±Recent Visitors

Recent Visitors to Com-Central!

±User Info-big


Welcome Anonymous

Nickname
Password

Membership:
Latest: HighestAce
New Today: 0
New Yesterday: 0
Overall: 6648

People Online:
Members: 0
Visitors: 461
Total: 461
Who Is Where:
 Visitors:
01: Community Forums
02: Home
03: Community Forums
04: Downloads
05: Community Forums
06: Community Forums
07: Home
08: Member Screenshots
09: Photo Gallery
10: Community Forums
11: Home
12: Community Forums
13: Community Forums
14: Community Forums
15: Photo Gallery
16: Home
17: Community Forums
18: Home
19: Downloads
20: Home
21: Community Forums
22: Community Forums
23: Home
24: Community Forums
25: Community Forums
26: Photo Gallery
27: Community Forums
28: Home
29: Community Forums
30: Photo Gallery
31: Community Forums
32: Downloads
33: Community Forums
34: Photo Gallery
35: Member Screenshots
36: Home
37: Home
38: Home
39: Member Screenshots
40: Community Forums
41: Community Forums
42: Photo Gallery
43: Photo Gallery
44: Community Forums
45: Community Forums
46: Downloads
47: Your Account
48: Photo Gallery
49: Community Forums
50: Home
51: Member Screenshots
52: Home
53: Photo Gallery
54: Community Forums
55: Member Screenshots
56: Downloads
57: Community Forums
58: Home
59: Photo Gallery
60: Community Forums
61: Photo Gallery
62: Community Forums
63: Home
64: Community Forums
65: Community Forums
66: Home
67: Downloads
68: Statistics
69: Member Screenshots
70: Community Forums
71: News Archive
72: Community Forums
73: Home
74: Community Forums
75: Photo Gallery
76: Community Forums
77: Community Forums
78: Photo Gallery
79: Community Forums
80: Photo Gallery
81: Photo Gallery
82: Statistics
83: Member Screenshots
84: Photo Gallery
85: Member Screenshots
86: Community Forums
87: Community Forums
88: Home
89: Downloads
90: Community Forums
91: Photo Gallery
92: Statistics
93: Statistics
94: Community Forums
95: Community Forums
96: Home
97: Member Screenshots
98: Downloads
99: Photo Gallery
100: Photo Gallery
101: Photo Gallery
102: Home
103: Photo Gallery
104: Member Screenshots
105: Home
106: Community Forums
107: Home
108: Photo Gallery
109: Member Screenshots
110: Home
111: Home
112: Community Forums
113: Community Forums
114: Photo Gallery
115: Photo Gallery
116: Home
117: Community Forums
118: Member Screenshots
119: Community Forums
120: Photo Gallery
121: Community Forums
122: Photo Gallery
123: Community Forums
124: Community Forums
125: News
126: Photo Gallery
127: Photo Gallery
128: Member Screenshots
129: Photo Gallery
130: Community Forums
131: Photo Gallery
132: Home
133: Community Forums
134: Community Forums
135: Photo Gallery
136: Community Forums
137: Downloads
138: Downloads
139: Community Forums
140: Community Forums
141: Community Forums
142: Photo Gallery
143: Community Forums
144: Home
145: Community Forums
146: Member Screenshots
147: Community Forums
148: News Archive
149: News
150: Photo Gallery
151: Home
152: Home
153: Home
154: Home
155: Photo Gallery
156: Community Forums
157: Community Forums
158: Community Forums
159: Photo Gallery
160: Home
161: Home
162: Home
163: Photo Gallery
164: Community Forums
165: Downloads
166: Community Forums
167: Community Forums
168: Home
169: Community Forums
170: Community Forums
171: Home
172: Downloads
173: Photo Gallery
174: Member Screenshots
175: Community Forums
176: Home
177: Photo Gallery
178: Community Forums
179: Home
180: Member Screenshots
181: Community Forums
182: Home
183: Home
184: Home
185: Downloads
186: Home
187: Photo Gallery
188: Home
189: Member Screenshots
190: Photo Gallery
191: Community Forums
192: Home
193: Photo Gallery
194: Home
195: Community Forums
196: Photo Gallery
197: Home
198: Home
199: Community Forums
200: Home
201: Photo Gallery
202: Home
203: Photo Gallery
204: Community Forums
205: News Archive
206: Photo Gallery
207: Downloads
208: Community Forums
209: Home
210: Community Forums
211: Home
212: Community Forums
213: Community Forums
214: Photo Gallery
215: Statistics
216: Photo Gallery
217: Community Forums
218: Community Forums
219: Community Forums
220: Home
221: Home
222: Community Forums
223: Home
224: News Archive
225: News
226: Member Screenshots
227: Community Forums
228: Home
229: Home
230: Community Forums
231: Member Screenshots
232: Community Forums
233: Home
234: Downloads
235: Community Forums
236: Photo Gallery
237: Home
238: Photo Gallery
239: Photo Gallery
240: Community Forums
241: Home
242: Community Forums
243: Home
244: Member Screenshots
245: Community Forums
246: Community Forums
247: Community Forums
248: Community Forums
249: Home
250: Home
251: Home
252: Community Forums
253: Member Screenshots
254: Community Forums
255: Home
256: Community Forums
257: Home
258: Community Forums
259: Community Forums
260: Home
261: Community Forums
262: Your Account
263: Photo Gallery
264: Member Screenshots
265: Community Forums
266: Home
267: Home
268: Downloads
269: Photo Gallery
270: Downloads
271: Downloads
272: Community Forums
273: Photo Gallery
274: Downloads
275: Community Forums
276: Photo Gallery
277: Home
278: Community Forums
279: Home
280: Home
281: Community Forums
282: Photo Gallery
283: Member Screenshots
284: Home
285: News Archive
286: Community Forums
287: Community Forums
288: Photo Gallery
289: Community Forums
290: Photo Gallery
291: Community Forums
292: Community Forums
293: Home
294: Home
295: News Archive
296: Member Screenshots
297: Member Screenshots
298: Home
299: Home
300: Community Forums
301: Photo Gallery
302: Community Forums
303: Photo Gallery
304: Downloads
305: Downloads
306: Community Forums
307: Community Forums
308: Community Forums
309: Photo Gallery
310: Community Forums
311: Home
312: Community Forums
313: Downloads
314: Home
315: Downloads
316: Home
317: Community Forums
318: Photo Gallery
319: Photo Gallery
320: Home
321: Photo Gallery
322: Community Forums
323: Home
324: Community Forums
325: Photo Gallery
326: Home
327: Statistics
328: Home
329: Photo Gallery
330: Photo Gallery
331: Home
332: Photo Gallery
333: Photo Gallery
334: Community Forums
335: Home
336: Community Forums
337: Member Screenshots
338: Home
339: Photo Gallery
340: Photo Gallery
341: Community Forums
342: Community Forums
343: Photo Gallery
344: Community Forums
345: Community Forums
346: Home
347: Home
348: Home
349: Photo Gallery
350: Community Forums
351: Downloads
352: Downloads
353: Photo Gallery
354: Community Forums
355: Community Forums
356: Statistics
357: Home
358: Photo Gallery
359: Photo Gallery
360: Home
361: Community Forums
362: Community Forums
363: Photo Gallery
364: Photo Gallery
365: Photo Gallery
366: Community Forums
367: Photo Gallery
368: Member Screenshots
369: Downloads
370: Photo Gallery
371: Home
372: Home
373: Photo Gallery
374: Photo Gallery
375: Home
376: Downloads
377: Photo Gallery
378: Community Forums
379: Community Forums
380: Home
381: Member Screenshots
382: Member Screenshots
383: Community Forums
384: Home
385: Home
386: Community Forums
387: Photo Gallery
388: Home
389: Photo Gallery
390: Home
391: Statistics
392: Home
393: Downloads
394: Community Forums
395: Photo Gallery
396: Community Forums
397: Photo Gallery
398: Community Forums
399: Home
400: Photo Gallery
401: Community Forums
402: Community Forums
403: Community Forums
404: Home
405: Photo Gallery
406: Member Screenshots
407: Home
408: Photo Gallery
409: Home
410: Community Forums
411: Home
412: Home
413: Home
414: Community Forums
415: Home
416: Downloads
417: Home
418: Community Forums
419: Community Forums
420: Home
421: Home
422: News
423: Home
424: Home
425: Community Forums
426: Photo Gallery
427: Member Screenshots
428: Downloads
429: Home
430: Home
431: Community Forums
432: Community Forums
433: News Archive
434: Home
435: Community Forums
436: Member Screenshots
437: Home
438: Home
439: News
440: Community Forums
441: Home
442: Home
443: Downloads
444: Community Forums
445: Home
446: Home
447: Downloads
448: Home
449: Community Forums
450: Community Forums
451: Community Forums
452: Photo Gallery
453: Community Forums
454: Community Forums
455: Community Forums
456: Home
457: Community Forums
458: Photo Gallery
459: Member Screenshots
460: Photo Gallery
461: Photo Gallery

Staff Online:

No staff members are online!
Great pics! :: Archived
A general meeting place for all pilots!
Go to page 1, 2  Next
Post new topic    Revive this topic    Printer Friendly Page     Forum Index ›  Officer's Club

Topic Archived View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
JG300-Ascout
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 05, 2005
Posts: 6257
Location: Cyberspace
PostPosted: Sun Nov 16, 2008 6:09 pm
Post subject: Great pics!

sharpshooter-maj.com/h...twtd02.htm

Go to bottom of page for more in-flight wingtip-to-wingtip shots of F4's.


More good shots on this page:

sharpshooter-maj.com/h...oshoot.htm

_________________
"All facts go to clearly prove that Shades is a thrice-cursed traitor & mentally deranged person steeped in inveterate enmity toward mankind"
Back to top
View user's profile Photo Gallery
JG300-Stoopy
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 05, 2005
Posts: 5840
Location: Group W bench
PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 4:42 am
Post subject: Re: Great pics!

TON of great pics!!!

WOW!!!!! Love the F-4, I grew up as a little kid watching them haul @ss down on the deck out in the desert near George AFB where we lived!!! Dig the idea of a "Phan-con"!

What a great resource....

_________________
"Once your reputation is ruined, you can live quite freely."
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website Photo Gallery
Joe_D
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 29, 2006
Posts: 2068
Location: Razorback Country
PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 1:22 pm
Post subject: Re: Great pics!

I remember those Phantoms (F4G's).

Used to see them fly over all the time at Irwin. George is no more and was pretty trashed when I went through there in 2002 on the way to Forbes Field in Kansas.

Here's an F4E I took a picture of back in the 70's. Bob Smart might recognize the location.



Joe D
Back to top
View user's profile Photo Gallery
JG300-Ascout
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 05, 2005
Posts: 6257
Location: Cyberspace
PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 1:45 pm
Post subject: Re: Great pics!

- Joe_D
I remember those Phantoms (F4G's).

Used to see them fly over all the time at Irwin. George is no more and was pretty trashed when I went through there in 2002 on the way to Forbes Field in Kansas.

Here's an F4E I took a picture of back in the 70's. Bob Smart might recognize the location.



Joe D


Joe,

I think most or all of those pictured are F4E's. All on missions to north of the seventeenth parallel in that series.

Fine looking planes.

_________________
"All facts go to clearly prove that Shades is a thrice-cursed traitor & mentally deranged person steeped in inveterate enmity toward mankind"
Back to top
View user's profile Photo Gallery
JG300-Ascout
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 05, 2005
Posts: 6257
Location: Cyberspace
PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 3:25 pm
Post subject: Re: Great pics!

Bob Smart or anybody:

What are the small inlets forward of the pilot's cockpit and low on the nose for?

_________________
"All facts go to clearly prove that Shades is a thrice-cursed traitor & mentally deranged person steeped in inveterate enmity toward mankind"
Back to top
View user's profile Photo Gallery
bsmart
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 23, 2006
Posts: 2523
Location: Central Maryland
PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 4:04 pm
Post subject: Re: Great pics!

- JG300-Stoopy
TON of great pics!!!

WOW!!!!! Love the F-4, I grew up as a little kid watching them haul @ss down on the deck out in the desert near George AFB where we lived!!! Dig the idea of a "Phan-con"!

What a great resource....


I only spent a few weeks at George AFB and don't have very fond memories. It was in the 'spring' of 1982. We were involved in a huge combined exercise (Gallant Eagle 82) that was designed to show the 'Rapid Deployment Force' could deploy and fight anywhere in the world in a very short time.

It was a deployment on the level (or actually above the level) of the initial response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait 8 years later. Airlift was in such short supply that there were C-141Bs that were rushed throuh the 'stretch' program (cut the airframe in front and in back of the wing and insert plugs ) and were flying with Zinc chromate green plugs in front and in back of the wings and the interiors unfinished (as if any airlifter looked like the interior was finished Rolling Eyes ) because they didn't take the time to finish painting them before putting them back in service

Anyway we were living in a tent city and the weather was nasty. The few locals we talked to swore that it was the coldest April they could remember. I remember it raining, snowing, sleeting and hailing in one 24 hour period. On top of that the supply people only planned for enough diesel fuel to heat the tents based on 'normal' weather. Then the fuel supply pipeline into the base had problems with water contamination and they had to start running tank truck convoys over the highway just to proivide fuel for the aircraft let alone provide heat for the tents.

The 82 Airborne flew non stop from the East Coast on the second or third day and jumped in. The problem was that the winds were marginal for the jump when they took off and by the time they arrived were above the normal safety zone. a decision was made that they would jump anyway since this was an 'operational need'. Our pilots were flying top cover for the jump and they said it was spectacular but we heard later that casualties from the jump were heavier than expected. I provided a an airborne BG a ride in our flightline truck when I saw two 'army types' hobbling along the road from towards the command complex. He and the captain with him had both sprained or broken legs and were 'walking' from the Hospital to the CP on crutches. He confirmed there had been several deaths but his one comment has stuck with me. We had heard 5 jumpers died. He said 'Thats true and it sounds terrible and will be all over the news. But when we lose one jumper in a jump of 250 troops no one notices. We put over 7500 people on the ground today. we were actually afraid we would lose 7-10. Overall we did better than we had any right to given the weather'.

Hopefully we began learning lessons about how to deploy large forces (and redeploy them afterwards, The confusion in trying to get everyone back home was terrible) that helped out later but we made a lot of mistakes that time.

_________________
Bob Smart ([email protected])
Back to top
View user's profile Send e-mail
bsmart
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 23, 2006
Posts: 2523
Location: Central Maryland
PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 4:14 pm
Post subject: Re: Great pics!

- JG300-Ascout
Bob Smart or anybody:

What are the small inlets forward of the pilot's cockpit and low on the nose for?

Cooling and possibly Ram air for the M61 Vulcan gun. Not sure if it is just cooling or if it also provides power to a RAT (Ram Air Turbine). They also are on some F-4C &D aircraft. I can't remember if they are on teh Navy F-4Bs. The older radar system put out a lot of heat so it needed a lot of air flowing past it.

Pod mounted M-61s used a RAT to generate the power to work the gun. I'm not sure if the one in the F-4E used that or power from the main power bus.

I don't recognize the ZF tailcode I used to have a list of some of the tailcodes and remember some but ZF doesn't ring any bells.

I know ZZ was the code used by the wing at Kadena when they converted from F-4s to F-15s (about 1979 or so)

_________________
Bob Smart ([email protected])
Back to top
View user's profile Send e-mail
Joe_D
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 29, 2006
Posts: 2068
Location: Razorback Country
PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 4:31 pm
Post subject: Re: Great pics!

Ascout,

I was commenting on the F4's Stoopy said he saw. IIRC by '87 George was a "Wild Weasel" outfit. Sometimes they'd come in so low you'd swear they would hit our antennas. On many occasions you'd feel the heat. Most of the time they'd play the RED force, depending on the ROE. With the A10's being Blue.

Gallant Eagle, big stink over that jump, was all over Stars and Stripes. Described how the winds dragged some troopers to death once they landed. The comments by the paratroopers are so true. There's a reason why they get jump pay (I don't think it's enough). The single fatalities usually never even make local news. The two years I spent at NTC we had at least one fatality per rotation (14 rotations per year back then). Everything from Heat Stroke, to soldiers being crushed by tanks. Certain units were notorious for having fatalities. It was just a dangerous place.

Joe D

BTW: The F4E picture is from Langley
Back to top
View user's profile Photo Gallery
JG300-Ascout
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 05, 2005
Posts: 6257
Location: Cyberspace
PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 4:42 pm
Post subject: Re: Great pics!

- Joe_D
Ascout,

I was commenting on the F4's Stoopy said he saw. IIRC by '87 George was a "Wild Weasel" outfit. Sometimes they'd come in so low you'd swear they would hit our antennas. On many occasions you'd feel the heat.



...and smell the fumes? Smokey devils, ain't they? Laughing

_________________
"All facts go to clearly prove that Shades is a thrice-cursed traitor & mentally deranged person steeped in inveterate enmity toward mankind"
Back to top
View user's profile Photo Gallery
bsmart
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 23, 2006
Posts: 2523
Location: Central Maryland
PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:05 pm
Post subject: Re: Great pics!

- Joe_D
Ascout,

I was commenting on the F4's Stoopy said he saw. IIRC by '87 George was a "Wild Weasel" outfit. Sometimes they'd come in so low you'd swear they would hit our antennas. On many occasions you'd feel the heat. Most of the time they'd play the RED force, depending on the ROE. With the A10's being Blue.

Gallant Eagle, big stink over that jump, was all over Stars and Stripes. Described how the winds dragged some troopers to death once they landed. The comments by the paratroopers are so true. There's a reason why they get jump pay (I don't think it's enough). The single fatalities usually never even make local news. The two years I spent at NTC we had at least one fatality per rotation (14 rotations per year back then). Everything from Heat Stroke, to soldiers being crushed by tanks. Certain units were notorious for having fatalities. It was just a dangerous place.

Joe D

BTW: The F4E picture is from Langley


I didn't even think about Langley but yea the one thing that might have IDed it is behind the plane. I'm guessing it is the transient area near building 757 (the old hangers, the Tower was on Building 756, Most of my time I was assigned in 755)

Yea we heard several troopers were drug on the ground and at least one was hit by a cargo load that was misdropped .

After the main exercise was over the Fighter types set up a 'King of the Hill' competition in the Airspace. The incoming flights would que up with the AWACs and take on whoever currently controlled the sky. We had Navy, Marine, Air Guard, and I think even Canadian aircraft 'playing'

It wasn't much of a contest actually. 1 TFW queued up 8 Eagles and sent one pair into the space. They took it from a Navy F-14 pair. The second Eagle pair watched from the outside until the first two ran low on fuel then 'tagged in' the third pair then got ready while the 1st pair hit a tanker. The fourth pair did an overwatch (Just to make sure no one tried to sneak in while the defenders were busy, you can't trust fighter pilots to play by the rules Mr. Green ) I don't think we lost control of the space the entire time (although the Marines almost did with the Harriers. As one of our pilots said "Those f%#@ers don't fight fair, they STOP" but we had some experience with them from Red Flag Laughing ) They rotated through several times (You burn gas fast in air combat) I wish I had some gun footage from that day or better yet the ACMI recordings that could be played back like a video game. Just the UHF radio we were listemning to was great.

_________________
Bob Smart ([email protected])
Back to top
View user's profile Send e-mail
Joe_D
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 29, 2006
Posts: 2068
Location: Razorback Country
PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 6:03 pm
Post subject: Re: Great pics!

Yep,

I think it was called the transit apron. Being TAC HQ's all sorts of cool stuff would fly in. Riding the bus back from school we'd check to see what was out there. If there was, my friend and I would try to get back out that way to snap a picture without getting caught by the Flight Line SP's. Real pain was getting from the LTA side back over before it got dark. Quite a ways to go when you depend on your feet or a bicycle. I got maybe 8 or 9 decent pictures of different aircraft. None are flying today and some were just about retired at the time (F100). This hobby lasted about 2 months. Cost of film, distance, and lack of decent pictures ended it. That and spending more time with the opposite sex. The latter being the main reason Wink .

Joe D
Back to top
View user's profile Photo Gallery
Shades
Forum Tree-Rat

Offline Offline
Joined: Mar 07, 2005
Posts: 6478
Location: 3rd Branch up, 'Ye Olde Oak', Green Wood.
PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 7:59 pm
Post subject: Re: Great pics!

I used to visit my Aunt and Uncle on the not-exactly-big-city Isle of Wight in the Summer as a pre-teen and watched those beggars buzzing the beaches.
T'was most excellent (as the pre-teens of today might say).

Only other thing I enjoyed on that overgrown sand-castle was the Hendrix festival.., except.., I WAS ON THE OUTSIDE!!!
WHAHHHHH!!!

[edit: Oh.., and all the Red Skwirrells... Mr. Green ]


_________________
Skwerl's place.

Com-Central's cutest, fluffiest, twitchiest, tail.
CPU > Intel i9-9900k (o/c 4.9GHz); COOLING > BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 4;
MOBO > ASUS PRIME Z390-A; RAM > 2x32GB Corsair LPX 2666MHz;
GPU > Gigabyte GEFORCE GTX650Ti PCI-e 3.0 2Gb GDDR5;
AUDIO > Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music (plus - Universal Audio UAD2 Quad Custom accelerator);
HDD > 3x1TB+ M.2. SSDs; LCD > DELL - S2419HGF (1920x1080);
PSU > 650W be quiet Straight Power 11 - 80+ Gold;
CASE > BeQuiet! SILENT BASE 601; OS > Windows 11 Home Advanced (64-bit).
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website ICQ Number
JG300-Stoopy
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 05, 2005
Posts: 5840
Location: Group W bench
PostPosted: Thu Nov 20, 2008 2:51 am
Post subject: Re: Great pics!

- Joe_D
Ascout,

I was commenting on the F4's Stoopy said he saw. IIRC by '87 George was a "Wild Weasel" outfit. Sometimes they'd come in so low you'd swear they would hit our antennas. On many occasions you'd feel the heat. Most of the time they'd play the RED force, depending on the ROE. With the A10's being Blue.


Heya Joe,

I lived in the High Desert south east of George AFB from '62 to about '72, and '62 was maybe a bit early for the F4's but I was only 1 year old at the time anyway and my a/c recognition skills were kinda fuzzy at that age....but anyway, back then the desert was very sparsely populated and it was very easy to be able to see all the way across most of the valley that comprises the Hesperia / Apple Valley / Victorville area. I literally grew up with F4's in the distance and sonic booms and have many great memories of that era.

By around 2nd or 3rd grade my buddies and I were accomplished aircraft spotters and our regular dirt-lot baseball games would be interrupted by the sound of one or two VERY loud jets somewhere across the valley, and we'd all stop and gather together and try to spot 'em. We couldn't always find them but got better at it once we learned to look WAY ahead of the sound, and they'd be down low on the deck just HAULING. This of course led to the revelation that they were supersonic! We'd amassed a good collection of aviation knowledge by that time and had heard about Mach numbers, and the accepted scientific method to calculate Mach was to estimate the plane lengths between where we saw the plane, and where the sound was coming from behind it, and approx. each 10 plane lengths between the plane and the sound it made would equal one Mach number...so it wasn't unusual to see those babies doing Mach 2 about 500 feet above ground, and there were rumors of a Phantom equipped with special engines that could do Mach 3 or 4, easy...but we only saw it a few times and it was always further away than the rest, so gathering intel on it was pretty hard. Smile

My Dad was building a rock retaining wall around the front yard of our house and he and I would get up early and head out in his old Ford pickup truck and go out to Bell mountain, east of George AFB, to go get rocks for it. I wasn't sure why we had to go so far just for rocks, although I think I understand his reasoning now. Anyway, one morning we were picking out rocks that met our criteria and tossing them in the bed of his pickup, and this perfect shadow of a jet airplane came across the ground right through where we were standing as an F4 came over the top of the hill directly overhead....I remember covering my ears and turning to watch it's shadow ripple across the desert floor. COOL!

We moved away and my Mom and I returned in about '77 or so, and I was working at a polishing shop. One of the older employees lived in Lucerne, well east of George AFB, and apparently those F4 drivers REALLY went to town out in that area. He had a private well on his property and a very high water tank that made a good reference point for them I guess, because he said he was buzzed all the time...he'd called the base commander a couple of times to complain, and said the base commander asked if he got a tail number or anything, to which he replied "Hell I can tell you what color eyes that sumb!tch had!!!!"

If I remember right there were some fatalities as well, particularly a story about a pilot who had chosen to ride it in rather than eject over a populated area (may have been Victorville)...but that's maybe local urban legend, I don't know.

Anyway...lots of good memories. Was sad to hear of George closing down when it happened even though I'd moved away again long before it did, and even sadder to see the F4's being retired. But even the desert in that area has changed so much itself, and isn't the grandeur it used to be either, so it's just as well I guess. What a chapter, and I feel lucky to have seen a bit of it.

EDIT: Dang almost forgot! Seeing the Thunderbirds perform in F-4's at Geroge AFB when I was 9 or 10 years old...damn, now THAT was an airshow!!!!

_________________
"Once your reputation is ruined, you can live quite freely."
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website Photo Gallery
RCAF_Wingnut
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 29, 2005
Posts: 786
Location: Omaha, Ne.
PostPosted: Thu Nov 20, 2008 6:12 am
Post subject: Re: Great pics!



Gentilemen, I spent the better part of 11 years working around F-4D, F-4E, and F-4G aircraft, while I was in the US Air Force. Oh, and Joe_D, I was one of those flight line Security Police (Sp's). Of course the aircraft pictured above was an F-4E. That section under the nose with the black front was a 20mm Vulcan cannon. The engine intakes are located on the sides of the aircraft, behind the pilot in front, and between him and the back seater. There are 2 members of the aircrew. The rear seater is called a weapon systems operator, or Wizzo. He helps the pilot operate the main weapons, except the nose cannon, and identifies the targets for him. There are two small air inlets down low on the fuselage in front , and I think they were inlets to help keep some of the electronics cool, and for instrumentation on the plane.



Here is a closer view of the E model so you can see the intakes and the gun.

The D model didn't have a gun as a permanent part of the plane. Later in the Vietnam war, it was determined that the aircraft was unable to defend itself effectively with just missiles, and they made centerline pods that contained a 20MM cannon. It wasn't as accurate as the E model because it was brought in as a stop gap measure until they could get aircraft with cannons mounted as part of the plane. The targeting system wasn't linked with the gun pod, so the pilot had to guess the deflection when shooting. the tracers loaded in the gun helped a little. In the E model, the gun targeting system was linked with the gun, so the plane could do help with deflection when in gun combat.



Here is an example of the D model, and you can tell it doesn't have the cannon in the nose. In fact, it was one of the aircraft that I work around, note the SP on the tail. All of the F-4s at Spangdahlem (SP) had those letters.

Here is a couple ideas of what the SUU-23/A gun pods looked like that was used on the F-4D.





The F-4G look like the F-4E except the section where the gun was, didn't have an opening in the front for a gun. It was used as a sensor that detected anti-aircraft missile radar systems in operation. The G model, also called the Wild Weasel was used to locate and destroy those Sam radar sites so the rest of the bombers and fighters could go into a target area without the threat of being shot down by the missiles. The crews set themselves up as a target to get the enemy to target them, and when they did, it was too late. The Harm anti-radiation missile system carried on the G was already locked and launched.

Here is a picture of an F-4G. The two outer missiles are Harms. You can tell by the clipped fins at the rear of the missile. Sparrow missiles have fins like the front ones on the Harms, both front and rear.


_________________
"May your Enemys Run With Fear!!"
Back to top
View user's profile Photo Gallery
JG300-Stoopy
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 05, 2005
Posts: 5840
Location: Group W bench
PostPosted: Thu Nov 20, 2008 1:24 pm
Post subject: Re: Great pics!

There was a very good documentary on the F4 Phantom on the Military Channel I saw a while back, that went into detail about that gun pod - there were two versions, as I understand? Something to do with the first version having some problems with the generator, which had a pop-out design to put it into the windstream and spool up, so as to power the gun.

They had a lot of footage of that gun pod in action and it was pretty impressive.....

_________________
"Once your reputation is ruined, you can live quite freely."
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website Photo Gallery
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic    Revive this topic    Printer Friendly Page    Forum Index ›  Officer's Club
Page 1 of 2
All times are GMT - 6 Hours
Go to page 1, 2  Next

Archive Revive
Username:
This is an archived topic - your reply will not be appended here.
Instead, a new topic will be generated in the active forum.
The new topic will provide a reference link to this archived topic.