F-4 Phantom II Documentary (1987)

Video from the channel Mike Guardia about McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 56:12. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

A 1987 documentary about the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II covering its origin, the development of its engine, the aircraft's structure, its use from carriers and in Vietnam, its export versions and the milestones of its production. It combines period footage of testing, naval operations and combat with a detailed exterior walkaround of an F-4B.

The project began in the early 1950s as McDonnell's twin-engine AH-1 attack aircraft. In May 1955 it was reworked as the F4H-1 two-seat fleet-defence fighter, able to exceed Mach 2 and armed with four Sparrow missiles instead of cannon. The XF4H-1 prototype rolled out on 27 May 1958 at Lambert Field (St. Louis), and its first flight, with Bob Little at the controls, was cut short by a hydraulic failure. The documentary devotes part of its runtime to General Electric's J79 turbojet, with a variable-stator compressor, which was flight-tested under a modified B-45 in May 1955 and later on an XF4D-1 Skyray at Edwards. The Phantom entered Navy service in 1961. In Vietnam it was flown by the Navy, the Marines (at Chu Lai, from 1968) and the Air Force, in the F-4C, F-4D and F-4E versions; the latter added an internal M61 cannon. The United Kingdom adopted variants with Rolls-Royce Spey engines: the F-4K and the F-4M.

Its records include a climb to 98,556 feet in December 1959, an absolute speed of 1,606 mph in November 1961, and a west-to-east crossing of the United States in 2 h 47 min in May 1961. It had eleven foreign operators and flew with the Blue Angels aerobatic team (F-4J, until 1974) and the Thunderbirds (F-4E). The 5,000th Phantom, an F-4E for the Turkish Air Force, was delivered on 24 May 1978.