JASDF F-4EJ Phantom operations, final year.

[MikeD]

Video from the JASDF 302nd Tac Fighter Squadron that closed down last year. Two of the squadron birds done in a special livery, one black, one white. Look when they takeoff and do a bank for the camera, the markings atop the wings: JASDF F-4 wing patch on one side, and the McDonnell Douglas Phantom “spook” on the other. Great paint job.

Extremely high quality HD videos.

All that is left of JASDF Phantoms is one fighter squadron of F-4EJs, the 301st Tac Fighter ; due to retire in December of this year.

That will leave the remaining users of the F-4 Phantom to be Turkey, Greece, South Korea, and Iran. All with F-4E model variants. With Iran being the only user in the world also with the F-4D model variant.

 

[MikeD]

The last RF-4EJ squadron, the 501st Tac Recon, they retired back in March. Nicely done video.

 

[MikeD]

The last JASDF Phantom squadron, the 301st, still flying until December.

 

[Low&Slow]

Geez...It's about time.
Maybe they'll upgrade to UAS for those missions.

 

[NovemberEcho]

Geez...It's about time.
Maybe they'll upgrade to UAS for those missions.

F-35’s and they’re working on their own stealth fighter as well that’s supposed to enter service in the 2030’s

 

[Box hauler]

I have a soft spot for the both F4’s. My grandfather started his career in the Corsair and after 35 years of naval service finished his career as a phantom instructor. To this day I occasionally put on the helmet and read his logbooks like a child.

 

[MikeD]

Flew a good few sorties in the Phantom. The damn thing has a hell of a lot of power to it.

 

[NovemberEcho]

Flew a good few sorties in the Phantom. The damn thing has a hell of a lot of power to it.

well it’s certainly not it’s aerodynamics keeping it flying

 

[TWP]

This plane always screamed “war machine” to me. The aesthetics are just perfect, it looks like something a kid would draw if you told him to design a fighter plane. Glad I got to see them fly a couple times at air shows.

 

[NovemberEcho]

I almost got a ride in the back of the Legacy Squadron F-4 but couldn’t make it work. Had to settle for the F-15.

 

[Bob Ridpath]

Loved the F-4s. Spent a year at Galena AFS, AK in support of the two F-4s there. It was amazing to watch and listen to them as they left on missions (training/intercept?/whatever). There were roughly 300 of us on the remote base in support of those two aircraft and their crews. Interestingly, the F-4s were flown out for roughly three months while the runway was resurfaced in 1974. Aircrew went with them to wherever. Most of us simply stayed, did our jobs and waited for their return. I always wondered what those two aircraft were going to do if the Russians came across the Bering Strait but, looking back, I’m happy I got to spend the year there.

 

[MikeD]

Loved the F-4s. Spent a year at Galena AFS, AK in support of the two F-4s there. It was amazing to watch and listen to them as they left on missions (training/intercept?/whatever). There were roughly 300 of us on the remote base in support of those two aircraft and their crews. Interestingly, the F-4s were flown out for roughly three months while the runway was resurfaced in 1974. Aircrew went with them to wherever. Most of us simply stayed, did our jobs and waited for their return. I always wondered what those two aircraft were going to do if the Russians came across the Bering Strait but, looking back, I’m happy I got to spend the year there.

probably went to the other alert site there at King Salmon AFS?

 

[Pilot Fighter]

As a kid, I saw both the Blues and the Thunderbirds flying Phantoms. Oh, the sound!

 

[FlyingAccountant]

Flew a good few sorties in the Phantom. The damn thing has a hell of a lot of power to it.

My uncle flew them for most of the 60s including in combat in Vietnam - was his favorite airplane out of everything he flew.

 

[A Life Aloft]

I so love these videos, found another....I like the music versions and the normal sounds and grateful that both are available. I dunno but there's so much more excitement and a real physical body reaction when you see the damn afterburners on Military planes. I mean if fire doesn't shoot out the ass end, then screw it. lol No one going to an airshow full of current civilian pax planes.

Sound version

 

[NovemberEcho]

I dunno but there's so much more excitement and a real physical body reaction when you see the damn afterburners on Military planes

night flying schedule was so freaking cool watching the -15’s and 22’s takeoff and all you could see was 20’ of blue flame streaking down the runway

 

[A Life Aloft]

At 32 seconds............roasting multiple turkeys, whole sides of beef and an entire bison.

You gonna need one of these though.......

 

[MikeD]

This is with turbofan engines with AB.

Then, there is the next step up: straight turbojet engines with AB. Large turbojets with no bypass, what goes in, goes out the back, plus AB. If one hasn’t seen and also heard the hard light of the AB lighting on an F-105/F-106 and their J75 engines, one hasn’t lived.

 

[A Life Aloft]

The Four Horsemen.............................

The Mighty Thuds......

 

[NovemberEcho]

The Mighty Thuds.....

trivia time. They got the nickname Thud because of the sound they made when they hit the ground because so many were getting shot down.