Where have all the Phantoms gone?

[RED]

At least they are being used for something, unlike the F-14's that are being chewed up in the desert.

Where Have All the Phantoms Gone? | Military Aviation | Air & Space Magazine

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[Carl R]

I saw one of the drones at Oshkosh a couple of years ago. It was in beautiful condition. It's sad to see them blown to pieces. I wish I could buy one for the value of the scrap metal. Carl

[John Sukey (Deceased)]

Uh Red, those F14's are NOT being chewed up in the desert. They are a source of spares for our allies who still use them.
Same as the B52's in storage, that are keeping others flying.
There are lots of airceaft out there, some supplying parts, and others being put back into service when needed. there are also airframes that are simply out of time and can't be safely put back into use.

[0311Shooter]

Great story at Red's link. But in reading the comments, WOW!!!!

Some great personal stories added to the article.

[jon_norstog]

Great story!

it takes four raptors to kill an F-4.

The F-4 was a big plane, about 80% the weight of a B-17. We built close to 6,000 of them at about 2.5 mil a pop. It was McNamara's idea that all the services should have just one fighter, and the F-4 was it. Considering that design work started 1953, it was a pretty good plane for the '60s and '70s.

McNamara has taken a lot of gas, but he had it right on the F-4. Go to the Air Force museum, or the displays they have at Hill AFB north of Slat Lake. In the 50's we had a zillion different planes we were flying, each the result of a different combo of senators, lobbyists and aircraft manufacturers. Most of them were multimillion $ POS. And it was a logistical nightmare. Plus they never got the weapons systems worked out. The F-4 pilots were crying, "give us guns" cause the AA missiles they had were so crummy. It wasn't until late in the war they got decent AA missiles. We're doing that part a lot better now.

Back to the F-4. A guy took one to 30,000 meters (98,000 ft.) in a test in 1962. It took him a little over 6 minutes. he had to shut down 'cause the air was so thin, lit back up when he got down to 75,000 ft. That was with a stone-stock plane. An F-4 with water injection hit 1600 mph in level flight.

What the F-4s faced in Viet Nam was mainly Mig 17s, 19s and an occasional 21. Plus SAMs. The F-105s suffered 50% attrition, the F-4s survived. Was it a great plane? Ask the guys who flew them.

OK, now we are watching the F-22 go down the tubes. The pilots say it is a great plane. We were going to build 380 of them, looks like we're going to pull the plug at 185, and move on to the cheaper F-35. Secretary Gates has had the F-22 in his sights since he was appointed by Bush. I don't see Obama overruling him. I voted for the man, but I think he and Gates are dead wrong on this one. In 5 years the Chinese could have planes as good as any in the world. Since I was a kid the U.S. has owned the tactical air space. Do we really want to give up that edge?

[RED]

... It is a fact that Captain Crunch is eating all the Tomcats out in the desert. The only country to still operate the F-14 is Iran. These were sold to them in the 1970s prior to the fall of the Shah. As a result, US F-14s are being destroyed to ensure that spare parts are not available for Iranian use.

https://oasis.northgrum.com/tempdocs/F-14_DISPOSAL.PDF

[Bob Womack]

They always looked like wasps to me: So many interesting angles. I remember them taxiing around on the opposite side of the base when I was training on the bomber ops side at Blytheville after Operation Chrome Dome shut down.

Bob

[Litt'le Lee]

it was a recycling show and showed them building target planes--sorry Red we are talking about F4's not F14's

[Rick Gushman]

Jon, McNamara's multi-service fighter dream was really the F-111. The F4 predated McNamara and while McNamara pressured the Air Force to utilize the F4 which was already in use by the USN and USMC, his real goal was to develop a new airframe capable of being used by all seervices. The Navy wisely decided not to play the F-111 game but it was a costly move for Vice Admiral Thomas Connolly the DCNO for Air Warfare who testified before Congress that the F-111 was not a suitable naval fighter aircraft. The nickname for the F14 (Tomcat) was a tribute to Connolly. Rick

[DaveHH]

lots of mechanical noise as they went over at about 100 ft and the jet noise hadn't gotten there yet. Then BOOM a 500lb, another pass and a another 500, then two cans of nape and a couple more passes with the 20mm. Then gone, all over in about 10 minutes. They were serious pee bringers and the pilots were good, very good. It was a rough raw aircraft that overpowered its opponents. My good friend worked on them for years in the Marine Air. Out of Chu Lai they would sortie over North VN and he said the Migs would just make a pass through and about 6 or so F4s would take off in hot pursuit at full burner. When they got back, all the Cans or hot sections would be burned out of them and sideline the aircraft for weeks. Equivalent to shooting down 5-6 of them without firing a shot. At full throttle they could stay in the air about 20 minutes. I saw one auger in at night with a pretty full load of fuel, 10 miles away and it lit up the sky like a small city. We even had a few F-100s dropping bombs when I first arrived but then they started losing wings and were retired, replaced by the Phantoms.