Posted on 02/19/2024 6:34:54 PM PST by Red Badger
One of the airshows I went to (1980s) one of the F-4 Phantom II displays claimed a Phantom could hit Mach 2.5.
Was skeptical, thinking perhaps Mach 2.2.
Was Mach 2.5 achievable?
Have read that Mark Harmon is an A-hole..............
FWIW, there’s a ton of raw footage of the 1939 World’s Fair on YouTube, uploaded by a New York sports archive organization.
So you can watch the archived footage on YouTube or see it live in the hyper Jetstream along with the dinosaurs.
The original definition of “pucker factor”.
On our maiden test flight (which qualified me for the Mach 2 pin), we returned with most of the honeycomb from the stabilator missing. It was worse than any battle damage suffered in Vietnam. Seems the plane was washed coming out of Maintenance and the water collected in the stabilator. We took the bird up to altitude, wrung it through its paces and landed. Water from the wash bay had frozen under the skin, expanded and popped it off at speed.
Every test hop after that, I was waiting for the plane to rip apart. But the thrill of going from Thunderbolt, Georgia to MCAS Beaufort in under 8 minutes made it worth it.
Yabbut, my return flight from the mainland to Hawaii takes an hour longer, so even out the times please. Sitting in coach for 6+ hours is agony. 5 hours I can endure.
whine, whine
Hey, it could be a return to NYC or Boston
Damn wind is one way for some strange reason.
HA!
No smoke in AB
But you could see them coming for a long time in mil.
“they didn’t break the sound barrier, WaPo points out. “
Leave it to those aeronautical experts at the WashPost to figure it out.
Many years ago I read thru the NATOPS manual (while a duty driver in the ready room) and saw the speed/altitude charts for the F4B.
Looked like a very tight corner where 2.23-2.3 was possible.
Recall a navy pilot saying if you got it up there with the temp/altitude just right, the windshield over temp light would stop the fun.
I never went Mach 2.5.
Most of our work was done at 400-500 KIAS. External tanks acted like a big speed brake. A clean Phantom at full afterburner would run out of fuel in 12 minutes, or so they say.
The F-4 set a speed record for military aircraft in the 1960’s (1602 MPH). I think the Soviets eventually bested that.
Probably, going downhill.
LOL, I know.
My last flight across the Atlantic we had 150 mph tailwinds. I don’t think these were exceptional. 250, maybe. But still, no big deal.
When I was still in fixed wing F4 squadron, the great events were the return of a bird from depot maintenance.
Taxi out totally clean, the flight line was out for the show. Pilots knew this and obliged.
Takeoff and hold altitude followed with a max climb pitch-up. One of our favorite pilots did aileron rolls the whole way up.
Pilot name of Winklebrandt (sp) VMFA-122 was our favorite pilot.
A real hot pilot. Hope he is enjoying his memories now in retirement.
I experienced this over the Pacific one night, we were going East from Japan, and the “In flight info” screen showed a speed of about 780MPH.
As the Washington Post reports, one Virgin Atlantic flight reached a ground speed of 802 miles per hour …And the Washington Compost is credible how?
[Looked like a very tight corner where 2.23-2.3 was possible.]
Thanks. That’s about what I figured. You’re looking at 17k out of the J-79 x 2.
The F-4 was a very large aircraft. It was hard to appreciate just how so until standing next to it.
Around 1970-1971, I was on my minibike when one of the Blue Angels went over about 50 feet off the ground, about 30-50 feet in front of me. It was a sight to see.
I believe it. Those J=79’s sounded like they were really hungry.
I’m surprised at some of the dogfights, like May 10, 1972(?) - if memory serves.
I was going to suggest just that.
Watch just how smug they all are on even (WOKE) NCIS: New Orleans
It’s awful - glad it was cancelled
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