PHANTOM F4E

Even before the 5,000th McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II was delivered in mid-1978, the aircraft had a production history which far outstripped that of any other recent combat jet aircraft in the Western world.

The Phantom's success, originally attributable to its excellent fighter and strike aircraft qualities, was boosted by the demand for the type during the Vietnam war. During 1967 the production rate at McDonnell Douglas's St Louis factory peaked at 72 aircraft per month.

The Phantom has been used as a front-line aircraft by 12 nations-and remains in service with 11 countries.

The Phantom is a large fighter with a top speed of over Mach 2.2. It can carry more than 18,000 pounds (8,400 kg) of weapons on nine external hardpoints, including air-to-air missiles, air-to-ground missiles, and various bombs. The F-4, like other interceptors of its time, was initially designed without an internal cannon. Later models incorporated an M61 Vulcan rotary cannon. Beginning in 1959, it set 15 world records for in-flight performance,[6] including an absolute speed record and an absolute altitude record.[7]

The F-4 was used extensively during the Vietnam War. It served as the principal air superiority fighter for the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps and became important in the ground-attack and aerial reconnaissance roles late in the war. During the Vietnam War, all five American servicemen who became aces – one U.S. Air Force pilot, two weapon systems officers (WSOs),[8] one U.S. Navy pilot and one radar intercept officer (RIO) – did so in F-4s.[9] The F-4 continued to form a major part of U.S. military air power throughout the 1970s and 1980s, being gradually replaced by more modern aircraft such as the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon in the U.S. Air Force, the F-14 Tomcat in the U.S. Navy, and the F/A-18 Hornet in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps.
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