When I was in the Air Force the F-4 Phantom II Was a sharp looking plane. All of the new recruit maintainers wanted to work on the F-4 Phantom II

Men like this are what makes America great.

My father was a Phantom driver for most of his USAF career. He began flying the F-4 in 1967, and continued until he was removed from flight status in the late 1980s due to a medical issue, and finally retired in 1997 after 30 years. To this day, he is in love with the F-4E. :)

I was on the Kitty Hawk in the early to mid 60’s. Was in charge of the Pilot Landing Aid T V System. What excitement to watch those “ Birds” return safely. Knew many of the pilots. All very fine professional gentleman with two young lady pilots. Dennis J

Thank you Col. Ladd. We sleep more securely because of gentlemen like you.

It was your mention of Ubon Royal Thai Air Base that totally caught my attention, and your subsequent mention of the 435 TFS that took me back to the mid-sixties. My father commanded the squadron in roughly the 1967-1968 years. At the time, I was an enlisted man in the US Navy, stationed with the Navy in Danang, RVN. Through a cooperative arrangement between my dad and the CO of Naval Enlisted Personnel in Danang, I was granted a surprise, totally unexpected, 7-day R&R to visit my dad at Ubon. He even had one of his pilots take me up for a one-hour check flight in one of his F-4s. What a treat for a 20 year old, still wet behind his ears, kid!

Loved flying the F-4. I was in the last USAF Active Duty RTU class for the F-4.

Wow. Imagine my surprise to see my aircraft pop up @8:50. F-4E 66-0295 "Wicked Wanda". I was the Crew Chief when it was at Eglin AFB in the late 70s. I was in the 33rd TAC and this and several other F-4s transferred from the 4485th TAWC to the Test Wing, and I went with it. I transferred (on loan as a "TAC Asset" ) to gunships as Illuminator Operator, and then transferred back to fighters and on to Bitburg to F-15s. 295 went to Seymour Johnson AFB shortly after I left. It later crashed in California with the loss of the pilot, but the WSO made it out. F-4s will always be my "first love", like an American Muscle in the sky, it will take on anything, give better then it got, and do all it can to bring the crew home. For 6000 built, a dozen countries front line aircraft in half a dozen roles, for nearly 64 years, it has earned its place in the Rock and Roll Hall fame. (the later image is F-4G 69-0295 with the SP tail code from Spangdahlem. I remember it because I saw it once in 1982 and thought it was 66-0295. ( when Bitburg's runway was shut down for repairs and we were operating from Spang's flightline) And the end. F-4E 71-1072 was crewed by SSgt. Chapman in the late 70s. Great interview!

I was a F-4 crew chief from 1966 to 1970 and I loved that jet. I went on to crew A-7's and then F-16's. I still have a soft spot for the Phantom.

I was a catapult operator on the USS FDR in 1971 launched several thousand F4s during my time aboard ship. Was also a Crash truck driver at Sherman field when the Blue Angels flew F4s, Got an air show every time they flew. Love that bird.

"Best thing you can do with the cloth on". Born in 76 I still admire this generation and their spirits.

Got TOP GUN Maverick, now we need a Sequel about his Dad "Duke Mitchell" See some F-4s on the big screen

Worked with Col Ladd at 2ATAF, at JHQ Rheindahlen back in the late 80’s. Stand-up guy, treated everyone with civility and respect. When he spoke with you, Col Ladd made you feel like whatever you were saying was the most interesting thing he’d ever heard. Great to find this.

I was an air traffic controller in Thailand in 1967. The famous Robin Old Wolf Pack was on base. The F4 was a joy to work with. It could do anything you needed it to do.

Sir. As a young boy watching Vietnam war l was totally enthralled by the f4 phantom Mean fast packing a punch. Ha Ha l was only in the first grade. God Bless America.🇺🇸 ❤️from Canada 🇨🇦

335 FS Chiefs Seymour Johnson AFB, NC ‘97-‘00 MIG Killers, Avionics Specialist F-15E, back seat ride, what an awesome experience! First operational squadron of F-15E succeeding the F-4’s this fine gentleman flew in.

My uncle flew the F4 in vietnam, night missions against nva supply lines as I understand it. Always a favorite plane of mine.

I flew the F-15C, and while I love the Eagle, I just missed the F-4, and I grew up lusting after the phantom. I love hearing firsthand accounts of flying the F-4.

Six years as a crew chief on the F-4 and loved every minute.Managed to get several back seat Mach 2 rides in a RF-4c

My father worked on the landing gears of the F-4 Phantom and we were stationed in Tehran so he could train the Iranians, we were there two years, 74-75. Maybe worked on your bird. We moved to Tehran from Homestead AFB, we were there for 7 years prior to Iran. The Phantom is a bad ass plane IMO, I actually got to sit in one when I was 10 or 11. All my respect Sir, thank you for your service!

Outstanding interview, my thanks to Col Ladd for his service. My father, Col Jack King was with the 435Th TFS around the same time. He also trained on the F4 at McDill AFB and was a War College and weapons school grad.I can’t help but wonder if they knew each other. Thanks again, was like hearing my father again. I reached out to Col Ladd and received this reply… "I arrived at Ubon in January '69 after an 'interesting' trip (when you read the book this will make sense). A couple days later, after processing in, etc. I flew the first of 204 combat missions in the back seat of my new Flight Commander, Major Jack King!" Can’t wait for the book to be delivered!

Always loved the F-4. "The world's largest distributor of Mig parts." The Phantom had a certain sexiness to her that's hard to explain. Like that girl you take fishing and she bates her own hook.

Excellent interview. Love to hear from the older fighter pilots. Seems like a great guy

Selfridge ANG used to do touch n go's at YQG and I was under the glide slope. So as a kid I'd go running outside to watch every time I heard those engines approaching... those were the days.

I looked up what "reheat" meant. In the many aviation vids I have seen, this was the first time I had heard that word. Now I basically understand the difference between reheat and after burner. A fun, great teaching moment inside of a great video.👍.

I was stationed on Spangdahlem AB 80-82 so was exposed to 3 models of F-4. When the commander made a GIANT VOICE announcement of an impending Air Field Attack it was go time for a show. We would all run outside and look at the horizon and wait for the mayhem, which included F-4s basically threading between buildings. I was a desk jockey and did some security work, though I did get to fly the F-4 simulator on the base. One memory is in the evenings while drinking a beer with my room mate, out the window were F-4s taking off and hitting the afterburner causing a river of fire from the jet engines. This all was just business as usual.

My dad worked on the f-4 radar systems in the early-mid 70's. Because of his adoration of her I also adore her. Always thought it was the most badass looking jet ever.

What a great interview! Good to see you being able to do interviews face to face again!

Really great interview, looking forward to part two 😎

Fantastic interview

So happy you're back to in-person interviews. Not that you didn't do an excellent job when times were rougher, it just feels good that the world is starting to go back to normal :)

From 1977-1981 I served in the USAF as a jet engine mechanic. I was stationed at George AFB, just north of Victorville California, where we maintained several squadrons of F4E, Phantom IIs.

Great interview! I loved it

Great interview

Great piece of work (again). Thanks.

Great fighter!! i loved watching them when I was in DaNang 69. I was in AirForce 1972nd Comm Squadron at that time. They were noisy and fast.

A very good interview. Thank you

Great interview. Amazing to see how diddy the T-37 was!

I was with the 49th FG, 7th TFS at Spangdahlem from 65 to 68. We were flying F-105's at the time but in 66 started getting brand new F-4C/D's from the factory. What a change. Got to be my favorite real quick. Still have my McDonnell F-4 crew chief handbook from that time. Love watching it fly and the guys flying it, such a picture of confidence.

Read Steve's book a few months ago. Good read. Worked F-4's at Udorn during Vietnam. C,D & E models. Worked flight line and trim pad, Jet Engine specialist, Had my run license on the F-4. Would love to go back, retired in Nov 1991.

Congratulations, Steve. Excellent talk, and the opportunity against the MiGs must have been very exciting and to be a patch-wearer and help your squadron when you returned would be rewarding. I flew a few missions up on the PDJ in 72.

Great story - thanks for sharing!

this is a great video. This guy is a real no-nonsense character alright.

Great interview! I was at Homestead AFB from '81 to '85, home of the 482nd TFW and the 31st TTW. I will never forget the sound, the smell and the feeling when the F-4's took off. I was a TACAN & ILS tech with the 1942 Communications Sqdn, and had a front row seat. When at the Localizer or Glideslope, the entire shelter would shake every time they left, and the afterburners were beautiful around dusk or at night. The best time of my life, and wouldn't trade the memories for anything.

Great video. Thank you

That was one of the best pilot interviews on a specific career ive ever watched. I always wondered if i pursued it what it would be like and i got a decent idea of the process.

I find this interview extremely interesting since my time as a weapons mechanic in the AF concentrated on the F-4 D and E beginning at Eglin in '67 with the 40th TFS.. I was with the 469th TFS out of Korat Thailand from Nov '68 'til Nov '69. The squadron went TDY to Uban In February of '69 while the run way way at Korat was being refurbished. We may have crossed paths on the flight line.

I was an F-4 hydraulic mechanic in vmfat-101 Marine Corps Air Station Yuma Arizona from 81 to 84

Sensational video! I hope you can have many more videos with this gentleman!

Was stationed at Homestead AFB Florida in 69-70 in the F 4E engine shop

Great Interview. Thank you Steve.

Super interview. The 4477th information was fantastic.

Awesome interview!

Nice interview...we expected for No 2!!!!

Thank you for your service and willingness to talk about history... can't wait to get your book! FROM PHANTOM TO WARTHOG

thanks Col. Ladd good interview A.I.

That was so interesting.

I so glad I found this F-4 interview 😁

Cool Air Force pilot and great interview.

Thank you, Steve, for sharing your F4 experience and fulfilling a boy's dreams, touching the face of God. Thank you for service from one who also retired from the AF. (I did get my private pilot license.)

Great interview 👍 Thank you for your dedicated service to the nation, Col. Ladd. And thank you to the British interviewer to bring it forth. Btw, I am reading your book😊

That was awesome my cousin flew f4 during that time he died in a motorcycle accident years ago so unfortunately I never really got a chance to talk to him So hearing this stuff is absolutely great Thanks

Great story thanks

Thank you for sharing this 👍🇺🇸🇺🇸

That's quite a jump from the world most forgiving easy to fly 172 to a jet !

Went out this morning for breakfast sat in the sunshine listening to this interview enjoyed it immensely as always, thanks Mike 👍

Fantastic interview on the finest fighter in the world 😁👍👍

Be sure to check out part 2 with the A-10s and the book. This is a great guy.

My first time to see the F4 was at the Reno Air Races in the 60s, the Birds did their show and that was it, F4 was my favorite airplane. Got to meet a couple of the team. I got a autograph that’s still in my logbook Capt Kirby I think is his name, I think I was 10 at the time. Go Birds!

I was in the USAF from 1968-1972 as an aircraft electrician. In 1970 I was stationed at Ubon RTAFB in Thailand with the 8th FMS, working primarily on the F-4s, with some time on the AC-130A gun ships. Perhaps I worked on one of Steve's birds or we crossed paths on the flight line. Maybe Steve was there when an F-4 wandered off base after landing and parked in a civilian's house. A great aircraft, flown by great pilots. It 's time passed and for some, their final mission was as a target drone, going out in a ball of fire.

Cool story! Thanks

I was a Marine on the ground in I Corps, Quang Tri Province, Dong Ha, up by the DMZ 68-69. You were flying that area in a similar timeframe, bombing the Ho Chi Minh Trail. I remember B-52 “Arc Lights” and 16” shells from the Battleship New Jersey flying overhead. They made the ground shake and lit up the sky with a flashing light on the horizon that looked like the flashes from arc welding. Maybe you were there. I also lived in Homestead from 73-87 while I worked for FPL at the Turkey Point Nuclear Plant. You might’ve been there in Homestead at the same time. Funny how life’s paths intersect, isn’t it? Dean Martin’s son was an Air Force officer during this time and he was our neighbor. He later tragically died in a plane crash in San Bernardino after being transferred there. I don’t know the details.

Interesting history for its design and production. An impressive weapon for its time and a long service duration. Very versatile and durable.

Yeah, they were still in service when I was stationed at NAS JAX FLA. between '73> '77 U.S. NAVY veteran PO3 '73>'77🇺🇸

F-4E WSO in 3TFS at Clark AB Philippines, 1984-87. Awesome flying with great Americans. Just 500 hrs in the Phantom before transitioning to the F-111F, but loved the multi-role capability of the F-4…we did everything - conventional and nuclear strike, air-to-air, and CAS. We also did precision guided munitions with Pave Tack lasers and GBU-15 TV guided bombs. I look back on those days and wonder how we survived. Lol.

I loved the F4. I remember as a young man going to the Paine Firld Airshow and stepping out on the taxiway to photograph the Thunderbirds as they taxied out. As the F4 flew by you could feel the sound in your nuts! A good friend of mine flew those in the Idaho Guard. When they became Wild Wiesels he decided to get out. He died in his Super Cub at Fish Lake Idaho, Dennis Murray aka Moose Murray, Rest In Peace.

I always watched and admired the F4s as a kid. My dad took me to all the air shows in my state. The highlight was watching Chuck Yaeger break the sound barrier over a crowd at Edwards Air Force Base.

For six years in the 70s @ Elmendorf AK 21st composite wing, I spent a great deal of time in the E model back seat testing the INS nav equipment. Then standing on my head R&Ring the computer under the right console. It wasn’t designed for ease of maintenance.

I was an Asst. Crew Chief on the F-4 Phantom early 80’s, @ Old George AFB, “my” aircraft was built when I was 2 years old, ha, Tail# 66-6333. I had many a “Phantom “ bites. Great interview, good stuff.

Thank you.

I picked up on certain words he was using, such as "reheat", then I read his bio and realized he lived in England now :) Great interview!

I worked on the F-4E in the late '80's and got a chance to go for a ride. Most fun I've ever had. Awesome machine.

Thanks for this. 👍🇳🇿

Love this interview with Col. Ladd and look forward to reading the book. I got introduced to the F-4 as a young Avionics Technician or INS troop when my orders got switched out from my Tech School from going to Osan, South Korea to Bergstrom, AFB. I wasn't thrilled because knowing I was not going to be going on my "green bean" tour as I was in my very early 20's and single and looking forward to seeing some of that part of the world through hops to the Philippines, etc. Especially since I was from San Antonio, Tx going back to Austin, Tx and BAFB was not my ideal tour. Regardless I still enjoyed my years working on the RF-4C in the 67th TRW. I worked on almost all of the jets there as I served in all but one of the recce units/squadrons. I started in the 45th in late '86 then the 62nd and 12th but I also helped fix several of the "hard broke" 91st jets so I worked on most of them at one time or another until my exit in '90 from active duty. When Operation Desert Shield was ramping up I was a part of the SP team for the 12thAMU/TRS and several of my friends in other units had gotten deployed already and we're prepping pallets of fuel tanks etc. I was set to go in weeks in preparation for our team to go. I had started my out-processing as I was told at the time the only thing available for me to cross train into was munitions troop for F-16s which is understandable given Desert Shield was in play and Desert Storm was on the horizon and 10 days later anyone who was not already out-processing orders were frozen until it was over. My last day as active duty was October 16th, 1990. It was bittersweet for sure! Regardless I enjoyed my time in the AF and the people I served with. For an aircraft that's nicknames were flying brick, double ugly and rhino she looked so beautiful in flight! I feel honored and privileged to have worked on a type of jet that served our country in so many versatile and multiple roles over the years as the F-4 did for such a long and distinguished career in both war and peace time. It is a shame after tracking some of the tail numbers that so few of them survived and so many of the ones I personally worked on ended up in the scrap heaps after being bone yarded or used as target practice as drones QF-4s but I guess they served right up to the end. Proud to call myself a Phantom Phixer for sure!

I was at Ubon from July 69 to July 70 as a ground support technician on the Phantoms.

Great interview. 3rd Tactical Fighter Wing, Kunsan, Korea. I was a Weapons troop on this Beast. F-4Ds....U.S Air Force retired

Ahhhhhh, the sound and smell of Phantoms on the early morning flight line!

from a 172 to a jet ? wow... did not know that, what a step up ! ...and did not know the t-38 was supersonic - more respect now

Loved his story. The whole thing. Then the part about secrets mission of Anericans flying Russian planes out of 51.

I remember as a young kid the navy's Blue Angels used the F-4 Phantoms,they were really impressive to see fly near the Navel Academy at graduation.Even more so than the F-16's,to me any way.

Very interesting listening to this man.

Just kind of stumbled across this and saw all the mentions of Udorn. My dad was there in 69. He flew Recce out of there for a while before being transferred to Saigon. He was, if I remember correctly, over fighter operations over N Vietnam in Saigon. He flew F4C models out of Udorn. Ended up at Eglin in charge of the test squadron there from 73 to 75. I went into the Air Force in 75 a month before he retired. I got stationed with the 33rd and worked on F4's. C's, D's and E's at Eglin. I actually worked on some of the planes he flew. I was in the MA shop up until they started converting to F15's. I crossed trained into IT in 79 and ended up at Gunter AFS in Montgomery AL. Would go visit Dad in Fort Walton Beach and hear the roar of the planes which brought back memories. My dad would always ask if they fixed certain things he had issues with when he was flying. I just told him we had work arounds. Interesting interview.

I was a Crew Chief at George Afb F4es the Duke was the wing commander and one of the best pilots and men I ever met

11:44 Now, that is the type of info you want from a interview with a pilot. People tend to look at the past through rose colored glasses. Some of your interviewees say their aircraft is nice and dandy, no problems at all. But we know is not like that. Personally, I wish what he described there were implemented in simulators. I love when a simulator implement those adverse flight characteristics. Makes the playing much more engaging. If you could ask a pilot what they should not do in the aircraft they flew, I bet we could hear more stuff like that.

She looked an absolute brute of jet plane and with the Supermarine Spitfire remains my favourite "for looks"

I was in munitions with an F-4E Wing,,,loved that plane...it looked bad-ass just sitting there...

They are still flown here in South Korea but probably not for much longer. They are still a sight to behold when seen.

WELCOME HOME, GOD BLESS YOU ALL...

Hey Steve, I noticed the 67th Fighting Cocks embroidery on your flight suit. I flew with the 67th in Okinawa 76 - 78. Your name is familiar. We have probably crossed paths somewhere down the road. Really enjoyed you video. Brings back some great memories.

One of my granfathers friends flew RAAF Sabres in Ubon, helping the phantom pilots train against aircraft similar to MiG-17s and 21s