight gear familiarization in addition to a flight physical. Next, I needed to get on the manifest in order to legally be admitted to the cockpit (known as the "cave" because you can't see much from back there). The day I was supposed to go, they cancelled the mission due to a grounded range safety aircraft. However, I noticed that "Nolo" was still on the manifest. I asked, "Who is this lucky guy that is always on the manifest? I want to be him." "Oh, no you don't!" responded the C.O. Nolo is an acronym for "No Live Operator". Nolo has a one-in-ten chance of not coming back. That's when they fly the F-4 via remote control out of San Nicolas Island. I told him that I would be willing to take those odds for a ride. Hence, my call sign is now, "Nolo."
When I finally got airborne, our mission was to launch a target missile at 45,000 feet and Mach 0.95. An F-14 was scheduled to shoot down the target missile with a Sparrow. After we launched the missile, we descended to 20,000 feet at Mach 1.2. I asked the pilot how I could tell if we were supersonic. He said, "When the words don't come out of your mouth, you're supersonic." Next, we slowed to Mach 0.5 and did five 5G loops. Not being used to a G-suit or aerobatics, I started to sweat. By the time we landed, I was drenched and queasy. Mink, the pilot, asked what I thought of the experience. I told him, "I could have put 50 cents in a clothes dryer, gotten the same effect and come out DRY!" I did take pictures of the mission and got to keep the safety pin that was left on the center launch rail after the 94C target missile was launched. I logged 1.2 hours of special mission time. A few weeks later, they had an F-4 reunion at Pt Mugu. I guess I barely qualified as one of the last to fly in an F-4 on a Navy mission.
Darryl Satten
Long Beach
I flew the RF-4C Phantom while assigned to the 38th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron at Zweibrucken AB, Germany. One of my favorite memories of the Phantom was from a Red Flag exercise held in the Nevada desert in 1986:
My backseater and I had just completed a Battle Damage Assessment run across a target bombed by a flight of F-16s a minute before. As we left the target area, we spotted two F-14s - "Red Air" - high, at our 2 o'clock position. We executed a quick 8+ g turn into them and went to full afterburner. They began a split-S to maneuver behind us for the kill, but it was too late; I knew they'd never catch this Phantom and they soon learned it as well. As we rapidly accelerated to near Mach 1, I reduced power out of afterburner and descended to 250 feet. The F-14s went looking for easier prey and we egressed at just under 660 knots and 250 feet. When we arrived back at Nellis AFB and the canopies opened, 110 degree desert air poured in, but we felt too alive to care. During the debrief, one F-14 pilot said they thought we'd be easy pickings, but by the time they rolled out of their split-S, we were a dot on the horizon. "We had no chance for a kill.", he conceded.
There were, and will forever be, newer fighters, but I think none will ever be a pilot's jet like the Phantom was.
Jack Frosch
St. Louis