The F-4 Phantom is a two seat, long range fighter bomber used most extensively in the Vietnam War. It was initially designed as a Navy Fighter, a role that a quick study of current military aircraft found was lacking. In the 1950’s McDonnell Douglas had several trainer type aircraft that were immediately tapped for redisign. The plane that eventually became the F-4 was the F3H Demon, after extreme makeovers.
The F3H Demon was a single engine Navy fighter designed for launch from aircraft carriers. It served until the mid 60’s in that role. When McDonnell Douglas began to redesign the Demon to meet their initial pre-conceived specifications, they were up against several already established Navy supersonic fighters: the A-4 Skyhawk and F-8 Crusader. After some deliberation, four Navy officers approached the offices of McDonnell Douglas and presented an entirely new spec sheet that they would have to meet.The role for the to-be-designed fighter was as an all-weather fleet defense interceptor.
The newly redesigned prototypes were to feature 2 seats, with the second pilot operating a powerful radar system. In addition, the engines were placed low in order to maximize fuel capacity while allowing the intake of air into low sitting air intakes. The first prototypes were named the XF4H-1, delivered to the Navy, and took their maiden flight in 1958. Besides for a hydralic failure that prevented the retraction of the landing gear, the fight and each successive flight went smoothly. In fact, a few records were broken during the testing of the XF4H-1.
The most famous use of the F-4 was during the Vietnam war in the 60s. The F-4 earned many nicknames, among them “Rhino”, the “Flying Anvil”, “Flying Footlocker”, “Lead Sled”, the “Big Iron Sled” and the “Louisville Slugger”. They were first used by the Navy, as they were intended, but soon trickled down into Marine Corps and Airforce roles. The F-4 shot down the majority of MiG’s over Vietnam during the 1960s for a grand total of 107 kills. The most common weapon of destruction was the AIM-7 Sparrow, which was a medium range, radar homing missile. The F-4 could carry 4 AIM-7 Sparrows at a time, which meant that while they would often miss their targets, another missile was usually ready to fire directly after.