South Korea's F-4 Phantoms Final Flight. For All Us Military Aircraft Enthusiasts.

[DeltaV]

When Zweibrucken Air Base in Germany, closed down back in 1991, the Phantoms were reassigned, to Bergstrom Air Base in Texas.
They stayed there until the Air Force deactivated all the Phantoms out of service.
Went into the aircraft bone yard in Arizona, where it stayed for a couple of years.
I somehow found out they took it out of storage, and turned it into a drone.
The reason being, they shot it down, for missile practice, over the Atlantic ocean, on the west side of Florida.
Now it litters the Atlantic ocean floor in a million pieces.
What an ending for an aircraft that i maintained, during my Air Force years.

The QF-4 program was a valuable training tool/aid for pilots, but yeah, it's still hard to think of a "loved one" going out that way.

 

[AR67GTX]

If you are not an AF Vet, then you do not get it!!! cr8crshr/Bill

Not an AF vet but I was stationed on and worked on Air Bases for 28 years. Just no F4 stationed there.

 

[hemi71x]

My shirts fit me all over again, since i lost 50 pounds off this old mans body, last year.

 

[hemi71x]

RF-4's Flying low.

 

[Cojohnso1]

The F4 was the world's first true multi role fighter. And ushered in generation 4 fighter aircrafts. It was heavier, carried most ordinance and just out powered any fighter in the world upon its introduction.

I lived in Duluth MN as a kid for a spell in the mid 70s. Just outside of what is today National Air Guard 148th fighter wing. And in the 70s? The Phantom was the reigning champ. Big, fast and LOUD. It was fun watching them go vertical right after takeoff over lake superior. With that classic black smoke trail.

In the 60s as a young child. I remember hearing sonic booms. And they most certainly were generated by F4 flight and testing.

 

[wedgie]

I was an AFCS (automatic flight control systems) specialist (autopilot) on F4's in the 1960's. Tactical Air Command (TAC) then Combat Crew Training Squadron (CCTS) assignments.

 

[58belvedere]

Found an RF4C pic circa 1978-1981 maybe, I was there during that time Active duty, Bergstrom AFB TX. Then from 1984 to 1992 F4D'S and E's then F16's about 1992, reserves to 1996.

 

[Slap Stick]

The F-4 owes much of its heritage to two other MAC (McDonnell Aircraft Company) planes-the F2H Banshee and the F-3 Demon. Placed side by side you can see how they morphed into the F-4.
I remember seeing and hearing the Phantoms as they left the Phactory just down the road. I live in the flight path to the airport.

 

[ct71rr]

One of the coolest looking jets ever made!

 

[dart4forte]

RF-4's Flying low.

That’s an old video. My bet those RF4s were out of Boise in the mid 80s