The most famous American combat aircraft of the 1960-1980s, the name of which has long been a household name for all fighters of the US Air Force and Navy. The world's first truly multipurpose supersonic fighter. It was the same symbol of the Cold War as the B-52 strategic bomber.
It became the first tactical and carrier-based aircraft capable of using medium-range missiles (before that they were carried only by air defense interceptors). After that, missiles of this class R-23/24 (very similar to the AIM-7) appeared on the MiG-23.
In China, with a delay of 20 years, its own "analog" appeared - JH-7, created based on the "Phantom" and borrowed from it engines and radar.
Aircraft JH-7 of the PRC Air Force
Work on this aircraft began in 1953, when the US Navy announced a competition to create a carrier-based supersonic fighter. Although the McDonnell project did not pass through the competition, it was taken as a basis for the creation of the AN-1 carrier-based fighter-bomber.
But in December 1955, the Navy's assignment was radically revised: instead of a fighter-bomber, the fleet ordered a high-altitude long-range carrier-based interceptor with M = 2 and purely rocket armament. In July 1955, a full-scale mock-up of the fighter was made, which received the designation F4H-1F, and on May 27, 1958, the aircraft took off for the first time (test pilot R. S. Little). On the first prototype aircraft were installed TRDF General Electric J79-3A (2 x 6715 kgf), after 50 test flights, replaced by J79-GE-2, and then even more powerful J79-GE-2A (2 x 7325 kgf). In 1960. Phantom-2 set a series of world speed records, in particular, an absolute speed record of 2,583 km / h (on this Phantom, engines to increase thrust were equipped with a system for injecting a water-alcohol mixture into the space in front of the compressors to cool its blades). 23 aircraft of the experimental series were subsequently designated F-4A and were used only for flight tests. In December 1960, serial production of the F4H-1 aircraft, also renamed the F-4A, began at the aircraft plant in St. Louis.
The F-4B, an improved version of the Navy's all-weather carrier-based air defense fighter, made its maiden flight in March 1961 by the Navy and the United States Marine Corps in 1961-1967. 637 aircraft of this type were delivered (some of them were later converted to other modifications).
In 1965, the RF-4B (F4H-1P) was created - an unarmed photo reconnaissance aircraft based on the F-4B; US Marine Corps in 1965-1970. 46 aircraft were delivered. The F-4G aircraft (the first with this name) was a variant of the F-4B fighter, adapted for landing on the deck of an aircraft carrier in automatic mode (12 built aircraft were later converted into F-4Bs).
The advanced carrier-based multirole F-4J fighter made its first flight in May 1966, the Navy and the ILC in 1966-1972. 522 aircraft of this type were delivered.
148 F-4B aircraft in 1973-1978 was upgraded to the F-4N, which has a hardened structure and improved avionics.
Part of the F-4J was modified into the F-4S variant, also having a hardened structure, upgraded equipment and engines.
In March 1962, the US Air Force decided to adopt Phantom 2 into service as a multi-role fighter. The aircraft, designated F-4C (originally F-110), made its maiden flight in May 1963. In 1963-1966. 583 fighters of this type were delivered to the USAF. On its basis in 1964, an RF-4C (RF-110A) reconnaissance aircraft was created, in 1964-1974. 505 reconnaissance aircraft were delivered to the US Air Force.
F-4D - an improved version of the F-4C, made its first flight in December 1965 (825 aircraft were built in 1966-1968).
The most massive modification of the Phantom, the F-4E, took off in June 1967.and was produced from 1967 to 1976 (1387 aircraft were built).
F-4G "Wild Weasle" - a specialized anti-radar aircraft of the Air Force, designed to destroy air defense systems and radar, converted from the F-4E fighter, made its first flight in December 1975, in 1978-1981. 116 aircraft of this type were delivered.
The aircraft is made according to the normal aerodynamic configuration with a low-lying swept trapezoidal wing with folding consoles and swept tail.
To increase lateral stability, the console parts are given a positive lateral V angle of 12 °. There is a developed mechanization, on a number of modifications - the UPS system. For landing on the deck of an aircraft carrier, a brake hook is installed on the aircraft (it allows you to land with a landing weight of up to 17,000 kg).
The weapon control system of the F-4E aircraft includes an AN / APQ-120 pulse-Doppler radar, an AN / ASQ-26 optical sight, an AN / AJB-7 navigation and bomber subsystem and an AN / ASQ-9L bombing calculator.
The electronic equipment includes AN / APR-36/37 radar detection receivers and AN / ALQ-71/72/87 jamming transmitters.
The F-4E flight and navigation system includes AN / ASN-63 INS, AN / ASN-46 calculator and AN / APN-155 low-altitude radio altimeter. For communications, radio navigation and identification, there is an integrated AN / ASQ-19 system, including a TACAN transceiver.
Armament. The F-4E can carry a variety of weapons on its nine external hardpoints, including four AIM-7 Sparrow medium-range missiles in niches under the fuselage, Sparrow, Sidewinder, Bulpup, Popeye and Shrike on the underwing hardpoints, as well as two or three containers SUU-16 / A or SUU-23 / A with M61A1 cannons (1200 rounds of ammunition per gun), blocks with NAR, free-fall bombs, pouring aviation devices (VAP) on the underwing and the central ventral nodes.
The aircraft can be armed with two nuclear bombs Mk43, Mk.57, Mk.61 or Mk.28.
The maximum combat load is 6800 kg, but it is achieved only with incomplete refueling of the fuel tanks.
A six-barreled M61A1 Vulcan cannon (20 mm, 639 rounds) is installed in the nose of the fuselage of F-4E and F-4F aircraft.
For action on ground targets, the aircraft can be equipped with six AGM-65 Maevrik missiles; the F-4G aircraft takes on board anti-radar missiles AGM-45 "Shrike" (two missiles), AGM-78 "Standard" or AGM-88 HARM.
Modifications:
F-4A - multipurpose carrier-based fighter (experimental series);
RF-4B (F4H-1P) - deck photo reconnaissance;
F-4G - multipurpose carrier-based fighter (later converted to F-4B);
F-4J - multipurpose carrier-based fighter;
F-4S - US Navy multipurpose carrier-based fighter (converted from F-4J);
F-4C (F-110) - multipurpose fighter;
RF-4C (RF-110A) - photo reconnaissance;
F-4D - multipurpose fighter;
F-4E - multi-role fighter;
F-4G Wild Weasle anti-radar aircraft;
F-4M - multirole fighter (for Great Britain);
F-4K - Multi-role fighter (for Great Britain);
F-4EJ - variant of the F-4E fighter for Japan;
RF-4E - reconnaissance aircraft (for export deliveries);
F-4F - multirole fighter (for Germany).
Production of Phantom 2 aircraft for the US Air Force and Navy continued until 1976 (1218 aircraft were delivered for the Navy, 46 for the Marine Corps and 2,712 for the Air Force). In addition, 1,384 aircraft were exported (Australia received 24 fighters, Great Britain - 185, Greece - 64, Egypt - 35, Israel - 216, Iran - 225, Spain - 40, Turkey - 95, Germany - 273, South Korea - 73 and Japan - 2; some of the aircraft were transferred from the US armed forces). Thus, the F-4 became the most massive foreign jet fighter: 5195 Phantoms were built in the USA. In addition, in Japan in 1971-1980. under an American license, the F-4EJ aircraft was produced - a variant of the F-4E fighter (138 aircraft were built).
Satellite image of Google Earth: F-4J aircraft of the Japanese Air Force, Miho airbase
LTH:
Dimensions (F-4E). Wingspan 11, 7 m; aircraft length 19.2 m; aircraft height 5 m; wing area 49, 2 m2.
Weights, kg: maximum takeoff: 24 800 (F-4B), 26 330 (F-4E, RF-4E, F-4G), 25900 (F-4S); normal takeoff 20 860 (F-4B), 20 000 (F-4C), 20 800 (F-4E); empty 13 760 (F-4E); fuel in internal tanks 6080 (F-4E), fuel in PTB 4000 (1 x 2270 l and 2 x 1400 l).
Power point. F-4B - two TRDF General Electric J79-GE-8 (2 x 7780 kgf), F-4E - J79-GE-17 (2 x 8120 kgf).
Flight characteristics. The maximum speed is 2300 km / h; service ceiling 16 600 m (F-4E); maximum rate of climb 220 m / s (F-4E); practical range 2380 km (F-4B), 2590 km (F-4E); takeoff run 1340 m; the length of the run with a braking parachute is 950 m; maximum operational overload 6, 0.
The F-4 fighter for a long time remained the main air superiority aircraft of the US Air Force and Navy. The Phantom's baptism of fire took place on April 2, 1965 in Vietnam, where aircraft of this type met with the North Vietnamese MiG-17F fighters. Since 1966, MiG-21F aircraft have become the main opponents of the Phantoms. The US Air Force and Navy had high hopes for the newest fighter, believing that powerful weapons, onboard radar, high speed and acceleration characteristics would provide the Phantom with unconditional superiority over enemy aircraft. However, in collisions with lighter and more maneuverable fighters, the F-4s began to suffer defeat. Affected by the large wing loading and lower cornering speeds of American fighters, restrictions on operational overload (6, 0 versus 8, 0 for MiGs) and angles of attack, worse controllability of an American aircraft. The F-4 did not have any advantages in thrust-to-weight ratio (with a normal takeoff weight of 0.99 for the MiG-21PF and 0.74 for the F-4B). The advantages of the "Phantom", manifested in Vietnam, were somewhat better acceleration characteristics (F-4E accelerated from a speed of 600 km / h to 1100 km / h
in 20 s, and the MiG-21PF - in 27.5 s), a higher rate of climb, a better view from the cockpit and the presence of a second crew member who monitored the air situation and warned the commander in time about the threat from the rear hemisphere.
The most "productive" American crew of the Phantom during the Vietnam War were pilot S. Richie and operator C. Bellevue, who shot down five MiGs (according to American data).
In the late 1960s, Israel Air Force F-4E aircraft began to be used in combat in the Middle East. Initially, the Israelis assumed that the new American technology would become an effective means in the fight against the Egyptian MiG-21, but soon enough they became convinced of the low suitability of the Phantom for solving these problems, which forced Israel to organize its own production of Mirage fighters, using even such "non-gentlemanly" methods as the theft of French technical documentation. In the future, "Phantoms" were reoriented to deal with shock missions. The use of "Phantoms" as shock, predetermined their high losses (up to 70% of the fleet of these machines), during the next Arab-Israeli war in 1973, from Soviet-made air defense systems.
Soviet-made mobile air defense system "KVADRAT" (SA-6) inflicted the greatest losses on the Israeli Air Force in 1973
"Phantoms", which are in service with the Iranian Air Force, were used in the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-1988, but the details of the combat use of F-4 aircraft in this conflict are not known (however, it should be noted that when the Iraqi Mi-24 shot down the attacking F-4E).
The extreme combat loss of an aircraft of this type of aircraft was on June 22, 2012, when Syrian air defense systems shot down a tactical reconnaissance aircraft RF-4E of the Turkish Air Force in their airspace.
Today, aircraft of this type are in service with the Air Force: Egypt (about 20 F-4E), Greece (about 50 modernized by DASA F-4E PI-2000 and RF-4E), Iran (the number of serviceable ones is not known, all buildings of the late 60 -x), Turkey (about 150 F-4E and RF-4E), South Korea (about 50 F-4E), Japan (about 100 F-4EJ and RF-4EJ of our own construction).
The "Phantoms" stored in the United States are being converted into radio-controlled unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for use as targets.
According to the website of the Eglin airbase, on April 17, 2013, the F-4 Phantom II aircraft, fully restored by the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG), made its last flight over the Davis-Montan airbase in Tucson (Arizona) before heading to Mojave. California.
The RF-4C Phantom, numbered 68-0599, was delivered to AMARG for storage on 18 January 1989 and has not flown since.
Technicians re-installed hundreds of parts on the plane and performed thousands of hours of work to get the plane back to flying condition. This aircraft is the 316th F-4, removed from storage for the implementation of the FSAT (full-scale aerial target) program of the Combat Aviation Command.
BAE Systems will convert this aircraft into a QF-4C target aircraft and will ultimately be transferred to the 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron (ATRS) at Tyndall AFB. Florida.
Satellite image of Google Earth: F-4 aircraft being prepared for conversion into radio-controlled QF-4, Davis-Montan air base
Satellite image of Google Earth: radio-controlled QF-4, Tyndall AFB
A distinctive external feature of such aircraft are the wingtips and keels painted in red. A total of 200 such devices have been ordered. The combat use of these machines is also envisaged.
Unmanned QF-4
On January 9, 2008, an air-to-ground combat missile was launched for the first time from a QF-4 unmanned aircraft (F-4 Phantom modifications).
The main combat mission of the Phantoms converted into UAVs is to suppress enemy air defense systems. It is assumed that the use of unmanned modifications of "Phantoms" will reduce the loss of pilots during operations to suppress enemy air defense systems.
There is no doubt that in the next 10 years, the main operators will remove aircraft of this type from service. And this legendary aircraft can only be seen in a museum or in a private collection.
