The sierra hotel video in this post is possibly the coolest F-4 Phantom II footage ever filmed.
The Noise You Hear is the Sound of Freedom!
Posted on f4flys YouTube channel, the s**t hot video in this post is possibly the coolest F-4 Phantom footage ever filmed.
The footage in fact features USAF F-4 and RF-4 Phantom IIs flying extremely low with J79 noise (along with some spectacular sonic booms) and no background music.
Thanks to the General Electric J79 turbojet engine which generated a maximum of 17,000 pounds of thrust with the afterburner operating the mighty Phantom was able to fly at more than Mach 2.
First flown in May 1958, the Phantom II originally was developed for US Navy fleet defense. The US Air Force’s first version, the F-4C, made its first flight in May 1963, and production deliveries began six months later. Phantom II production ended in 1979 after over 5,000 had been built — more than 2,600 for the USAF, about 1,200 for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, and the rest for friendly foreign nations.
In 1965 the Air Force sent its first F-4Cs to Southeast Asia, where they flew air-to-air missions against North Vietnamese fighters as well as attacking ground targets. The various incarnations of the F-4 scored more than 100 Mig kills in Vietnam.
In its air-to-ground role, the F-4 Phantom II could carry twice the normal load of a World War II-era B-17 bomber. Weapons and/or external tanks can be carried on nine external store stations. A typical configuration for an F-4C in 1967 consisted of four AIM-7E and four AIM-9B air-to-air missiles, and eight 750-pound Mk 117 bombs. The aircraft also carried two external fuel tanks on the outboard pylons and one ALQ-87 electronic countermeasures (ECM) pod on the right inboard pylon. The F-4E also had an internally mounted 20mm multibarrel gun with improved fire-control system.
When operating in the attack or close air support role, the aircraft normally carried air-to-air missiles for self-protection.
The Phantom was the first multiservice aircraft, flying concurrently with the US Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, and was the only aircraft ever flown concurrently by the Air Force and Navy flight demonstration teams, the Thunderbirds and the Blue Angels.
The aircraft continued to serve the Air Force, including a vital role in Desert Storm, until it was retired in 1996.
The F-4 continued to serve in retirement as the QF-4 Aerial Target, an unmanned, high performance aerial target used for live air-to-air and surface-to-air missile tests.
Photo credit: U.S. Air Force
Video credit: F4Flys F4Flys@gmail.com
