McDonnell Douglas F-4F Phantom II
By the late 1960s, the West German Luftwaffe was relying on increasingly aging aircraft for air defense, such as the F-86 Sabre and F-84F Thunderstreak. A replacement was needed, but the West German government wanted to avoid another debacle like the F-104G Starfighter, whose catastrophic loss rate in German service had made it a grim joke. The Luftwaffe considered the Dassault Mirage F.1 and a new design from Lockheed, but settled on the proven F-4E Phantom II; at first, the Germans requested a simplified, single-seat Phantom, but this was rejected by McDonnell Douglas as not being feasible from a production standpoint. The end result was the F-4F Phantom II.
The F-4F externally was identical to the F-4E, but had a degraded APQ-120 radar that did not have the guidance system for the AIM-7 Sparrow, which was also eliminated on the F-4F. It also lacked inflight refueling capability and the ability to launch precision-guided weapons, while major internal components would be built in Germany itself. The F-4F was, therefore, the cheapest and lightest of the various Phantom variants. The first F-4F flew in May 1973 and entered service with the Luftwaffe a few months later under Operation Peace Rhine, replacing the F-84F and F-86 in fighter wings, and supplementing the Fiat G.91R and F-104G in ground attack wings.
Not long after its introduction in service, however, the Luftwaffe realized that it was entrusting the air defense of West Germany, a nation that would come under massive Soviet air attack in the event of a war, to an aircraft that would only be equipped with an internal gun and short-range Sidewinder missiles. This would require the F-4 to get into dogfights with far more agile Soviet fighters such as the MiG-21, and leave it at a long-range disadvantage against the MiG-23 Flogger. This did not mean much sense for an interceptor, and so beginning in 1980, the F-4F fleet was restored back to essentially baseline F-4Es. Avionics were also upgraded, as was the cockpit, making the F-4F a much better fighter—though German crews still referred to it as the Eisenschwein (Iron Pig) and Fliegender Ziegelstein (Flying Brick).
While the F-4F was now capable of taking on the MiG-21 and MiG-23, it was still at a disadvantage against the new third-generation Soviet fighters coming into service, such as the MiG-29 and Su-27. In 1984, the Luftwaffe requested another upgrade to the Phantom, replacing the ALQ-120 radar with a more advanced multimode APG-65, the same carried by the F/A-18 Hornet, along with a host of other upgrades. The main purpose of this was to allow the F-4F to carry the AIM-120 AMRAAM missile. Delays to the AMRAAM program meant that the F-4F fleet did not start receiving the upgrade until 1988, and was not complete until 1995—by which time the Cold War was over. However, it had unexpected dividends: the Eurofighter Typhoon project ran into innumerable delays during the 1990s, to the point where a now-unified Germany considered leaving the project altogether, but the upgraded F-4F ICE (Improved Combat Efficiency) was able to shoulder the load for the decade and beyond. 175 F-4Fs were built.
This is a F-4F Phantom II of Jagdgeschwader 71 (“Richthofen”), based at Wittmundhafen. It is painted in the standard scheme of 1980s Luftwaffe aircraft, dark gray and green over white. This is a pre-upgrade F-4F and carries four AIM-9J Sidewinders and two external fuel tanks.
McDonnell Douglas F-4F Phantom II
By the late 1960s, the West German Luftwaffe was relying on increasingly aging aircraft for air defense, such as the F-86 Sabre and F-84F Thunderstreak. A replacement was needed, but the West German government wanted to avoid another debacle like the F-104G Starfighter, whose catastrophic loss rate in German service had made it a grim joke. The Luftwaffe considered the Dassault Mirage F.1 and a new design from Lockheed, but settled on the proven F-4E Phantom II; at first, the Germans requested a simplified, single-seat Phantom, but this was rejected by McDonnell Douglas as not being feasible from a production standpoint. The end result was the F-4F Phantom II.
The F-4F externally was identical to the F-4E, but had a degraded APQ-120 radar that did not have the guidance system for the AIM-7 Sparrow, which was also eliminated on the F-4F. It also lacked inflight refueling capability and the ability to launch precision-guided weapons, while major internal components would be built in Germany itself. The F-4F was, therefore, the cheapest and lightest of the various Phantom variants. The first F-4F flew in May 1973 and entered service with the Luftwaffe a few months later under Operation Peace Rhine, replacing the F-84F and F-86 in fighter wings, and supplementing the Fiat G.91R and F-104G in ground attack wings.
Not long after its introduction in service, however, the Luftwaffe realized that it was entrusting the air defense of West Germany, a nation that would come under massive Soviet air attack in the event of a war, to an aircraft that would only be equipped with an internal gun and short-range Sidewinder missiles. This would require the F-4 to get into dogfights with far more agile Soviet fighters such as the MiG-21, and leave it at a long-range disadvantage against the MiG-23 Flogger. This did not mean much sense for an interceptor, and so beginning in 1980, the F-4F fleet was restored back to essentially baseline F-4Es. Avionics were also upgraded, as was the cockpit, making the F-4F a much better fighter—though German crews still referred to it as the Eisenschwein (Iron Pig) and Fliegender Ziegelstein (Flying Brick).
While the F-4F was now capable of taking on the MiG-21 and MiG-23, it was still at a disadvantage against the new third-generation Soviet fighters coming into service, such as the MiG-29 and Su-27. In 1984, the Luftwaffe requested another upgrade to the Phantom, replacing the ALQ-120 radar with a more advanced multimode APG-65, the same carried by the F/A-18 Hornet, along with a host of other upgrades. The main purpose of this was to allow the F-4F to carry the AIM-120 AMRAAM missile. Delays to the AMRAAM program meant that the F-4F fleet did not start receiving the upgrade until 1988, and was not complete until 1995—by which time the Cold War was over. However, it had unexpected dividends: the Eurofighter Typhoon project ran into innumerable delays during the 1990s, to the point where a now-unified Germany considered leaving the project altogether, but the upgraded F-4F ICE (Improved Combat Efficiency) was able to shoulder the load for the decade and beyond. 175 F-4Fs were built.
This is a F-4F Phantom II of Jagdgeschwader 71 (“Richthofen”), based at Wittmundhafen. It is painted in the standard scheme of 1980s Luftwaffe aircraft, dark gray and green over white. This is a pre-upgrade F-4F and carries four AIM-9J Sidewinders and two external fuel tanks.