111th FIS Phantoms
Rebuild of site May, 2020
F-4C
1982 - 1986
63-7420 in
1982. In these photos she is in overall
"Aircraft Gray" (FS 16473). This color is also
incorrectly called "ADC Gray". And
finally, "420" in the "Project Hill Variable Gray Paint
Scheme", most often just called "Hill 1". The colors
are: Light Ghost Gray FS 36375, Medium Gray FS
36270 and Gunship Gray FS 36118.
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F-4D
1986 - 1989
From 1982 until 1986
I lived in Houston, Texas. The only thing that made it
tolerable for me was that I struck up a friendship with
several people in the Texas Air National Guard. Because
of this I made many photo trips to Ellington AFB and
photographed many of the F-101s before they departed and every
F-4C in the unit. I came across the history of "589" by
accident. I was put in contact with Mr. Gary
Niederhausen, who had crewed "589" in Southeast Asia. He
wanted a photograph of his aircraft and the 111th did not at
that time have a unit photographer. In one of his
letters he asked the simple question of: "Does she still
carry her kill marking". My response was a not too
eloquent: "Huh?". So with his help and some research I
learned that 63-7589 flew left wing on Col. Robin Olds during
Operation Bolo on January 2, 1967. "589" was
crewed by 1st Lt Ralph Wetterhahn and 1st Lt Jerry Sharp and
used the call sign "Olds 2". Col. Olds was naturally
"Olds 1". Operation Bolo was a successful
attempt to draw North Viet fighters into an ambush and down as
many as possible. On that day "589" got a MiG with an
AIM-7 Sparrow, while six other aircraft also achieved
kills. She spent her last active days with the 111th
before being placed in storage at AMARC. From the looks
of her the last time I saw her in 1990, I doubt she was used
in the QF-4 drone program. The MiG kill history of
63-7650 and 64-0699 were discovered by me during other
research. As far as I know neither ever carried their
kills during service with the 111th FIS.
With the exception of Gerald's two
photos all are mine.
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