The International Cessna^® 170 Association

Tonight, Friday August 3, 2007, on the History channel program "Dogfights" will feature my fellow Instructor Pilot, Dee Simmons, CAE SimuFlite who will tell the story of his exploits while flying the F-4 in SE Asia.

9 Eastern, 8 Central.

That was an interesting segment George. Of course when it came on I had shut the computer down and couldn't remember which guy was your friend. The old Phantom was quite a bird. Do any of you remember what the original Air Force designation was going to be? It was to be the F-_ _ _. (answer below) Air Force decided not to purchase the plane, but the Navy did so, it became the F-4 and afterward the Air Force took a second look and the rest is history. (This is something I read many years ago & can't attest to its correctness, but apparently it is true.) I understand the glide ratio of an F-4 was like the perverbal brick. Quite a workhorse though. AF was going to designate the F-4 as the F-110. That number never got applied to any AF plane I don't think.

Sounds pretty "Cold-War" ...Wikipedia says:
"The United States Air Force received Phantoms as the result of Robert McNamara’s push to create a unified fighter for all branches of the military. After an F-4B won the Operation Highspeed fly-off against the F-106 Delta Dart, the USAF borrowed two Naval F-4Bs, temporarily designating them F-110A Spectre in January 1962, and developed requirements for their own version. Unlike the Navy focus on interception, the USAF emphasized a fighter-bomber role. With McNamara’s unification of designations on 18 September 1962, the Phantom became the F-4 with the Naval version designated F-4B and USAF F-4C. The first Air Force Phantom flew on 27 May 1963, exceeding Mach 2 on its maiden flight.

Phantom II production ended in the United States in 1979 after 5,195 had been built (5,057 by McDonnell Douglas and 138 in Japan by Mitsubishi), making it the second most produced and exported American military-jet; (the F-86 Sabre still remains the most numerous jet-powered warplane produced and exported by the United States.) Of these, 2,874 went to the USAF, 1,264 to the Navy and Marine Corps, and the rest to foreign customers. The last US-built F-4 went to Turkey, while the last F-4 ever built was completed in 1981 as an F-4EJ by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan. As of 2001, about 1,100 Phantoms remained in service worldwide, including QF-4 drones* operated by the US military."

*When Jamie and I toured Davis-Monathans in '95 there were lots of them sitting out in the desert alongside their engines in crates...(once certified with a particular airframe the engines must remain with that specific airframe for some obsure certification reason.) It was a sad thing to behold....beautiful airplanes destined for deliberate destruction. I wonder how much their titanium center-sections bring to us taxpayers when the chinese take delivery of that scrap. (Titanium is now an expensive material because of scarcity.)

i just got back from wash d.c.
while there i saw 'fighter pilot'
at the i max theater at the
air and space museum.
was pretty cool.
dave

i also saw linbergh's plane!
i'm always in awe of it.

he flew ALONE across the atlantic in THAT!!!!

still the greatest aviation achievement ever!!
iowa

Name someone with the initials "C.A.L." who in 1927 departed New York and flew across the Atlantic in a single-engined airplane to a tumultuous welcome!
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0698/geduld1.html

i'm familiar w/him,
and had he achieved the feat 1st,
lindbergh would have been forgotten,
and his plane would have hung in the smithonian instead!!
but he wasn't.....
history is filled with a litany of 'almosts'
dave

iowa wrote:i'm familiar w/him,
and had he achieved the feat 1st,
lindbergh would have been forgotten,
and his plane would have hung in the smithonian instead!!
but he wasn't.....
history is filled with a litany of 'almosts'
dave

It should remain as a lesson to us arrogant's out here, how not to behave.

and the mob is out there
and foolishly decide what is the greatest.
how may idiotic songs have been #1?
or the sad list of academy awards given
in lieu of the time tested real classics?
i'm just spouting off george!!
dave