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The Museum's F-4C was built in 1965 and served in Vietnam. This plane shot
down three North Vietnamese MiG-21 aircraft. After its active Air Force
duty, this Phantom served the Oregon Air National Guard for nine years,
flying tactical defense exercises out of Portland International Airport.
Flying by Team
Sophisticated radar and avionics on the F-4 require a two-man crew.
American F-4 flyers in Vietnam soon found that in the high-speed world of
jet dogfighting, the backseater's second pair of eyes also gave the F-4 a
distinct advantage over single-man MiG fighters. The team of Major Robert
Anderson and Captain Fred Kjer scored this Phantom's first victory over a
MiG-21 in April, 1967. A month later, Lt. Colonel Robert Titus and 1st Lt.
Milan Zimer scored two victories over MiG-21s on the same day in this
aircraft.
Have Gun, Will Travel
The first F-4 Phantoms built by McDonnell didn't have a gun. Many
designers and military thinkers of the late 1950s thought that a fighter's
supersonic speeds and the development of air-to-air missiles would make
the trusty gun, affixed to planes since World War I, obsolete. But over
Vietnam, when a Phantom's high-tech missiles went on the blink or a MiG
came in too close for comfort, a gun was a necessity. Some F-4s, like the
Museum's C-model, were fitted with an exterior gun pod while later
Phantoms had a gun built-in.
Flight Fact: This F-4's combat victories all came using
different weapons systems—one with an AIM-9 "Sidewinder"
heat-seeking missile, one with an AIM-7 radar-guided "Sparrow"
missile, and one with a 20mm gun pod. |
