And who said the F-4 Phantom is obsolete?

[Allen]

"And who said the F-4 Phantom is obsolete?"

goo?

He also flew them. Out of memory he also flew the F-14's? He said in one thread that the hardest part about flying the F-4 was carrying enough coal and having to shovel the coal in the firebox to keep the plane flying.

We all miss him. RIP

i flew f-4's for half a tour and was a grunt for the other half.
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[PWC]

Naha...to me is on Okiwana

[dryheat]

This thread inspired me to spend two hours reading about 1950-60's jets. It's raining today anyway. The F series of jets were designed to fly fast and very high. When Russia's missiles could fly as high as our jets we went the other direction and designed planes for low altitudes.

Probably my favorite jet was the B-58 Hustler. I had a model of it when I was a kid.
I wonder if the F-16 is the be-all-end all of jets.

[Merc]

I was assigned to three aircraft carriers that were doing 6th Fleet duties in the early 1960s. They were the USS Enterprise, USS Saratoga and the USS Shangri La. Since my duties were not related to air ops, I was only a casual observer of the type of aircraft used on the carriers although I did get to fly off the Enterprise in a prop driven COD as a passenger. Straight deck run, no cat launch. They tied me down between two mail bags. They flew me to Naples where I transferred to the Saratoga.

All of the jets on board the carriers were loud, but the F4s were really big and really loud. I only remember them being on the Enterprise and possibly on the Saratoga. I think the Essex class Shang was probably too small to accommodate them.

There was never any doubt when one of the F4s was being launched or recovered. They were powered by 2 big GE J79 engines that probably damaged the ears of many sailors who had to be on the flight deck when the afterburners were lit. The power they had when launched and their rate of climb was impressive.

I was at the St. Louis airport in the early 1980s waiting for a flight. I heard that old familiar window rattling deep roar that had everyone looking out the window to see what was happening. Two F4s were taking off in formation on a runway that parallels the terminal building. The passenger jets that were taking off could barely be heard inside the terminal. The raw power was awesome. The pilots had to be smiling knowing they immediately had the attention of everyone within a several mile radius.

We went to the Air Force Museum in Dayton, OH a few years ago and spent a couple days walking around looking at the examples of every military aircraft that the US ever flew. We could have easily spent a couple more days there.

Ohio has a 2nd smaller aircraft Museum in Canton, OH called the Military Aircraft Preservation Society that has maybe 25 military planes, mostly Vietnam era and one C47. They have a Crusader from the Saratoga that may have been aboard when I was there.

[Allen]

Pensacola Navy Air Base has a very nice museum with an Imax theater, flight simulators for the public, elevator, planes inside and out with an F-14 mounted near the front door.

Battleship Park near Mobile, AL has a much smaller museum but does have a B-52, A-12, battleship, sub, numerous ground equipment-some of which was brought back from Iraq, and a F-4 mounted near the entrance.

https://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/news-events/

https://www.ussalabama.com/

[Vern Humphrey]

How many of you can guess what the third photo from the top is?

[High Plaines Doug r]

Not Bar-b-que.

[Vern Humphrey]

Not Bar-b-que.

You got that right!!

[RED]

This thread inspired me to spend two hours reading about 1950-60's jets. It's raining today anyway. The F series of jets were designed to fly fast and very high. When Russia's missiles could fly as high as our jets we went the other direction and designed planes for low altitudes.

Probably my favorite jet was the B-58 Hustler. I had a model of it when I was a kid.
I wonder if the F-16 is the be-all-end all of jets.

The F-35 probably will become the last manned fighter that is widely used. It is too bad they didn't give it two engines and add a GIB (Guy In Backseat). The F-8 Crusader was the most dangerous Navy fighter to fly. 1,216 were made and 1,106 made big splashes in the ocean or little holes in the ground.

[Allen]

The F-8 Crusader was the most dangerous Navy fighter to fly.

Kinda ugly too. I heard that the (more ugly) A-7 was bad about sucking up people on the carrier decks with the huge intake.

- - - Updated - - -

This thread inspired me to spend two hours reading about 1950-60's jets. It's raining today anyway.

This should keep you busy for a while.

https://aviastar.org/index2.html