The F4 Phantom Crew Chief.

[jeepnik]

Was this the craft where the whole cockpit ejected from the aircraft?

No, individual ejection seats.

We had a guy eject himself out of a Phantom in a hanger one night, killed him sure enough.

Hmm, seems like it happened more than once then.

[264 Win Mag]

[/quote]

No, individual ejection seats.

We had a guy eject himself out of a Phantom in a hanger one night, killed him sure enough.[/quote]

Hmm, seems like it happened more than once then.[/quote]

Part of our annual safety training consisted of a video that had a bunch of information covering many unplanned seat activation events. Video even has the skull xray of some one who was in a seat that ejected inside a hanger or shelter. As much as we tried to be tough this training always brought back how dangerous our everyday tasks were.

Thomas

[Pitchy]

Thanks all for your contributions to this thread.

264 Win Mag, i looked on Flash earth once and noticed the line shacks looked pretty nice with lawn around them.
When i was there they were pretty small with only a swamp cooler.
What were they like when you were there and what year?

[264 Win Mag]

Thanks all for your contributions to this thread.

264 Win Mag, i looked on Flash earth once and noticed the line shacks looked pretty nice with lawn around them.
When i was there they were pretty small with only a swamp cooler.
What were they like when you were there and what year?

I arrived in January 1983 and the 311th had a fairly new building attached to the flightline side of the F-15 hanger. It was two story with the unit maintenance officer upstairs. Probably less than five years old with really nice air-conditioning! The lawn around the building and it's upkeep is the basis for several war stories itself Since the 311th was the "Sidewinders" we even had a rattlesnake in a terrarium but he did not appreciate the air-conditioning like we did.

Thomas

[Pitchy]

[Idahoser]

my first assignment as 431x1 was Hahn AB WEST Germany. I was there when we got rid of the F-4Es and got F-16A/Bs. Never got a ride in the Phantom but did in the Falcon.
Went back a few years later and was playing in the sandbox when they started closing Hahn.
Every stripe I had to earn, I earned at Hahn.

[missionary5155]

Greetings
Closest I was to a Phantom was back in 73 sitting on a hilltop in an M60A1. The local "jockeys" were making mock runs on our "defended" hill. The one that got the closest came in flat and very low, nosed up about the hill center crest and cut in the burners. Remarkable how far out those "lighters" will throw a fire cone. We got a good chuckle out of that thinking how we were to write up the report about how the hill top caught fire without mentioning the low pass on target.
Mike in ILL Armor 71-74

[Pitchy]

I have nothing but admeration and respect to all those that went over seas and were in the battle.
I turned 18 in 72 and enlisted in the AF, when we were on the firing line we could only shoot semi auto.
There was a tall wood fence to our right and they were shooting full auto on the other side.
I asked why we couldn`t shoot full auto and was told they were going to Nam and then asked if i still wanted to shoot full auto.
My reply was no this is fine.
I`d went in a heart beat but glad i missed it and did the best i could state side for my country.
But i really admire those that appreciate the F4 for being there for them in the battle.
Cheers.

[Mike S.]

Awesome thread...thanks for posting it!

F-4's predate me by a bit....but the Blue Angels were performing with them the day I was born at Misawa AFB in Northern Japan. Somewhere I have some pics from the base newspaper. And every year on my birthday, my dad tells me how the Blue Angels were flying when I was born.

Thanks for your service!

Mike

[MrMurphy]

Never been behind a Phantom on takeoff, though I've been under one...... They lifted off over us right at the end of the strip. Full four ship flight of Turkish F-4s.


Also been directly behind a RAF Tornado lifting for a strike on Afghanistan or possibly Iraq (wasn't in on their briefing but they had two bombs and a rocket pod loaded plus a wing tank IIRC), which even sitting inside a vehicle with ear pro on, was louder than I'd have liked.

Being directly under four B-1B's lifting off on burners for Afghanistan with our wing king in the lead bird was more interesting than I'd have liked either. Even a quarter mile out they had enough force to rock a multi-ton armored vehicle going over.....

[samb]

The Phantom, my alltime favorite fighter, love that thing going away in afterburner!!!!!!! Thank you for your service Pitchy.

[Pitchy]

Remember Hutch in the TV series Black Sheep Squadron, miss that show.

[Bill in Oregon]

Pitchy, dunno how I missed this until now. The F-4 was my favorite of the fighters, and living in Tacoma in the 1960s, we saw a lot of the older aircraft: F101, 102, 104 and 105s. We used to have a decent air show here in the Rogue River Valley and the Phantoms always stole the show with the "down and dirty" low pass followed by the high speed and then the afterburners straight up. Nothing rattles your sternum like a Phantom on afterburners!
Thanks for taking such good care of our Phantom pilots.
My late uncle, Champ Pitts, was also a crew chief -- on the P-47 in WWII!

[Pitchy]

Thanks bro.
Wasn`t the 105`s the ones that broke the pilots legs if the ejected?

[Bill in Oregon]

Pitchy, I'm not the one to ask. Last time I saw an F-105 Thunderchief there four of them in low pass over us at Fort Lewis -- so low you could feel the heat. I would have been about 12 and LOVIN' IT BABY!

[Bullet Bob]

I was in the Air Force from 1970-85.

Do you know why F4's are able to fly so fast?

If you had two rear-ends and they were both on fire, you'd move too.


(Cleaned up slightly)

[Pitchy]

I was in the Air Force from 1970-85.

Do you know why F4's are able to fly so fast?

If you had two rear-ends and they were both on fire, you'd move too.


(Cleaned up slightly)

good point

[Pitchy]

Pitchy, I'm not the one to ask. Last time I saw an F-105 Thunderchief there four of them in low pass over us at Fort Lewis -- so low you could feel the heat. I would have been about 12 and LOVIN' IT BABY!

I`m thinking it was the 104`s that had ejection issues.

[Pitchy]

[kasTX]

I`m thinking it was the 104`s that had ejection issues.

I think they did have a number of problems, but probably not the one you are referring to. The F-104 shot the pilot out the bottom instead of the top.

[Pitchy]

I`m thinking it was the 104`s that had ejection issues.

I think they did have a number of problems, but probably not the one you are referring to. The F-104 shot the pilot out the bottom instead of the top.

Well someone will have to help my poor memory, they had them at Luke in the early 70`s.
That was the story i heard, it was a single engine silver bird.

[Bill in Oregon]

Seems like the Starfire also saw a lot of NATO use in Europe didn't it?

[264 Win Mag]

I`m thinking it was the 104`s that had ejection issues.

I think they did have a number of problems, but probably not the one you are referring to. The F-104 shot the pilot out the bottom instead of the top.

Well someone will have to help my poor memory, they had them at Luke in the early 70`s.
That was the story i heard, it was a single engine silver bird.

Germans were still flying them at Luke while I was there in the early 80's.

Thomas

[jeepnik]

When the Weasles came back, a lot of rumors about the F-105 flew around. I heard the one about the ejection seat breaking legs, but I talked to a couple of pilots who did eject, and they didn't break anything. I'm wondering if it was when they ejected at ground level and didn't have enough time to separate from the seat (after the chute opened) and hit the ground still attached.

Broken legs or not, the Martin Baker "zero/zero" seat saved a number of lives. But as Pitchy and I can attest, inattention while working on them took some as well.

Oh, and with regards to the F-104, the early seats did eject downward. Later models had seats designed to eject upward. I'm pretty sure all of the early aircraft were retrofitted with the upward ejecting seat.

Someone mentioned that the F-111 had a pod that was ejected. The SR-71 also ejected the pilot's "pod".

The Air Force had an emergency egress manual that covered all of their aircraft, and some from other nations. These were kept in the cabs of all firefighting vehicles. One thing we were expected to learn, was how to accomplish crew extraction from these aircraft, in addition to things like emergency shut down procedures, and how to safety the various ejection seats. Thinking back, I'm amazed I had all that stuff down. But, young minds just seem to absorb that kind of stuff.

[Pitchy]

Thanks for that jeepnik
I remember one of those planes that the pilot removed himself from, it flamed out at the end of the run way landed in a field and when it came to a stop the pilot was out and running across the field.

[Ji in Hawaii]

Growing up in Kailua right next to the Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station, and spending weekends on dad's boat in the waters of Kaneohe Bay I grew up with Marine F-4 Phantoms of VMFA-212 "Lancers" flying overhead on a regular basis so always a familiar sight during the '60s and into the mid '70s. As a kid I thought the F-4 were the baddest things in the sky. I still have a model of an F-4 my dad I made over 40 years. Great memories.

[kasTX]

Someone mentioned that the F-111 had a pod that was ejected. The SR-71 also ejected the pilot's "pod".

You might be thinking of the XB-70 or the B-58, which had seats that encapsulated the pilots before ejection. The SR-71 had more normal ejection seats.

As bad as ejecting from an SR-71 sounds, one pilot survived an in-flight breakup when he was ejected from the seat due to the forces of the breakup:

http://www.barthworks.com/aviation/sr71breakup.htm

[southfork]

Worked with Phantoms at Zweibrucken Air base, Germany after my stint in SE Asia (with B-52's). These were RF-4 versions as we were a reconaissance unit. With the engines still running we would download imagery taken along the East german border (photo imagery, side-looing radar, infra-red imagery, etc. No wonder I'm near deaf today!

And take it easy on the "college-boy" comments, guys. We worked our BUTTS off in the heat, sweat and noise too!

- Jack USAF 72-77

[Dave James]

Cash, spend some time with the LRP's in 68-70

[C. Cash]

Cash, spend some time with the LRP's in 68-70

That makes sense......thank you for your service Dave!

Watching the Thunderbirds in the early-mid 70's, when they flew Phantoms was a highlight of my young life. They alway came to Williams AFB near Mesa, AZ.

[jeepnik]

Cash, spend some time with the LRP's in 68-70

That makes sense......thank you for your service Dave!

Watching the Thunderbirds in the early-mid 70's, when they flew Phantoms was a highlight of my young life. They alway came to Williams AFB near Mesa, AZ.

If they were flying Phantoms it was early 70's. They switched to T-38's in '74 as a fuel saving measure. That was kinda sad as the T-38 was much harder to see, and easier to manuver. Yanking and banking a heavy Phantom too considerably more effort tham the little and nimble T-38. When they went to the F-16 they got some size back, and a very manuverable bird at the same time.

[C. Cash]

Must have been 72 or 73 then. Yes saw them with the t-38's there as well.

[Griff]

I have hundreds of pics of F4s in flight. I need to sort thru 'em and get the 35mm slides onto digital. Had lots of opportuniity doin' SAR and carrier escort in the Tonkin Gulf my 2nd & 3rd tours.

[Pitchy]

I have hundreds of pics of F4s in flight. I need to sort thru 'em and get the 35mm slides onto digital. Had lots of opportuniity doin' SAR and carrier escort in the Tonkin Gulf my 2nd & 3rd tours.

[Dave James]

I should know, old man was a Naval Aviator, but I hate to admit if it wasn't an Air Force "Sandy" it wad just another jet, but THANK GOD FOR THEM! Never been much for long walks home

[Baja_Traveler]

Love that plane!

Oshkosh '05...

[Pitchy]

Baja_Traveler, nice pictures, really like the one from the tail end.