May 27, 1958

Well it’s that time again. 🙂

46 years ago today, the prototype XF4H-1 took off for its maiden flight at Lambert Field in St. Louis, Missouri.

Thus, was the beginning of one of the world’s greatest combat aircraft to ever fly. Built in greater numbers than any other Western jet fighter aside from the F-86, and in production for over 21 years, the Phantom was, for decades, the fighter upon which all others were judged. Never perfect in any one role (except for maybe SEAD 🙂 ), the F-4 was good at all of them, and was combat proven in the skies of Southeast Asia, the skies of the Middle East & Persian Gulf, and the skies over Bosnia. It amassed a tally of hundreds of air-to-air victories, and was responsible for the destruction of some of the most heavily defended air defense networks in history. Some may poke fun at me for making this thread saying she’s old and useless in a modern air arm, but she’s here to stay for at least another 10 years in roles such as air superiroity, air defense, SEAD, recce, precision-strike, anti-ship, and close air support.

Here are some of my favorite Phantom photos gathered from all around the Web. My apologies to any of the photographers if I’m “stealing” their work. It’s not intended.

Here’s to James S. McDonnell, and what I consider his greatest contribution to modern military aviation.

Phantoms Phorever!

BuNo. 142259 on May 27, 1958 🙂

Last of the St. Louis Rhinos…..destined for South Korea

God Bless America…and the Blue Angels. 🙂

We musn’t forget the mighty Thunderbirds.

Probably my favorite Thunderbird photo.

Fox-1!

Number 5,000…destined for Turkey

One of the most phamous Phantoms…62-12200

Whoever this person is, they got a great angle….is there anything meaner than this on the ramp?

Okay I guess this is. 🙂

Ah..the Kurnass.

P.S. Skythe I hope you don’t mind me using the images from your site. I’ll take ’em off if you don’t want them up.

P.S.S. I guess I’ll just remove several of the ones that aren’t working anymore. Hopefully you guys can pick up the slack. Let’s make this a big F-4 photo thread!

Have a great day everyone!