Military AircrewA forum for the professionals who fly the non-civilian hardware, and the backroom boys and girls without whom nothing would leave the ground. Army, Navy and Airforces of the World, all equally welcome here.
QUOTE=Brian Abraham]Be interested to hear as an enthusiast of your opinions re the relative merits of the Spey versus the J79.[/quote]
Of possible interest. The remaining Speys were sold onto China. The last batch went out in 2001. The old Phantom Speys were used to help in the production of FB-7As (Codename Flounder). The FB-7A went into PRC service in 2004.
Not many buses could travel at 750 kts/M1.2 at low level - always a fun thing to do after intercepting a Bucc who thought he was going quickly. Sailing past, waving, with your a*rse on fire - must have been an impressive sight. The subsequent vertical climb to 20,000+ ft always impressed me too!
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Lincolnshire
Age: 66
Posts: 5,335
Re: F4 Phantom - Flying Bus???
But the Bucc counter was to drop a wing as if it was going to turn. F4 would roll on th ebank in a twinkle and pull, the Bucc would simply continue in a straight line
Aah meadowbank - but having been unable to get either a Fox 1 or 2 off in the process, and then having to look down him during the flyby must've pretty frustrating.
having to look down him during the flyby must've pretty frustrating.[/quote]
We didn't look down on Banana Bomber crews, that would have been snobbish & rude. Was it true that when designing the F4 McDonnell were trying to produce the ugliest aircraft in the world, but came a close second to Blackburn?
Pontius
Never saw that one, but I think it would only catch someone once. Jindabyne
Had every respect for the Bucc defensive manoeuvring reactions when locked up by radar, but usually managed to get a Fox 1 shot in at some stage, albeit usually at close range. Not unknown to roll out in the middle of a Bucc card formation though, thinking we were behind the rear element, but then we were safe in front of a Banana Jet weren't we? Beer calls betwixt Bucc and Phantom mates were always special with the 2-man crew thing in common. Happy days!
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Lincolnshire
Age: 66
Posts: 5,335
Re: F4 Phantom - Flying Bus???
Meadowbank
> ***************
> Pontius
> Never saw that one, but I think it would only catch someone once.
It was one of the OCU staff around the time of Bill W.
> Not unknown to roll out in the middle of a Bucc card formation though, thinking we were behind the rear element, but
> then we were safe in front of a Banana Jet weren't we.
Yup, been there seen it. Put an F15C onto a 4-ship. Score was one-all.
Once had a trip in your mighty Toomb, a USAF F4D in Norway c.'67, chap called Capt Gary Dryden in the front - courtesy of a winning bet in the Bodo bar at around 3am. Well hungover at the time with a T/O of around 9am. Most I can recall is thrust, INAS and RoC - and that my Hunter would never ever be the same again!
My old man was Chief Tech at Leuchars in the sixties and was very fond of the Phantoms. Except "Juliet" which he used to claim was a complete lemon and was never out the hangar.
I believe someone told him late in his life that Juliet ended up in a museum near Edinburgh, don't know if that's true. Certainly seems like it was the right aircraft to retire early, if it's true.
In retrospect, I believe I posted erroneous information. "Juliet" was almost certainly an English Electric Lightning. One of these girls -- can't be sure if it's my father's tech nemesis J-juliet or not -- is at East Fortune Museum in East Lothian, not far from Edinburgh.
My Dad's not around to ask any more. I asked my Mother, who remembers that my father was certainly involved with Lightnings, thoughs she helpfully added that he served his apprenticeship working on Mosquitoes and Wellingtons (!)
My family moved from RAF Leuchars in 1969/1970 when my father's time with the service came to an end (he maintained that decimalization had devalued his pension, so those dates are likely close-ish; I was just a nipper back then).
In view of that fact, and the previous post, Juliet was probably not a Phantom, and I apologize. Sorry that it took so long to circle back around and correct this.
Though my dad certainly spoke of Phantoms -- in particular, a tale of a US pilot creating a crater with one during an air show that he attended -- it seems unlikely that he was ever reponsible for any.
The error is one of my recollection.
PB
PB,
Just about every squadron has an aeroplane that proves to be more troublesome than all the rest. Nobody can quite work out why this is; perhaps they were built on a Friday afternoon or Monday morning!
As a result they spend most of their time in the hangar or HAS and get 'robbed' of all the good bits to keep the rest of the squadron's aeroplanes flying, until there is virtually nothing left to rob. When the replacement parts arrive they don't get fitted because you know you will be robbing them again! So they just sit there gathering dust with all the access panels removed and looking very sad. They are often called 'Christmas Trees' and when I was at Wattisham on 23 sqn we had a Phantom that we did indeed, decorate at Christmas time, complete with lights!
So your father would definitely have had a Christmas Tree on all the squadrons he worked on.
I guess that would have been the infamous Pops, with the tendency to put a bootfull of rudder in whenever the mood took it. I was on 23 from 79 until 82. Must admit I loved the Wattisham area.
Maybe slightly off topic but here goes anyway. I've been tidying out a load of cupboards recently and found a book on the Phantom OCU which was published for the disbandment of the Unit. If anyone here would like it please PM me, I'd like it to go to a good home.
Edit : The book has found a home and is no longer available.
Last edited by SkyHawk-N : 3rd August 2006 at 15:24.
This is still available for £4.50 from the RAF Beneveolent Fund - a useful reminder of what we all looked like in the 70s and 80s, now we are in our 50s and 60s and 70s!
Re: F4 Phantom - Flying Bus???
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