by Christopher Chatterton

Created on: May 14, 2008   Last Updated: September 09, 2008

All about the F-4 Phantom

The mentality of the Cold War period of 1945-1989 was that 'big was best'.
As the jet age came into its own in the 1960's, the technology of the jet engine reached its next logical conclusion in the form of the F-4 Phantom.

The F-4 was capable of reaching 'G'-inducing speeds of Mach 2.27, thanks to two General Electric turbojets that could generate 17,000lbs of thrust each (Richardson et al, 1991). That is more than the current Navy equivalent, the FA-18 Hornet is capable of and allowed the F-4 to pull off truly remarkable manoeuvres by the courageous pilots who flew them.

The Granddaddy of all Modern Jet Fighters

In common with current military doctrine, the military planners of the 1950's sought to utilize technology to distance man from the business end of warfare; closing with the enemy and killing him.
The F-4 Phantom was the pinnacle of aeronautical design in 1958, and the US Navy relied heavily upon the new technology of radar seeking missiles to destroy the enemy from distance, to the point where they omitted the use of a gun altogether (Anon, 1996).

Now fifty years old, the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom, is the pre-cursor of all modern avionic-based Air-superiority fighters (Richardson et al, 1991).
Initially designed as a multi-role fighter for the USAF, US Navy and US Marine Corp, the F-4 was capable of carrying out a ground attack role as well as intercepting the premier Soviet fighter at the time, the MiG-21.

Indeed it was the first fighter aircraft to be designed to shoot beyond visual range with radar-guided missiles and was the first plane in the world designed to detect, target and fire at enemy fighters, without any assistance from ground radar stations (Anon, 2008).

However, it was in its primary role as the US Navy's first modern fleet defence fighter that the F-4 was renowned for. Initially launching from carriers around the South China Sea during the Vietnam War, the F-4 participated in close air support, air defence suppression and reconnaissance missions that characterised the unpredictable nature of jungle warfare (Woodruff, 2000).

Finding itself in various roles it was never really designed to do (including dog fighting), the F-4 became the most produced fighter in the USAF during the period 1959-1979, with 72 Phantoms coming off the production line every month during the Vietnam War (Anon, 1999).

Since its inception, the Phantom II has been exported to dozens of countries around the world, including Israel, where the

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