This is coolbert:
From a comment to the blog by Steiner:
"I think you're too hard on the F-4 and the F-111"
The F-4 Phantom. American fighter bomber of the Vietnam era that became a "workhorse", a multi-role combat aircraft [MRCA] of repute.
And yes, of good repute for the most part. Could do it all and was used in a variety of capacities. HOW WELL it did it all was even at the time a subject of controversy.
The F-4 possessing a glaring flaw a source of disadvantage most acutely so when considering Mannock's Rules? Edward Mannock VC a British combat aviator of the Great War, a "dog fighter" of marked ability.
"6. Pilots must practise spotting machines in the air and recognising them at long range, and every aeroplane is to be treated as an enemy until it is certain it is not." - - Mannock!
The F-4 as it zoomed through the skies leaving behind a trail of clearly visible black smoke!
THAT F-4 PHANTOM SUSCEPTIBLE AND KEENLY SO TO BEING SPOTTED AND RECOGNIZED BY THE ENEMY FROM A DISTANCE!!
"Another problem that frequently arose with the aircraft was the production of black smoke when the engines were run at military power. This smoke trail made the aircraft easy to spot."
That trail of smoke as given off by the F-4 easy to spot from a long way off and giving a distinct advantage to a MiG pilot of the North Vietnamese Air Force!!
Take my word for it, this smoke trail was highly visible, long-lasting and gave away instantly the presence of the F-4 and all this from a long-way off too!!
Most interestingly so, when the Israeli Air Force [IAF] began receiving their first shipments of Phantoms from the U.S. [around 1970], the IAF made no less than five hundred modifications to the basic combat aircraft!! What exactly was done to make the warplanes that more effective I cannot say other than perhaps combat effectiveness was markedly increased. Anyone have a handle on this?
coolbert.
I believe the old joke about the F-4 in fighter pilot circles was "smoking engines are bad for your health".
ReplyDeleteThe Phantom II needs to be appreciated for its role in the meta-history of Cold War aerospace.
It was the embodiment of the USAF's concept of a "heavy/high-value" system: technical sophistication, with appropriate tactics and training, over WarPac primitivism and numerical advantage. By the end of the Vietnam air war, kill ratios were once again heavily in favor of the U.S., and during Linebacker II the MiG was not much in evidence.
Major NATO allies and Japan deployed the F-4 in significant numbers as a frontline combat aircraft, and it gave good service for decades. This must have helped ease the rancor after the Starfighter fiasco, and the point was made: the U.S. will provide her allies with quality equipment suitable for her own arsenal. The F-35 program is a continuation of this policy.
Hey, my comment on "Aardvark" seems to have disappeared!