The last F-4 Phantom 11 has been retired from Navy and Marine Corps squadrons, but it still serves in several air forces around the world. For many years, the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps flew more Phantoms than any other fighter, and it was produced in larger numbers than all U.S. post-World War II aircraft, except the P-80/T-33 Shooting Star and F-86 Sabre/FJ Fury.
The Phantom—developed under the designation F4H—entered U.S. Navy service in 1962 as a carrier-based fighter. The Phantom was forced on the Air Force by Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, thus making it the first ship- hoard fighter accepted in large numbers by a major land-based air force. The Marine Corps and the Royal Navy also flew the Phantom from carriers.
The aircraft first saw combat in August 1964, when Navy Phantoms from the carrier Constellation (CVA-64) escorted attack aircraft bombing targets in North Vietnam in the aftermath of the Tonkin Gulf incident. The first air-to-air encounter came on 9 April 1965 when Phantoms from Fighter Squadron 96 on the carrier Ranger (CVA-61) engaged Chinese MiG-17s off Hainan Island. The Phantoms used Sparrow missiles to down one of the more agile MiG-17s, but one Phantom also was shot down. (Chinese sources contend the F-4B was downed by a Sparrow fired from a U.S. fighter.)
Subsequently, Navy and Air Force Phantoms regularly engaged and defeated North Vietnamese MiG-17s. On 26 April 1966, an Air Force Phantom used two Sidewinder missiles to destroy a MiG-21, probably the world’s most maneuverable fighter at the time. The kill demonstrated that in the hands of better-trained pilots, the Phantom could hold its own against any existing fighter aircraft. All five U.S. fighter aces of the Vietnam War scored their kills of MiG- type aircraft in Phantoms (one Navy and one Air Force pilot, and one Navy and two Air Force “back-seaters”). Of the 57 kills by U.S. aircraft in that conflict, 36 (plus several probables) were made by Phantoms. Also at this time, Phantoms in the hands of Israeli pilots usually defeated Soviet-built fighters flown by Arab air forces. U.S. Phantoms were used extensively in the strike role in the Vietnam War. The Air Force and Marine Corps also flew RF-4 photo-reconnaissance variants. And the Blue Angels flight demonstration team flew the F-4J model in 1969-1973, giving them up for the more fuel-efficient A-4F Skyhawks.
The last active U.S. Navy fighter squadrons discarded their Phantoms in 1986; a year later the Naval Reserve retired its F-4s. The last Marine Phantoms—RF-4B reconnaissance aircraft— were retired from active service in 1990, followed two years later by the last Phantoms in the reserve. The last Air Force Phantoms were F-4G Wild Weasels, used in the 1991 war in the Persian Gulf; they were retired in 1997. A few Navy F-4s held on until the late 1990s in the research-and-development role and as unmanned QF-4 drones.
Eleven other air forces flew the Phantom in addition to the Royal Navy, which operated the aircraft from Britain’s last conventional aircraft carriers. Today Egypt, Germany, Greece, Iran, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Spain, and Turkey operate the fighters.
The McDonnell firm began development of the Phantom as a single-place fighter-attack aircraft, initially designated AH-1. During the plane’s gestation, the Navy’s requirements changed to a long- range, high-altitude interceptor, designated F4H. The four 20-mm cannon originally planned were eliminated in favor of sophisticated electronics and an all-missile armament. A radar operator sat behind the pilot to aid in operating the complex electronics system.
The Phantom has twin-engines, with box-like “cheek” air intakes; the wings are swept hack 45° and fold for carrier stowage. It has a large nose radar housing, and tandem seating accommodates the pilot and radar intercept officer under a single canopy.
The first Phantom flew on 27 May 1958, and it soon became apparent it was a winner. Its principal competitor as the Navy’s advanced fighter was the F8U-3 Crusader, a single-engine, singlepilot, specialized interceptor compared to the two-engine, two-man F4H-1 multi- mission aircraft. Both were capable of level speeds in excess of Mach 2.
The Navy selected the Phantom. Subsequently, in 1962, Secretary McNamara directed the Air Force to procure the aircraft, which it designated F-110, in place of additional F-105 Thunderchief production. (In 1962, the U.S. Department of Defense redesignated naval aircraft based on the system used by the Air Force; the Navy F4H and the Air Force F-110 became the F-4 )
The Phantom was the U.S. Navy’s first operational fighter built without guns, relying on an air-to-air armament of six Sparrow radar-homing missiles or four Sparrows and four Sidewinder infrared missiles for intercept missions. In the attack role a Phantom could carry a payload of almost six tons, including such combinations as 11 1,000-pound bombs, or 18 750-pounders, or 4 Bullpup air-to-surface missiles—the bombs equivalent to those carried in World War II heavy bombers. Four Sparrows could be carried with most attack loads. Maximum overload weight for the Navy’s F-4B was 58,000 pounds. Air Force aircraft could also carry Shrike and Falcon missiles.
All U.S. Air Force Phantoms—fighters as well as reconnaissance planes— also could deliver a variety of nuclear weapons; no Navy or Marine Phantoms were wired for them. (Earlier carrier fighters—the F2H Banshee, F3H Demon, and FJ Fury—could carry such weapons.) The Air Force F-4E had a 20-mm rotary- barrel Vulcan cannon, the only Phantom variant to have an internal gun.
With a maximum speed of Mach 2.24 (F-4E variant), good maneuverability, and large payload, the Phantom was worthy of the numerous accolades heaped on it during a 35-year career with the U.S. armed forces. On 22 November 1961, a Navy F4H-1 Phantom reached a speed of 1,606.324 mph to establish a new world record. More records fell to the Phantom: sustained level flight at 66,443.8 feet; an altitude of 98,558.51 feet (Phantoms subsequently reached more than 100,000 feet); and streaking from Los Angeles to New York at an average speed of 869.7 mph while slowing for three in-flight refuelings.
Official manufacturing data vary, but it appears U.S. Phantom production— from the McDonnell and Douglas firms, which merged in 1967—consisted of 1,264 aircraft for the Navy and Marine Corps, 2,744 for the U.S. Air Force, and about 1,000 for foreign users, with some U.S. planes transferred subsequently to other nations. Another 125 Phantoms were manufactured in Japan by Mitsubishi. Thus, well more than 5,000 Phantoms were produced.
During the 1960s and 1970s the Phantom was the standard fighter aircraft in the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps. Beyond being an outstanding aircraft, it again dispelled the myth that carrier-based aircraft were inferior to those based on land.