Another part of landing the F4 that made it different was Boundary Layer Control (BLC), In either 7th or 12th stage BLC lift was being enhanced by air bled from the engines. If the throttles were retarded to idle too early the aircraft dropped like a stone. Better to fly the aircraft onto the ground.
Since the USAF operated off very long runways the BLC was inhibited. Then the jets E/S onwards got slats and that changed the aircraft's handling in the landing phase. Far more difficult to land in a very strong Xwind. I was happy to land a FGR2 with 35kts across whereas an E model with 25kts across was a handful!!