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[1984.021.001] Aircraft - 'F-4N Aircraft, Bureau Number 153915' |
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F-4N Aircraft, Bureau Number 153915
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| Accession Number |
1984.021.001 |
| Accession Date |
29/04/1984 |
| Creator |
| Creator |
Creator Role |
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Manufacturer |
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| Object Desciption |
F-4N Phantom II painted in the markings of its final squadron, Fighter Squadron (VF) 154 operating from the carrier Midway (CV 41). While serving on board the same carrier in VF-161 during 1972, the aircraft downed a MiG-19 fighter during aerial combat over North Vietnam. The crew of the aircraft during this flight was Lieutenants Patrick Arwood and James Bell. |
| Notes |
After the Navy chose Vought's F8U Crusader in a competitive bid for a new supersonic air superiority fighter, McDonnell Aircraft Company initiated a company-funded project in 1952 to produce a carrier-based fighter-bomber as a replacement for its F3H Demon. The outcome was the single-seat, multi-role AH-1 aircraft with a top speed of Mach 1.5. After the purchase of two AH-1 prototypes in 1954, Navy specifications were revised as the sea service sought a high-altitude interceptor to meet the tactical requirement of defending carriers by launching long-range missiles against attacking Soviet bombers in the event of an escalation of the Cold War at sea. Among the modifications was provisions for a two-man crew consisting of a pilot and a Radar Intercept Officer, fitting for the Sparrow III guided-missile weapons system, and installation of two General Electric J-79 engines, each with 17,000 lb. static thrust, that made the aircraft capable of speeds exceeding Mach 2. The combined thrust of the two engines in afterburner gave the aircraft a thrust-to-weight ratio greater than one, which meant that it could climb vertically after take-off. The aircraft designation subsequently changed to F4H-1 (redesignated F-4 in 1962) and, in honor of McDonnell's first jet design, it received the name Phantom II. The new aircraft's maiden flight occurred in 1958 with deliveries to Navy and Marine Corps squadrons beginning in 1960. Its performance and versatility eventually attracted the interest of not only the U.S. Air Force, but also the air forces of ten foreign nations, making it one of the most widely-employed aircraft in the history of aviation.
The Phantom II quickly demonstrated that it was a special aircraft, establishing 12 world speed, altitude, and time-to-climb records in the space of just twenty-eight months, the pilots on some of these flights including future astronauts John Young and Richard Gordon.
The escalation of the war in Vietnam thrust the F-4 into a tactical environment for which it was not originally designed, including air-to-air dogfights and an increased strike role. To this end, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force F-4s flew as high and low altitude bombers delivering a wide array of ordnance, their air-to-air kills totaling 107 enemy aircraft. Thirty-six of these kills were scored by Navy and Marine Corps pilots, including five by Lieutenant Randall H. Cunningham and Lieutenant (junior grade) William Driscoll, the first aces of the Vietnam War.
Under the designation, RF-4, Phantom IIs also served in the photoreconnaissance role. McDonnell Douglas received orders for the first RF-4B in February 1963. Differing from the fighter version of the Phantom in a
4 ft., 8 7/8 in. longer nose that housed forward- and side-oblique cameras, the aircraft also featured photoflash cartridges for night photography, an improvement over the RF-8A Crusader. Film could be developed in flight and ejected at low altitude for quick delivery to ground commanders. All told, the company produced forty-six RF-4Bs (of which the museum's aircraft was forty-fourth), with all of them going to the Marine Corps beginning in 1965. The first RF-4Bs arrived in Vietnam in October 1966, equipping Marine Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron (VMCJ) 1 at Da Nang. All told, five of them were lost, including tow that crash-landed and three that were shot down by hostile fire. The Marine Corps retired its last RF-4s in 1990, while the Air National Guard retired the last U.S. Air Force RF-4s in 1994. Prior to their retirement, Air Force RF-4s flew combat missions in Operation Desert Storm.
McDonnell Douglas produced 5,195 Phantom IIs during a production run that lasted from 1958 to 1979, making it second only to the MiG-21 in numbers produced. The only aircraft flown concurrently by the Navy and Air Force flight demonstration teams, the last F-4s flying in naval aviation retired from Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 112, a Reserve squadron, in January 1992, 31 years after the aircraft was first delivered to the fleet. The last operational F-4 Phantom II squadron in the U.S. Air Force deactivated in 2004. This was quite a record for an aircraft variously referred to as the "Big Ugly," "Rhino," "Flying Anvil," and "Big Iron Sled."
Specifications
Manufacturer: McDonnell Aircraft Company
Specifications: Length: 58 ft., 3 ¾ in.; Height: 16 ft., 3 in.; Wingspan: 38 ft., 4 7/8 in.
Weights: Empty: 28,000 lb.; Gross: 54,600 lb.
Power Plant: Two 10,900 lb. static thrust (17,000 lb. with afterburner) General Electric
J-79-GE-8 turbojets
Performance: Maximum Speed: 1,485 M.P.H. at 48,000 ft.; Service ceiling: 62,000 ft.; Range: 2,300 miles
Armament: AIM-7 Sparrow and AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles; up to 16,000 lb. of ordnance
Crew: Pilot and Radar Intercept Officer
Aircraft in the Museum Collection
F-4N (BuNo 153915)- On indoor static display
RF-4B (BuNo 157349)- On outdoor static display
F-4A (BuNo 148273)- On loan to Air Victory Museum, Medford, New Jersey
F-4A (BuNo 145315)- On loan to USS Lexington Museum on the Bay, Corpus Christi, Texas
F-4B (BuNo 148407)- On loan to Air Classics, Inc., Sugar Grove, Illinois
F-4B (BuNo 152256)- On loan to National Warplane Museum, Horseheads, New York
F-4B (BuNo 148400)- On loan to City of Hickory, North Carolina
F-4B (BuNo 148252)- On loan to Quonset Point Air Museum, Quonset Point, Rhode Island
F-4B (BuNo 152291)- On loan to Hawaii Museum of Flying, Kapolei, Hawaii
F-4J (BuNo 153074)- On loan to Naval Air Experimental Station (NAES) Lakehurst, New Jersey
F-4J (BuNo 153088)- On loan to American Legion Nicholson Post #38, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
F-4J (BuNo 155563)- On loan to Valiant Air Command, Titusville, Florida
F-4J (BuNo 153839)- On loan to City of Sikeston, Missouri
F-4J (BuNo 157259)- On loan to Naval Base Ventura, California
F-4J (BuNo 153071)- On loan to Naval Test Wing Atlantic, Patuxent River, Maryland
F-4N (BuNo 152996)- On loan to Southern Museum of Flight, Birmingham, Alabama
F-4N (BuNo 150444)- On loan to Prairie Aviation Museum, Bloomington, Illinois
F-4N (BuNo 150442)- On loan to American Military Heritage Foundation, Metairie, Louisiana
F-4N (BuNo 153016)- On loan to Pima Air and Space Museum, Pima, Arizona
F-4N (BuNo 153019)- On loan to Naval Air Station (NAS) Key West, Florida
F-4N (BuNo 150423)- On loan to U.S. Naval Museum of Armament and Technology, China Lake, California
F-4N (BuNo 151510)- On loan to Naval Air Station (NAS) Fallon, Nevada
F-4N (BuNo 152986)- On loan to Wedell-Williams Memorial Foundation, Patterson, Louisiana
F-4S (BuNo 153880)- On loan to San Diego Carrier Museum, California
F-4S (BuNo 155900)- On loan to Indiana Air National Guard
F-4S (BuNo 158353)- On loan to Carolinas Historic Aviation Commission, Charlotte, North Carolina
F-4S (BuNo 155872)- On loan to Carolinas Historic Aviation Commission, Charlotte, North Carolina
F-4S (BuNo 153879)- On loan to San Diego Carrier Museum, California
F-4S (BuNo 153868)- On loan to Santa Maria Museum of Flight, Santa Maria, California
F-4S (BuNo 157293)- On loan to Texas Air Museum (Caprock Chapter), Slaton, Texas
RF-4B (BuNo 148371)- On loan to Quonset Point Air Museum, Quonset Point, Rhode Island
RF-4B (BuNo 157348)- On loan to U.S. Naval Museum of Armament and Technology, China Lake, California
RF-4B (BuNo 151979)- On loan to Naval Air Facility (NAF) El Centro, California |
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