Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche
"A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke
“You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”--General Sir Charles Napier
"Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas
"Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex
very nice, only question is what took’em so long. I know, we have other stuff, but as far as a short range IR missile, the russians have had the Archer with 60deg off boresight for 20 years, and they’ve improved it since then. Israelis have the Python family with 4 being around since the 90s. The whole ASRAAM debaucle was a travesty.
Glad to see we have a new tool in the quiver.
I have to say that, I am impressed how the F-4Q tried so very hard to right itself and stay in a steady envelope despite the sidewinder strike.
Those old birds deserve a better fate than to be torn apart as drones. Sigh. At least she went down fighting. God bless the F-4, and every man jack who flew her.
One of the coolest jobs I ever had was at Pt. Mugu where we had a grunch of QF-4 full scale aerial targets lined up waiting for missions, including AIM-9X. Our skipper and a few other lucky pilots (including a couple civil service sticks) flew these aircraft for other missions until it was all over and we shut it down (AIM-9X testing was done among other reasons). My dad, a USAF avionics maintenance man had done QF-4s at Holloman in the 70s. He came out for a visit to Mugu in 2000 and I got him on the line and in the shops. He loved it! Your’re right, a great aircraft, you’d think we’d have lesser aircraft for targets but it did that job superbly as well. Regards, B.
I quit watching the vid as soon as they zoomed in and showed that the target was a Phantom.
What sort of sick people would do such a thing?!
As soon as I saw the F-4 I thought, “That’s a shame.” Then I thought I was being silly. I come to the comments and see that 3 out of 4 are about the F-4. Now I don’t feel so bad.
Ironically, the AIM-9X is manufactured by Raytheon a few miles away from the AMARG facility in Tucson, where the QF-4 drones are made airworthy again. We’re lucky enough to see Phantoms fly fairly regularly in these parts as a result, although it’s sad to know that their remaining life will be short. Better to go out fighting than in the scrap furnace, I guess.
Air and Space Magazine had a nice article on the QF-4s an issue or two back. Here is the link.
15 or 20 years ago I stopped in to visit a scrap dealer just across the street from the boneyard. He had just purchased his first 4 Phantom airframes. The bill of sale showed he paid $2300 each for them.
I know they are old. Outdated. That no one is flying them as front line fighters. That using them as drones makes as much sense as letting them weather away in the boneyard. So why am I sitting here fighting back tears?
Phantom Phixers Phorever
Semper Fi,
ASM826
Beautiful airplane, the F-4. Like the F-14, it had personality… back before electronic flight controls, etc, etc. They also both had power, speed, and range, which would be really nice in the day and age, but I digress…
I loved flying the new “Rhino” (18F) but it was simply an airplane to me. The Hornet is equally personality-less…
I had the honor of seeing a manned QF-4 take off from China Lake… the A/B plume was IMPRESSIVE to say the least…
Re: IceEx’s.
Actually, one does these things so the young’ns learn how.
Anybody who says he knows exactly where, when, how, and with who the war after next will fought, doesn’t.
Colin Powell used to talk about having a full toolbox. The hat trick is to hang on to it once you’ve got it, keep it up, and teach your grandkids how to use the tools safely and well.
Ok, maybe a stupid question, but my trusted Vikings didn’t fly w/ FFO (at least when I was flying ‘em). If this new breed can shoot over the shoulder, how do you prevent self-acquisition and subsequent “bad-day”?
Actually, several nations still fly the F-4 as a front line fighter. South Korea, Greece and Turkey all come to mind.
Pretty sure Egypt still flies them and I think there are some in the Luftwaffe as well.
Reading about the F-4 drones makes me want to arm them so they can fight back.
I loved the part of the article that OldT6Pilot linked to where it took four Raptors to take down one QF-4. Ha, suck it, you young punks!