Thanks everyone, for memories of the mighty 'Tomb', brought a smile to my face. I only managed half a tour on F4s, but it still managed to by turns terrify and stupify. Some scattered memories, in no particular order...
Northern QRA (when we had several), hooter going off at 5:45, somehow getting our !!!!! in a sock and blasting off into a Scottish dawn after 6 minutes still tying our bootlaces...
Flying close enough to Russian ac to feel the prop vibration, and waving (!!) at the crewman positioning his giant box brownie before sliding across to the other side (to his great disapointment)...
5 day lock-in exercises, when you lived, breathed (and sometimes died) as a family, closer than most actual families. Checking in using comedy voices, or holding your nose - those who remember this know what I mean...
Being young and immortal in the most fantastic fighting machine ever built, alone and unafraid...
Being scared witless by the most fantastic fighting machine ever built, usually when it decided not to go where you wanted it to...
I could go on, and probably have too much already. Suffice to say, I feel privelaged to have flown F4s. On a completely unrelated subject, I don't like stickies - if a thread is as vibrant this one, it will stay high up the list anyway. However, an archive of favourite threads would be a good way to preserve the better prose and a book sounds like an awfully good idea. Gloria Finis.