Korean Air Force decommissions F-4D jets

The Korea Times ^ | 06-16-2010 | Jung Sung-ki

[llevrok]

to me, the F4 is the iconic image of Vietnam era fighters. I get a little nostalgic looking at planes like that.

[Leisler]

‘Flying The Bus’

[tongue-tied]

Ya ever ground the klystron to the RSG chassis and not quite get yer finger out of the way?

There I was, young student in my first RAG squadron, tuning the klystron for my first time. Standing on an aluminum ladder, knees shaking. Suddenly the 2A2 or 2A5 (?) started arcing.

I was standing behind the tech rep, Bob Price, holding his shoulders, before the berylium screwdriver even hit the floor, asking "What happened?"

He probably told that story for years of TT being scared of electrons.

[gundog]

20mm cannon. Centerline pod would also take a fuel tank, or probably a chaff and flare dispenser or anything else mission-necessary. Outboard pylons appear to be fuel. Can also carry luggage compartments for getting pilot's golf clubs to Homestead, or other Florida base with nice weather and golf courses.

F-4E incorporated the cannon in the nose. Made it harder to shoot the nose-gear off.

[tet68]

Folks don’t realize how big it was, made our A-4s look
tiny.Nothing quite like the sound of those two engines
in afterburner. Our living quarters were about a mile
from the runway but you couldn’t talk when one was taking
off. We got used to it but on tapes we sent home the
conversation would just be replaced by this ROAR.

They brought some up to Chu Lai back when we just had
matting runways and it was amazing watching it buck
down the runway on take off.........of course they
lost some bombs and racks too. Was nearly struck
by shrapnel from a 500 lb. frag. Most of the time they
didn’t have enough travel to arm but this one went off
about 200 yds away from our flight line. A chunk
the size of a hamburger bounced off the main strut of
the bird we were changing the brakes on, about six inches
above our heads and went into the belly tank.
the guy working with me and I cut it in half, I kept it
for years but lost it along the way. Nasty, sharp, jagged
edges.

[tongue-tied]

Yep. We were golden. We actually knew how to use an o’scope, a TDR, and really troubleshoot gripes. Even used schematics to figure stuff out. Wow. I must be old. LOL

[gundog]

Even used schematics to figure stuff out.

There was no schematic on how to get all the wires back into an ACRP once you'd opened it. :)

[tongue-tied]

Awesome! Thanks for your service btw.

I can remember when there were only a few birds requiring bridles to launch off a carrier. Then, there were none. And all of them required a sheerable cylinder of steel to overcome the force of the catapults. Made to some exact specs I bet.

Now, there is a reusable holdback device that can be used again and again, and all of them have a drop down launch bar that fits into the shuttle . Amazing how far we have come.

[LasVegasMac]

The outboard pylons would also hold the 20mm gun pod. I saw that configuration many times at the Kunsan Resort & Spa.

Very cool actually, three 20mm pods hanging off the beast - whatever the target is, death will be very quick!

[gundog]

Good God! Probably better than the air brake.

[lurk]

A friend was a McDonnell Douglas engineer. His comment, the F4 was proof that if you put a big enough motor on a barn door, it will fly.

[gundog]

His comment, the F4 was proof that if you put a big enough motor on a barn door, it will fly.

You'd hear endless variations on that theme, but the F-15 has the same engines and much less blocky profile. Once saw a -15 stand on it's tail a few hundred feet up and just hang there for all the F-4 folks to see.

[LasVegasMac]

Yea, without the external tanks, the flight time was not real long!

[ops33]

I was an air traffic controller in the AF and pretty much cut my teeth on the F-4. I can’t tell you how many F-4’s I worked using PAR (precision approach radar to the non-flying Freepers) in a freezing cold GCA (Ground Controlled Approach) van in Germany. About the hardest aircraft to get on course and keep him on course.

[JimRed]

A classic, but a little too slow and cumbersome to take on the newest generation of CHICOM fighters.

[JimRed]

Turn them into QF-4 drones, load them with JDAMs and send them north as high speed UCAVs.

That's way too practical and cost-efficient. The government will never go for it!