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Re: Phantom F4
Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 12:06 am
by Chuck
There's one in the RAF display in York, looks bigger than I imagined it to be, awesome - can't remember last conflict it was used in, was it Saddam1??? yep, equipped to carry nukes, rotary bomb bay ?
This should have been in service, a complete waste of money so that we could buy the F11 I believe.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXdJxjvQZW4
and this, amazing vertical climber
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt3uqB1j ... re=related seemingly still classified info??
Re: Phantom F4
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 3:36 pm
by swampy
i believe the buccaneer to have been designed specially for high speed low altitude stuff... when it retied i think it was still faster and more stable than it's replacement... at them low altitudes.
It was used in Op Gramby / desert storm.
I know that when the russians and americans all made friends.. they only asked for one aircraft specifically to be removed from the uk and that was the F111.
Re: Phantom F4
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 7:09 pm
by 20series
Chuck wrote:There's one in the RAF display in York, looks bigger than I imagined it to be, awesome - can't remember last conflict it was used in, was it Saddam1??? yep, equipped to carry nukes, rotary bomb bay ?
This should have been in service, a complete waste of money so that we could buy the F11 I believe.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXdJxjvQZW4
and this, amazing vertical climber
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt3uqB1j ... re=related seemingly still classified info??
Yeh Gulf 1, if I remember correctly the RAF used them to LASER designate targets.
Alan
Re: Phantom F4
Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 12:03 am
by mr smith
Chuck wrote:Are they THAT OLD already...OOOER!
Watched them at Leuchars doing circuits and bumps (along with some German Starfighters) when I was a kid on hols there...
Always remember one coming in to land over the coastline we were picnicking on - and frightening the life out my wee sister with the noise HAR HAR!
Leuchars is just over the tay from Dundee used to see them all the time,there was two squadrons of them there.
Re: Phantom F4
Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 12:06 am
by mr smith
swampy wrote: buccaneers, jaguars and all sorts.
There's a real lack different aircraft now,plane spotters must it all very boring now.
Re: Phantom F4
Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 5:51 pm
by Steve E
mr smith wrote:Chuck wrote:Are they THAT OLD already...OOOER!
Watched them at Leuchars doing circuits and bumps (along with some German Starfighters) when I was a kid on hols there...
Always remember one coming in to land over the coastline we were picnicking on - and frightening the life out my wee sister with the noise HAR HAR!
Leuchars is just over the tay from Dundee used to see them all the time,there was two squadrons of them there.
I was at Leuchars from 1986-1990 on 111 and 43 Sqns. A good aircraft of its day but far too labour intensive to maintain with a very unreliable Missle Control System. 111 was a good place to work and back seat rides for the groundcrew were commonplace, especially when on det to Cyprus or Red Flag in Nevada. I think in four years i totalled 12 backseat rides, probably the most exilerating thing that I have done. Only problem sitting in the back was that you could not see whare you were going. The British F4s with the Spey engine were the most powerfull, heaviest and Slowest of all the phantoms but they did have character.
Re: Phantom F4
Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 7:10 pm
by kennyc
Steve E wrote:mr smith wrote:Chuck wrote:Are they THAT OLD already...OOOER!
Watched them at Leuchars doing circuits and bumps (along with some German Starfighters) when I was a kid on hols there...
Always remember one coming in to land over the coastline we were picnicking on - and frightening the life out my wee sister with the noise HAR HAR!
Leuchars is just over the tay from Dundee used to see them all the time,there was two squadrons of them there.
I was at Leuchars from 1986-1990 on 111 and 43 Sqns. A good aircraft of its day but far too labour intensive to maintain with a very unreliable Missle Control System. 111 was a good place to work and back seat rides for the groundcrew were commonplace, especially when on det to Cyprus or Red Flag in Nevada. I think in four years i totalled 12 backseat rides, probably the most exilerating thing that I have done. Only problem sitting in the back was that you could not see whare you were going. The British F4s with the Spey engine were the most powerfull, heaviest and Slowest of all the phantoms but they did have character.
and they didn't leave black smoke trails all over the sky for the enemy to follow

I spent 5-6 years at Upper Heyford in the early 80's where F111 were based, a big machine, and in looks it lived up to its nickname "Aardvark" but I still spent hours watching them

and the F15's and F4's that came in from time to time, and of course the "Buff" B52. the noisiest fighter we ever saw were the Luftwaffe Starfighters, they were very loud! of course we only ever heard the Harriers after they had "bombed" the runway during exercises

Re: Phantom F4
Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 7:45 pm
by Mike357
Have been skiing in Glenshee and Cairngorm and looked down on tornados flying in between the hills. Amazing!
Great videos folks, thanks.
Re: Phantom F4
Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 7:47 pm
by ovenpaa
German Starfighter, was that the F104G? I seem to remember reading that the number of 104's that fell out of the sky was well into double figures.
Re: Phantom F4
Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 11:14 pm
by kennyc
ovenpaa wrote:German Starfighter, was that the F104G? I seem to remember reading that the number of 104's that fell out of the sky was well into double figures.
the big problem was the downwards ejecting seat! you have to remember that the original spec was for a high altitude interceptor, and the USAAF were worried that the combination of supersonic flight and the high tail fin needed for control at those altitudes would result in the chair hitting the fin! of course the Germans had problems as theirs were used at low altitude

and you are right the Starfighter did not have the best rep, although the 20th TAC at Upper Heyford lost a lot of F111's during the first couple of years I was there (not my fault! honest!) apparently due to the terrain following radar detecting and dropping to old mine workings in Wales :shock: (at least that was the scuttlebut at the time)