Aviation Classics 25 F-4 Phantom II preview

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The pilot’s cockpit of a McDonnell Douglas RF-4E Phantom II of the Greek Air Force. Six of these were delivered to the 348th ‘Eyes’ Squadron of the 110 Combat Wing at Larissa in 1979, followed by 29 more ex-Luftwaffe RF-4Es in 1993. Luigino Caliaro

F-4 Phantom 3


Contents A pair of Turkish Air Force F-4Es approach the coast.These greatly upgraded aircraft may well become the last Phantoms in service as they are expected to continue until at least 2015, perhaps longer. Luigino Caliaro

6

Angular grace‌ or brute force and reliability?

8

McDonnell Naval Fighters

12

Unsolicited success

18

Founding a family

24

I told you we needed a gun

4

28

Joe Kittinger

40

Norman Gaddis

50

You fight like you train

52

Power & perfection

58

The world’s slowest Phantoms


BE RI 0 C 13 BS E SU PAG Editor: Publisher: Contributors:

Tim Callaway editor@aviationclassics.co.uk Dan Savage Dave ‘Bio’ Baranek, Luigino Caliaro, Randy ‘Duke’ Cunningham, Norm deWitt, Keith Draycott, Michael France, Brig Gen Norman Gaddis, Peter Greengrass, Lt Col Axel Grossmann, Col Joe Kittinger, Constance Redgrave, Emmanuel Rodriguez, Jon Schreiber, Dan Sharp, Joe Walsh, Robert I ‘Scout’ Winebrenner

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In the shadow of the Phantom

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Angular grace…

The main thing about the Phantom is it looks like a combat aircraft, the design is uncompromising. Here a pair of Luftwaffe F-4Fs are high in their natural environment. Luigino Caliaro

...or brute force and reliability?

H

ow difficult has it been to condense the story of the mighty F-4 Phantom into just 132 pages? Well, I will tell the truth, I gave up... you can’t physically do it. This aircraft was simply too successful, did too much in too many places to be so easily confined. I have covered all of the major variants, but have left it to the gentlemen who operated the Phantom in the US Air Force, US Navy and Luftwaffe to explain why the aircraft was such an incredible icon, such a perennial favourite, even today. It is interesting how many of them use the same words in their descriptions of the Phantom: power, reliability, strength, acceleration, which gave me something of a clue as to what I was dealing with here. The strangest thing is that this is not a single story of success, but two. The design of the Phantom came from a company well versed in producing the kind of tough aircraft required for use on aircraft carriers. Unsolicited by the US Navy, McDonnell aircraft tried to produce the most flexible design it could to meet any or all of the most likely future requirements. In building this degree of adaptability into the airframe, the

6 aviationclassics.co.uk

team did far more than they knew at the time. Many modifications later, the aircraft that emerged went on to set a large number of world records before it had even properly entered service, attracting the attention of the Department of Defence among others. While many of the projects instigated by Secretary of Defence Robert Strange McNamara are open to debate, the decision to force the F-4 on the US Air Force is not one of them. This is an opinion borne out by the fact the last USAF Phantom was not to leave service until 1996, 33 years later. This decision was to result in an incredible 5195 Phantoms being produced, 5068 by McDonnell Douglas (as it had become), the last being an F-4E for Korea delivered in October 1979. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries also built 127 Phantoms under licence for the Japan Air Self Defence Force, delivering its last F-4EJ in May 1981. The 11 overseas F-4 customers included Greece, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Turkey, all of whom are still using upgraded F-4s today as they still remain a viable and effective combat aircraft. So that’s the first story. The second has to be the engine, without which the legend of the Phantom would not

have shone half so bright. While it is true the UK Phantoms first ordered in 1964 were powered by Rolls Royce Speys, the majority of Phantoms were powered by the General Electric J79. One of the most reliable and successful of the third generation of turbojets, the J79 was designed by Gerhard Neumann and Neil Burgess who won the prestigious Collier Trophy in 1958 for their work on it. Over 17,000 J79s were produced in the US and under licence in six other nations, matching the incredible production record of the aircraft it is forever associated with. Perhaps this story is best summed up in one simple fact. The F-4G and the original reconnaissance version, the RF-4C, were again in combat over Iraq during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, 30 years after the Phantom began operating from US Navy carriers for the first time. Now that’s a legend. Adaptable, flexible, fast, durable. Slab sided, brutal, angular, ugly. But always reliable and somehow really quite beautiful, I give you the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom. All best, Tim


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UNSOLICITED

SUCCESS The beginnings of the Phabulous Phantom II

The iconic F-4 Phantom began as an entirely private venture by McDonnell Aircraft at St Louis, an attempt to improve on the F3H Demon. The lack of an official requirement meant the new fighter was offered in a wide range of versions, both single and two seat, this inbuilt flexibility being the reason for the tremendous adaptability of the resulting design.

The engineering mockup of the YAH-1 ground attack fighter, the aircraft that would later become the world famous F4 Phantom II. Note the single seat cockpit, anhedral wing and flat tailplane. National Museum of Naval Aviation

12 UNSOLICITED SUCCESS


The same mock-up after it had been rebuilt into the F4H-1 demonstrator.The second cockpit, new air intakes and anhedral tailplane have been added, but the wingtips have yet to be turned up.The Sparrows were intended to be launched from rails that extended from their semi-recessed bays. McDonnell

The sixth F4H-1,BuNo 143391, went aboard the USS Independence on February 15, 1960 for carrier trials. McDonnell

O

ne of the most famous and enduring jet fighters of all time, the F-4 Phantom actually began in August 1953 as a project to solve the problems of an earlier aircraft. The development of the McDonnell F3H Demon had been spurred by the first encounters with the MiG-15 over Korea, the limited performance of this otherwise excellent aircraft being due to the failure of the Westinghouse J40 engine programme. The Demon had been specifically designed around this engine at the request of the Navy, so a change of powerplant would have been difficult to achieve. It was only when a series of accidents grounded the Demons that McDonnell began a complete redesign around the Allison J71 turbojet, at which time the US Navy also changed the role of the Demon to that of all weather fighter. The new role required that the Demon be capable of carrying air to air missiles and consequently required the radar and other associated equipment necessary to fire and guide the weapons. As can be imagined, with this level of equipment and engine change, the Demon that emerged as the F3H-2N was a radically different aircraft to the original.

Three men who made the Phantom; (left to right) David S. Lewis, the McDonnell preliminary design manager, Robert C. Little, chief test pilot, and Herman D. Barkey, senior project engineer. McDonnell

FIRST CONCEPTS

The extent of the work required to modify the Demon to its new role and engines got McDonnell’s preliminary design manager David S Lewis thinking that a more advanced version, beyond even the modifications already made, would increase the capabilities of the Demon as well as extend its production life. Aside from the J71, he began to examine alternative propulsion for the fighter, which other than a lack of thrust had excellent handling. Beginning in August 1953, five main concepts were studied, the first being known as the Model 98A or F3H-3, powered by a Wright J67 intended to enable the fighter to reach Mach 1.69, a marked improvement over the existing Demon of over a third greater speed. Due to the nature of naval operations, twin engined concepts were also studied, the first being the Model 98B, which had two options for powerplants and two variants, a photo reconnaissance aircraft and a fighter. The photo reconnaissance version was known as the F3H-F, and could be based on either of the two twin engined studies. The first, known as the F3H-G had two Wright J65 turbojets, while the F3H-H had a pair of

The prototype YF4H-1, BuNo 142259, making its first flight over the St. Louis area on May 27, 1958 in the hands of Robert C. Little. Even in this early version with the flat canopy and small nose radome, the unusual lines of the Phantom are unmistakeable. McDonnell

General Electric J79s, all three studies having a redesigned wing of greater area to support the greater weight of two engines. Similar to the Model 98B was the Model 98C, which had the same choice of engines but a new delta wing, followed by the Model 98D which had a straight wing. Lastly, the Model 98E or F3H-J also featured a delta wing, but a much larger and more refined design of thinner cross section. Both of the delta winged studies were what are known as tailed deltas, inasmuch as they still retained a tailplane. There was no competition running or outstanding specified requirement from the US Navy at the time, but McDonnell did know of their interest in all weather fighters due to the work being carried out on the Demon. Given this, McDonnell presented the Model 98 concepts to the Navy’s Bureau of Aeronautics as an unsolicited proposal for an all weather fighter on September 19, 1953. McDonnell made the aircraft as adaptable as possible to whatever role the Navy might be focussing on with some novel design features, including single and two seat nose sections configured for air to air, air to ground or reconnaissance versions being part of the proposal. The aircraft was also to be armed with four 20mm cannon or retractable ➤ McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom 13


The 11th F4H-1F, BuNo 145310 demonstrated the Phantom’s prodigious weight-carrying abilities by lifting and dropping 22 500lb bombs using all five weapons stations to do so. McDonnell

The fifth F4H-1 built, BuNo.143390, was used by VX-5, a US Navy test and evaluation squadron at El Centro, California. Note the early air intakes. McDonnell

The first units to receive Phantoms were training squadrons VF-121 and Detachment A of VF-101 in December 1960.These were F4H1Fs, later designated F-4As, sometimes referred to as TF-4As to denote their nonoperational status. McDonnell

The second YF4H-1, BuNo.142260, was later fitted with a water/alcohol inlet spray to cool the air and increase thrust and used to set a number of world records. McDonnell

President Dwight D. Eisenhower inspected an F4H-1 Phantom II aircraft on October 21, 1960, at NAS North Island in San Diego. McDonnell

rocket packs, as well as being able to carry a very wide range of weapons on nine hardpoints under the fuselage and wings. Of the proposals, the US Navy found the Model 98Bs F3H-G and H concepts most interesting, ordering a full scale mock up early in 1954. Initially both of these designs were single seat and twin engined, featuring a delta wing with a 45º sweep to the leading edge, the larger area being to take the increased weight.

GROUND ATTACK TO FIGHTER

At that time it was considered that the US Navy’s supersonic fighter requirements would be fulfilled by the recently ordered Grumman F-11 Tiger and Vought F-8 Crusader for the foreseeable future. Fortunately, the projected performance of the McDonnell proposal keenly interested the Bureau of Aeronautics, so the design was reworked with 11 hardpoints for weapons to become a fighter bomber. On October 18, 1954, after an inspection of the mock up, the US Navy ordered two prototypes of the design,

designated YAH-1s and intended as cannon armed, single seat attack aircraft. However, after a review of fleet requirements, the US Navy decided that the attack role would be taken by the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk. On May 26, 1955, taking advantage of the flexibility of the original proposal, the order for the two prototypes was altered to develop a two seat, missile armed, all weather, fleet defence fighter redesignated as the YF4H-1. Interestingly, this was the role the F3H Demon had mostly fulfilled during its career. On July 25, the order was increased to cover five pre-production aircraft with 16 more added to this the following year. The General Electric J79 became the engine of choice, not least for its lower fuel consumption over the J65, which

made the Navy’s requested three hour loiter endurance easier to achieve. The design team under Herman D Barkey placed the engines low in the rear fuselage, each fed by a fixed geometry cheek intake. The armament was set at four AIM-7 Sparrow III semi active radar homing missiles mounted in semi-recessed bays under the fuselage, with the option to carry AIM-9 Sidewinders on underwing pylons. The original cannon were deleted for the fleet defence role, making the YF4H-1 the first US missile only fighter, missile guidance being provided by the AN/APG-50 radar in the slim nose. The wing was an anhedral delta design with a level tailplane at the base of the fin at this stage, but wind tunnel testing revealed that this configuration limited the performance to below Mach 2 and exhibited marked instability. The changes made to the design to correct these problems were to later cause an RAF engineer responsible for receiving the first British Phantom to enquire if it had been delivered the right way up! The tests revealed the wing needed a 5º dihedral, which would mean completely redesigning the centre section, a major undertaking. Instead, 12º of dihedral were added to the outer wing panels, which could fold at this point reduce the space the new type required in carrier hangars. The outer panels also broadened in chord to give a distinctive dog tooth to the leading edge, while the single piece tailplanes were given ➤

McDonnell F4H-1, BuNo.146817 was used in weapons systems trials, seen here loaded with the maximum six AIM-7 Sparrows radar guided missiles. McDonnell 14 UNSOLICITED SUCCESS


PHANTOM PERFORMANCE RECORDS. Date

Aircraft

Crew

Location/Project Record

December 6, 1959

Second YF4H-1 BuNo.142260

Cdr L E Flint

Edwards AFB, Operation Top Flight Absolute altitude, 98,556ft (30,040m)

September 5, 1960

F4H-1F

Lt Col T H Miller

Not known Speed over a 500km closed course, 1216.74mph (1958.16kph)

September 25, 1960

F4H-1F

Cdr J F Davis

Not known Speed over a 100km course, 1390.26mph (2237.41kph)

May 24, 1961

Five F4H-1Fs

Lt R F Gordon, later a Project LANA, the 50th Anniversary Gemini and Apollo of Naval Aviation attempt on the astronaut and Lt B R Young Bendix Trophy, for the fastest speed across the US, from Ontario California to Floyd Bennett Field, New York. The fastest crew, as listed, covered the 2446 miles (3936km) at an average speed of 870mph (1400kph) in just 2 hrs 47 mins, refuelling form A3D-2 Skywarrior tankers three times en route.

August 28, 1961

F4H-1 BuNo.145307

Lt H Hardisty and Lt E H DeEsch

Project Sageburner from Holloman AFB, New Mexico Low altitude speed over a 3km course at 125ft, 902.769mph (1452.869kph)

November 22, 1961

Second YF4H-1 BuNo.142260 fitted with a water/alcohol inlet spray to cool the air and increase thrust

Lt Col R B Robinson

Operation Skyburner at Edwards AFB, California Speed over a 15/25km course, 1606.3mph (2585kph) at 45,000ft (13,715m), the first absolute speed record in excess of Mach 2.

December 5, 1961

Second YF4H-1 BuNo.142260 fitted with a water/alcohol inlet spray to cool the air and increase thrust

Cdr G W Ellis

Edwards AFB, California Sustained altitude, 66,443.8ft (20,252.1m)

February 21, 1962

F4H-1

Lt Cdr J W Young

Operation High Jump, NAS Brunswick, Maine Time to height, 9843ft (3000m) in 34.52 seconds

February 21, 1962

F4H-1

Cdr D M Longton

Operation High Jump, NAS Brunswick, Maine Time to height, 19,685ft (6000m) in 48.78 seconds

March 1, 1962

F4H-1

Lt Col W C McGraw

Operation High Jump, NAS Brunswick, Maine Time to height, 29,528ft (9000m) in 61.62 seconds

March 1, 1962

F4H-1

Lt Col W C McGraw

Operation High Jump, NAS Brunswick, Maine Time to height, 39,370ft (12,000m) in 77.15 seconds

March 1, 1962

F4H-1

Lt Cdr D W Nordberg

Operation High Jump, NAS Brunswick, Maine Time to height, 49,213ft (15,000m) in 114.54 seconds

March 31, 1962

F4H-1

Lt Cdr F T Brown

Operation High Jump, NAS Point Mugu, California Time to height, 65,617ft (20,000m) in 178.5 seconds

April 3, 1962

F4H-1

Lt Cdr J W Young

Operation High Jump, NAS Point Mugu, California Time to height, 82,021ft (25,000m) in 230.44 seconds

April 4, 1962

F4H-1

Lt Cdr D W Nordberg

Operation High Jump, NAS Point Mugu, California Time to height, 98,425ft (30,000m) in 371.43 seconds McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom 15


23.25º of anhedral. The air intakes were also modified with adjustable ramps to maintain subsonic airflow to the engines, which in the first prototype were 14,800lb (6713 kg) thrust J79-GE-3A turbojets as the -8 version intended for the F4H-1 were not ready. In this form, the first Phantom II, 142259, took to the air at St Louis on May 27, 1958, this first flight performed by Robert C Little. Testing showed the air intakes required further modification, including the now familiar 12,500 small holes in the inner intake cheek door to extract the slow moving boundary layer air, preventing turbulent airflow in the intake ducts. Boundary layer control was also introduced on the leading edge slats and trailing edge flaps, to improve their performance, through the addition of ducts through which air from the compressors was blown across the lifting surfaces. In December 1958, the Phantom II was tested against the single engined Vought XF8U-3 Crusader III in the future fleet defence

role, the Phantom II being declared the winner on December 17 as the US Navy decided that the high workload of a missile armed interceptor required a crew of two. Also on that day, 24 more F4H-1s were ordered, bringing the total on order to 45. These first 45 pre- and production F4H-1s were powered by the J79-GE-2 or -2A version of the engine, producing 16,150lb (7326kg) of thrust, and were known as F4H-1Fs until the common designation scheme introduced in 1962, when they became F-4As.

TRIALS AND MODIFICATIONS

Testing revealed that more modifications were necessary, including a revised and raised canopy to improve the crew’s view, a larger radome which increased the diameter of the nose to accommodate the 32in (81cm) antenna of the powerful Westinghouse AN/APQ-72 radar and further changes to the intake design. The intake now featured two

On December 6, 1959, the second YF4H-1 prototype performed a zoom climb to a world record altitude of 98,557ft (30,040m) as part of Operation Top Flight. Note the early canopy and nose profile for the AN/APG-50 radar. US Navy

Left: Low over New Mexico, Project Sageburner sets a low altitude speed record of 902.769mph (1452.869kph) on August 28, 1961, flown by Lt H Hardisty and Lt E H DeEsch. McDonnell Right: Project LANA, a 50th Anniversary of Naval Aviation transcontinental race for the Bendix Trophy, was won by Lt R F Gordon, later a Gemini and Apollo astronaut and Lt B R Young, a crew from VF-121, on May 24, 1961. Note the early air intakes. US Navy 16 UNSOLICITED SUCCESS

ramps ahead of the duct, the first fixed at five degrees to the airflow, the second being variable up to 10º of incidence to control the intake airflow. Payload trials were carried out, including the carriage of an impressive 24 500lb (227kg) bombs on the fuselage and wing pylons. The range and endurance targets set by the US Navy were easily met as the centreline and inner wing stations could carry external fuel tanks that increased the total capacity from 1957 US gallons (7408 l) of internal fuel carried in the fuselage and wings to 3297 US gallons (12,480 l). As well as this prodigious capacity, the Phantom II was fitted with a retractable air refuelling probe on the starboard side of the fuselage just under the cockpit to extend its range still further. The Phantom also acquired one of its identifying features at this point, with the addition of a Texas Instruments AAA4 infra-red sensor in a small pod under the radome. All of these changes were retro-fitted


or introduced on the production line as the Phantoms began to roll out of St Louis. On February 15, 1960, the fourth pre-production aircraft, 143391, made the first launch and recovery aboard an aircraft carrier, CVA-62, the USS Independence, with US Navy service trials beginning in July that year. During their service life, the F-4As were used by the fleet replacement training Squadrons, VF-101 and VF-121, where they were often referred to as TF-4As to show they were not a fully combat capable version of the aircraft. However, the early Phantoms did set an impressive series of performance records as listed in the table here, some of which were to stand until 1975 and the introduction of the F-15. A number of F-4As were modified with the J79-GE-8 engines and brought up to the standard of the next, and first full production version, the F-4B.

FULL PRODUCTION

The McDonnell F-4B Phantom II was the first fully formed version of the type, with a number of improvements that were to remain features of the aircraft until production ended in 1979. The troublesome intakes were finalised, again with two ramps ahead of the intake, but now the first ramp was set at 10º to the airflow and the second could be altered in angle up to 14º. The intakes fed a pair of the

16,950lb (7688kg) thrust J79-GE-8 turbojets which were now rolling off the General Electric production lines in numbers. Initially known as the F4H-1, this variant also had a slightly increased internal fuel capacity of an additional 26 US gallons possible through space saving inside the airframe as the design was refined for series production. The armament of four AIM-7 Sparrows radar guided missiles was augmented by the ability to carry four AIM-9 infra red guided Sidewinders on rails on the inner wing pylons. In all, 649 F-4Bs were to be built for the US Navy and Marine Corps, a remarkable figure until it is realised that on its introduction to service, the Phantom had the greatest speed, range and firepower of any US fighter of the time. It was this performance that attracted the attention of the USAF, 29 F-4Bs being loaned to the Air Force for trials beginning in October 1961, the first two being marked as F110As, the original USAF designation. The F-4B equipped VF-74 and VF-114, these becoming the first operational Phantom Squadrons, VF-74 completing the unit’s carrier qualifications in October 1961, the first Phantom Squadron to do so. The F-4B was to be used widely and modified into a range of sub versions, which will be covered later in this magazine. The Phantom as we know it had arrived. ■ Words: Tim Callaway

The first US Navy Squadron to operate the Phantom II was VF-74 aboard the USS Forrestal, who took delivery of an initial batch of F4H-1s, later known as F-4Bs, in 1961. Note the enlarged canopy and radome for the Westinghouse AN/APQ-72 radar. National Museum of Naval Aviation

Project High Jump was carried out at Brunswick, Maine, and Point Mugu, California Naval Air Stations in 1962. No fewer than eight time-to-climb records were set by a number of F4H-1s. US Navy

The second YF4H-1, BuNo.142260, modified to F4H-1 standards and fitted with water/alcohol injection was used on Operation Skyburner on November 22, 1961 to capture the world absolute speed record of 1606.3mph (2585kph) at 45,000ft (13,715m), the first absolute speed record in excess of Mach 2. US Navy


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