Air & Space Magazine F-4 Phantom

[tdracer]

Very nice writeup in the latest Smithsonian Air & Space magazine on the history of the F-4 Phantom.

History, Travel, Arts, Science, People, Places | Air & Space Magazine

Enjoy

[superq7]

Thanks td, excellent read.

[Buster Hyman]

Fascinating. I'd love to see the images of the Titan launch.

[Courtney Mil]

Thank you, to. Really enjoyed the article.

[54Phan]

Very good article, nice photo gallery too! Thanks for the heads up!

[KenV]

Thanks for that!! I really enjoyed the article.

[tdracer]

I'd love to see the images of the Titan launch.

When I was reading that, I kept thinking how, ah, interesting it could become if there was a catastrophic failure of the Titan. Now I know that the Titan II missiles were quite reliable, and due to the nature of their fuel, a Titan "CATO" (rocketeer slang for "blow up" ) is not as dramatic as those for O2/Kerosene and O2/H2 powered rockets, they can still pretty dramatic .
I suspect they would be more reluctant to try that maneuver on an Atlas I launch (roughly a third of all Atlas I launches CATO'ed )

[Buster Hyman]

We know them to be reliable now, but I imagine it was a relatively unknown quantity back then. Basically, it was a ballsy bit of flying in anyone's book!

[Biggus]

Nice article, it was the RAF aircraft of my childhood days, and I read this book avidly:

Amazon

Amazon

.... but don't worry anyone, some Mig 21 driver will be along shortly to say how rubbish the Phantom was!!

[dat581]

Designed less than 15 years after the end of the war with for the time unbelievable performance. What a jet.