F4 Phantom fighter?

Question

F4 Phantom fighter: is this aircraft used anymore as a 1st line fighter for any country?

Old "Smokey" is {in my opinion} a WONDERFUL plane!

Any comments?

Answer 1

turkey uses that old warhorse as their front line fighter, it is still very mean and can do some damage that cant be fixed fast, , the f4j was still in use when i was in the army back in 1978, they fly like a bat out of h**l, a famous pilot from the vietnam conflict said that the f4 was proof that if you put enough horsepower on a house it would fly

Answer 2

I would agree with you.  But no, it's been retired.  I did see a couple Turkish F4's at Aviano a few years ago, but I believe they are no longer flying them.

OBTW, Cunningham DIDN'T have a gun, Navy F4's didn't have guns, the USAF ones did.

The F4E that folks are alluding is painted to match Steve Ritchie's F4 he flew in Vietnam.  It's part of the USAF's Heritage Display.  Actually his WSO, Chuck Bellevue is the highest scoring USAF crewdog in Vietnam; as a former WSO myself, I thought I should bring that to everyone's attention :).

There are some flying as drones, yes.

Answer 3

She is a great burd, currently Greece, Iran, and Japan have operational aircraft.  SOuth Korea is currently in the process of retiring theirs.  I will always miss watching them skid through turns.  This aircraft has class.

Answer 4

No. Not in our service. I used to work at General Dynamics in Fort Worth in the 1980's. Ironically the Texas Air Guard squadron at Carswell AFB over the street was one of the last to get F-16's. They would try to dogfight the F-16's over the plant for fun all the time. Some of the best F-4 pilots were really good. But never once to my knowledge did they beat a F-16. Disabled military, I worked at the base at the same time awhile. needed the money and tax breaks for a pregant wife who was also disabled, could not work. I wore GD T-shirts all the time and the Air Guard pilots would constantly ask about the F-16 and when they would get it.....You just gave the reason "Ole Smokey" is obselote. It can be seen miles. It has the radar signature of a barn door......It was and is great in history. But it is old! The ones used in the Thunderbirds were stripped down for performance....

Answer 5

Th  japanese Self defense Force is still using the F-4

Answer 6

Iran has quite a few and I believe few of them were still good for front line service some time back.

Indeed, an excellent aircraft with an excellent background and reputation.

Answer 7

Great plane, but sad fate. QF-4 unmanned target vehicle. They stick a remote control in it and use it for target practice. I see them all the time at Edwards AFB, usually on their way north. But! They do use them for chase planes... Sometimes. They might not anymore.

Answer 8

Still being operated by the USAF at Eglin in the manned and unmanned QF role.  They have them painted up in WW Nam colors with the current unit markings, much prettier actually than when they were flying the line.

Answer 9

The 20mm gun pod was installed on the aircraft centerline. My brother worked on them.

The F4, in my opinion, was the best Thunderbird ever. Sure the F-16 can do some amazing stunts, but the manuevers were much harder to accomplish in the F4, and it was frikkin' louder!!!!

Answer 10

Its an OK airplane in my opinion.  The biggest problem with the older jets is their radar was pretty anemic.  It didnt have 1/4 of the capabilities of the airplane that replaced it in the US Navy, the F-14 Tomcat!!  It could only track and engage one target at a time.  It carried lots of bombs pretty well too but could get turned inside-out by more smaller modern fighter/attack aircraft.

Answer 11

I saw one within the last year at an airshow in NC. It is still being flown out of one of the Air Force training units in the panhandle of FL in their air target unit. I guess they use it as a chase plane and in air combat training. It was a real joy to see it flying. They had it do a flyover with a P-51 Mustang, F86 Sabre, F-16, F-15 and a new F-22 Raptor. Every one of them had been or is stationed at that Air Force base. Really cool.

Answer 12

The Luftwaffe( German Airforce) still uses them as fighters. They are scheduled for retirment in 2012.

Answer 13

no. all users of the F-4 have retired it.

the last to retire its f-4s is Israel in 2004

NASA might still have one or two in storage waiting to be strapped onto a rocket sled and shot into a concrete wall. ( they already did it once)

I like the F-4 too. Every aspect of it was spectacular and it could hold its own against just about every aircraft. Only one reproach would be that it had no gun.

*edit,

Germany still uses an upgraded version the F-4F, but it is used for training purposes only.

yeah, they did strap a gun to its belly after they found that the missiles of that age weren't too good and a gun was much more fail-safe. a internal gun would have been much much nicer than the gun pods the F-4 needed.

and yep, USAF used to use a remote controlled F-4 for William Tell Competitions but i don't know if they still do.

NASA used them for chase planes for the X-15 at on stage but that was way back. USAF have been using f-14 for chase planes since around the 1980s. now, its most likely the f-15 or f-16 flying chase.