F-4B Phantom 1:48

[hyair]

This image was taken in 1998 in Pima air moseum in Arizona where I lived 5 years in a mission at the time. The aircraft on a show were in good condition partly because the low humide climate conditions
in Arizona.

Yair

[Vinalssergio155]

Beautiful photo.Today I am somewhat thoughtful, to think that we admire these machines and at the same time I think that so many people died in them and for them and I feel weird.

[hyair]

Hi Sergio - this remind me a story of the first Jordanian Hawker Hunter kill by a Mirage in 1966. It was the longest dogfight lasted 8.5 min and at the end the Jordanian pilot ejected at the wrong second into mountain wall and was killed.
The Israeli pilot that was interviewed many years later said that he felt that the

Jordanian pilot that was the squadron leader had the right to live !


Yair

[hyair]

The Jordanian pilots were trained in GB and were considered the best arab pilots.
The dodfight was carried at low altitude and the Hunter had very good performane against the Mirage at this level.
It took more than 8 min until the late Ran Pecker who was the Israelian pilot to put the piper on the target and to kill the Hunter.I send some photos of the dogfight
as both with the correct Israeli and Jordanian paint scheme in 1:48 scale.

Yair

[hyair]

The mig -19 unlike the 17 and 21 was not considered a big success. In Soviet hands it had a tendency to blow-up in flight due to fuel and oil drains in the hot aft section that was always very hot and had many small cooling vents. Also it was hard to fly compare to the mig-17 and not as nimble.
In China the type was going into mass production after most of these bugging issues were rectified and some 4000 ! were built. In 1969 China supplied a small batch of 44 mig-19 to Vietnam. These mig -19's
were active in 1972 . The F-4E Phantom was equiped by then with the 20 nm Vulcan
which was excellent against fighter aircrafts .A very special dogfight was carried between the two and at supersonic speed of mach 1.2 the Phantom pilot was able to fire with the Vulcan and kill the
mig -19. This was the first tine of a supersonic kill with a gun !

Yair

[southwestforests]

Model pairs make nice illustrations for the event accounts.

MiG-19 and F-4 story brings to mind a MiG-21 versus F-4 story read decades ago, F-4 pilot got the 21 in his sights and had the momentary thought that its polished natural metal finish sure made it a pretty little airplane, he hated to have to destroy it, and then F-4 pilot pulled the trigger, because that's how war works.

And then talking about ejection seat failures brings to mind an old USAF training film which at least a couple people have posted to YouTube.

While this covers making decisions, in combat you do kinda have to eject right then, with no debate about timing.

“Ejection Decision: A Second Too Late!” Is a 1981 US Air Force training film for aircrews who fly aircraft with ejection seats. The film shows scenes from real life ejection scenarios and interviews with pilots who have made emergency ejections to help emphasizes the importance of making timely ejection decisions. Here, psychology is important, as escape technology cannot make up for the fact that pilots can make poor decisions about leaving an out-of-control aircraft.

https://youtu.be/dyjYp6WT7ww

And this related alternative is interesting, at least it is to me,

Ejection seats have saved many lives, but did you ever wonder why they send the pilot's seat flying out, along with the pilot? It’s not like other unnecessary parts of the plane come along for the ride.

Stanley Aviation came along and proved that such an alternative is possible and practical, and their system was ultimately installed in a number of A-1 Skyraiders. Stanley's alternative was called the Yankee Escape System, and now - for the first time in decades - you can see it in action.

https://youtu.be/8Yw8g1Soigk

[hyair]

Southwestforests - thanks for your inputs here !

Yair

[hyair]

During the rolling thunder 1965- 1968 two Aircraft's were the main fighters
over the deadly North Vietnam sky - the F-105 and F-4 .
The F-105 role was to bomb all the vital points in NV and was responsible for 75% of strike mission against NV. While the F-105 was operated only by the Airforce the F-4 was also by the NAVY and Marines .
The main role of the F-4 was to protect the F-105 from Migs .
Since they were involved heavily in the war both suffered huge loses - 395 f-105 and some 600 F-4 from all arms.
Since it is a big issue it will be covered in the next chapters.
Some images of the two side by side in 1:48 scale.

Yair -will continue

[hyair]

The F-105 is one of the better Geli models although it represents one of the B model prototypes and not the D model. As usual I reduced it to my standard scale of 1:48.
The weight of the two is around 25 ton and the F-4 has more wing area so it was more suited to dogfights while the sleek bullet shape of the thud gave him a speed
advantage at low level !!!

Yair

[hyair]

The F-105 Thud was the main work horse over north Vietnam during the rolling thunder campaign between 1965-1968. The Thud flew 75% of the attack missions over north Vietnam- more than any other US type.
There were two big air bases in north Thailand that operated the Thuds.
A runway of almost 10000 feet was needed to launch the Thud with 8 bombs
and in a hot day water injection was used in the J-75 for increasing the engine thrust in full afterburner. Therefore prior to the attacks in NV there was a need for air refueling the bomb loaded Thuds. Upon reaching NV there was a mountain ridge that was used for penetrating NV by the Thuds that eventually after a while was named " Thud Ridge ". There was a good reason for this name as many Thuds remains decorated that ridge. It was the Thud that flew each and every day risky bomb missions and the north Vietnamese were more than prepared for that. The north Vietnamese created the most heavily defended array of anti aircraft guns of 23,37,57,85 and 100 mm which many were guided with radar and proximity fuse. If that was not enough more than 100 sites of SAM-2 air to air missiles were built from 1966 on. Special tactics were developed to evade these missiles that looked like telephone poles but when the Thuds were flying low it was the anti aircraft fire that was the most dangerous and was responsible to the majority of the downed F-105's. One of the pilots described it as " we were like sitting ducks for the North Vietnamese ". The Thud thanks to his high speed at low level could fly with bomb load at speeds of almost 600 knots- some 50 knots more than the Phantom and after bomb release could go supersonic on the deck!!!
However when the Thud was flying at low level it was a big target and therefore very vulnerable to anti aircraft fire. The fuel tanks that were added in the bomb bay were not self sealing and if the hydraulic system was hit the plane became uncontrollable. At a very late stage a mechanic system was installed that helped in this regard - but it was too late for some 80 Thud pilots that lost control and had to eject over NV. At the second half of 1967 almost each day at least one Thud was lost in NV - this high rate of attrition created a situation that not many remained in service after the Vietnam war.
Most of the prisoners pilots in " Hilton Hanoi " were Thud pilots as more than 395 were lost over the NV deadly skies.
In the next chapter the F-4 Phantom will be introduced .
This model represent Geli model in 1: 48 scale and is one of the prototypes of the B type that was not participated in Vietnam War..

Yair