McDonnell-Douglas F-4A Phantom II

History

By any criterion one of the five or six most important warplanes ever produced and the only Western warplane to be built in numbers exceeding 5,000 since World War 11(1939-45), the Phantom II is still in comparatively widespread service during the mid-1990s but approaching obsolescence and scheduled for retirement by the beginning of the next century.

The origins of the Phantom II can be traced back to June 1953, when the US Navy contracted for Its next carrierborne fighter with Vought rather than McDonnell. The St Louis-based company was highly disappointed for it had supplied three previous generations of turbojet-powered fighters to the US Navy and put all its experience with these three types, together with the F-101 Voodoo for the US Air Force, into the preliminary design for the type intended as the US Navy’s first supersonic fighter. Carrierborne fighters were the company’s prime interest, so McDonnell started work on the concept for a still more advanced type and set about the difficult process of convincing the US Navy of the new concepts value as an all-weather fighter. In 1954 McDonnell created a mock-up of this F3H-G/H single-seat fighter with an inbuilt armament of four 20 mm cannon, provision for a comparatively large but therefore long-ranged nose radar, 11 external hardpoints, and a powerplant of two Wright J65 turbojets. This engine type was an American development of a British turbojet, the Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire, and the use of two such engines in the large F3H-G/H promised a maximum speed in the order of Mach 1.5 at altitude. The F3H-GIH mock-up was very impressive and in October 1954 the US Navy issued a letter of intent to buy two YAK-1 prototypes of an F3H-G/H version optimized for the carrierborne attack role with a powerplant of two more powerful General Electric J79 turbojets.

In April 1955, however, the company lost about six months of design effort when the US Navy again changed its mind and ordered the completion of the two prototypes as XF4H-1 all-weather fighter prototypes. This meant a considerable redesign, for the new requirement demanded the ability to detect, intercept and destroy (without any external support) incoming enemy warplanes during the course of a two-hour CAP at a radius of 250 nm (288 miles). The mission endurance of three hours meant that considerably greater fuel capacity had to be worked into the basic design, as did a longer cockpit that had now to accommodate the radar intercept officer for the powerful radar fire-control system now required as part of the US Navy’s desire for missile rather than cannon armament. McDonnell revised its basic design in about two weeks with semi-recessed positions under the fuselage for four AAM-N-6 (from September 1962 AIM-7) Sparrow lll medium-range AAMs with semi-active radar guidance, and only one hardpoint. This was located under the fuselage for the for a large drop tank. The first definitive contract, placed in July 1955, covered the two XF4H-1 s and five F4H-1F pre-production aircraft for use in the development and service trials role.

During November of the same year, mock-up inspection revealed that McDonnell’s concept at that time envisaged the use of a thin wing of constant anhedral and a sweep angle of 45 degrees at quarter-chord, a powerplant of two J79 afterbuming turbojets aspirated via two fixed cheek inlets, and sophisticated avionics managed by the specialist operator located in tandem behind the pilot (each member of the crew being seated on a Martin-Baker Mk H5 ejector seat).

Named Phantom II in July 1959, the F4H was thus the USA’s first all-missile fighter with a radar fire-control system that removed, for the first time in a naval fighter, the need for surface radar assistance. Performance was thus optimized for climb rate, speed and range, and estimates of flight characteristics suggested Mach 2+ performance. Wind tunnel tests then revealed that the F4H would be unstable in its currently envisaged form, so the design was recast with a wing based on flat inner panels supporting dogtoothed outer panels set at a dihedral angle of 12 degrees and designed to fold upward for reduced carrierborne width, slab tailplane halves set at an anhedral angle of 23 degrees to provide additional surface area for directional stability especially at high angles of attack, and engine aspiration via variable-geometry inlets. These were designed with moving ramps for optimum pressure recovery through the full operating envelope and each was preceded by a large splitter plate to prevent the slow-moving boundary layer air from entering the inlet, in whose mouth was a ramp incorporating many thousands of tiny perforations through which suction could be applied to ensure flow smoothness. Prototype construction was authorized in December 1956, and the first XF4H-1 was completed in April 1958. A powerplant of two J79-GE-8 turbojets had been planned, but development of this engine model had been delayed and the prototype was therefore fitted with two J79-GE-3A turbojets loaned by the US Air Force, and each rated at 9,300 lb St dry and 14,800 lb st with afterburning.

The XF4H-1 first flew in May 1958, and flight trials revealed the need for little change except in the angle of the air inlets. The XF4H-1 was competitively evaluated against the single-engined Vought XF8U-3 Crusader Ill and declared the winner. The US Navy had already ordered an order for 16 more F4H-ls and now contracted for a further 24 warplanes of the same model, and in December 1958 ordered the start of full production with a contract for 375 more aircraft.

As the planned J79-GE-8 was still not available, these 45 aircraft were completed with a powerplant of two J79-GE-2 or -2A turbojets each rated at 10,350 lb St dry and 16,150 lb St with afterburning, and In this form the variant was designated F4H-1F Phantom II, this March 1961 designation being changed to F-4A Phantom II in the September 1962 rationalization of the US in-service designation systems. Evidence of the Phantom Il’s tremendous initial capability and development potential was provided by a string of world records for attitude, climb, straight speed and closed-circuit speed established during the fighter’s development and early service phases.

During the F4H-1 F’s development program, a number of changes were introduced: these included a modified cockpit canopy to provide better fields of vision, a radome of revised shape to enhance the performance of the search and fire-control radar (Westinghouse APQ-50 Mod with a 24-in/0.61 mm diameter antenna in the first 18 aircraft and Westinghouse APQ-72 with a 32-in/0.82 mm antenna in the last 27 aircraft), a boundary-layer control system using compressor air blown over the trailing-edge flaps and the leading-edge flaps on the outer sections of the inner wing panels, and multiple racks that permitted the carriage of up to 22 500 lb free-fall bombs under the fuselage and inner wing panels.

As the basic flight test and development programs were being undertaken, the F4H-IF completed initial carrier qualification trials in February 1960. The F4H-1F did not enter operational service, but aircraft of this model were allocated to the Pacific and Atlantic Fleet Replacement Air Groups (responsible for crew training) from December 1960. By that time redesigned F-4A, some of the aircraft were later upgraded to F4B standard with items such as the APQ-72 fire-control radar in a deepened and lengthened nose with an IR seeker under it.

The Quonset Air Museum’s aircraft was used for antenna testing by a New York electronics laboratory. The bureau number of this aircraft also identifies it as being the number 24th aircraft in the first production series of Phantom II’s which was designated F4H-1.

Manufacturer:    McDonnell-Douglas
Model:                  F4H-1

Specifications

Length:                  58' 3"              17.7m
Height:                  16' 3'                4.9m
Wingspan:             38' 4"              11.6m
Empty Weight:   27,897lbs         12,651kg 
Gross Weight:    43.907lbs          19,912kg
Max Weight:       54,600lbs          24,761kg

Engines:

2 x General Electric GE J79-GE-8
Thrust:                   10,800lbs         4,943kg

Performance

Range:                   1,610miles           2,592km
Cruise Speed:          575mph              925km/h
Max Speed:           1,485mph             2,391km/h
Ceiling:                  62,000ft                18,897m

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