This one is for all the Phantom Phanatics! Drop your Phavorite Phantom stories/facts in the comments

Can’t wait for her in DCS. Just a few more weeks. For those unaware, the model in DCS is essentially an interactive museum. Everything is modeled. If you have an interest in aviation, purchasing a a gaming pc and the modules offered in DCS is a fantastic hobby that offers unlimited entertainment for single purchases. We all get old, we all lose our medical or will never have the opportunity to fly some of these dream machines, but DCS offers a way around that.

Spent 1981-1986 working on ANG F-4C’s and F-4D’s. Spent the rest of my career working on F-16’s. I miss those days working on the aircrafts. Traded my stripes for a classroom where I taught high school English. I spend some of my class periods sharing my Aircraft experience with my students. Even though it is “ancient” history to them, I believe they enjoy hearing about my military experience. Great channel. Keep up the great work.

Can't wait to fly her in DCS.

Thanks for including the maintainers, Dad was an Autopilot Specialist and served over in Thailand helping to keep those F-4's flying. Great episode, thanks for your service!

Special note- the F-4E Phantom II story isn’t over yet. The jet is still in frontline service with Türkiye , Greece ,South Korea, and Iran. Funny enough, the 5000th Phantom pictured in the video is with the Turkish Air Force today.

I don't know why I always hear people call The F-4 ugly.. They're my favorite fighter! I am biased, my dad was an F-4 Mechanic on the Independence servicing VF-102 and we had pictures of them all over the house when I was little.

I crewed D and E models in my six years in the USAF. I also went up once in a D model over the deserts of Holloman AFB. At 34k feet we did 1.2 mach. About 920 mph. That also looks like an A7D Corsair to the left of the Phantom. I crewed that jet for 3 years before being discharged. That's me in the photo the day I went up.

I was an Aircraft Electrician in the USAF from '75 - ''79. My experience with the F-4 Phantom was at Spangdalhem AB (Germany) from '76 - '78. It was and still is my favorite aircraft. One of the coolest experiences I had was going TDY to Zaragoza Spain. I had the privilege to helicopter out with an F-4 aircrew to Bardenas Reales bombing range. I sat in the control tower with this aircrew. They scored other aircrews flying by in their F-4's dropping bombs (smoke) and firing the M61A1 Vulcan minigun. What a sight to see! I wish that I could have flown in one. The closest I got was sitting in the back seat with a big test set in my lap. We did a high-speed taxi check to test the new anti-skid system I had installed. Close, but no cigar. LOL

Great video, wish it was much longer!

I was lucky enough to fly F4D’s for the NDANG before we converted to the F16. I can confirm that trying to roll the F4 under “g” with aileron was an eye opening experience. Luckily I only did it once.

In thrust we trust, also Phantom Phriday

Back in the early 80's, I was a munitions loader on the F-4D for the Ga. Air National Guard. Just love the Phantom.

F-4s rocks! Got to see Air Force, Navy and Marines F-4s operational variants . All were impressive and inspiring aircraft.

John Mann, you are good. I hope you will be working with Behind The Wings for many more shows. Thank you sir.

I loved hearing the howling J-79s while observing the sky from my fire support base.

I wish I could have talked with one of these gentlemen during my visit a couple of years ago, the Phantom is my absolute favorite.

My father few the F-4 after Vietnam and I remember as a kid when the Blue Angles flew the F-4's. It was a glorious sound made in heaven! So loud!

Today, 2024, the Turkish Air Force still uses F-4s. As to the fuel, a Boeing 737NG typically burns 850 gallons of Jet-A per hour in cruise. A fighter in afterburner could have a fuel burn rate of 30,000 gallons per hour - so that mode is used very carefully.

My uncle piloted the F4 phantom in Vietnam, he'd come home on Christmas around 1970 when I was 10, I was in awe. God bless America🇺🇸

I definitely gotta load up and come back to Colorado man. This museum is just one on a long list of reasons

I still love the phantom after all these years. It's still gorgeous and nothing says Murica like putting way more power than you need on any mechanical device. 😅😅😅

My all time fave American combat jet, bar none. I always loved the look of the F4.

Thank you for sharing!

Love your museum can’t wait to come back to the states and visit again.

As a tall guy working on f-4s i can still see the marks on my back..those access doors had sharp enough corners to make your day unforgettable 😂 Huge respect to all mainteiners who really know the struggle..

I think it's one of the nicest fighters ever. It's so unique.

I loaded weapons on F-4 D's and E's. When at Korat RTAFB in 68 and 69 I loaded 5 million pounds of bombs along with 2.75 rockets pods, AGM 12 Bullpups AIM7 and AIM 9 missles, 20 MM rounds and CBUs. I sat in the cockpit when checking out the weapons systems for 2 and a half years. I think that John Barry meant that Robin Olds was at Uban with the 555 fighter wing mimicing the 105's from Korat..

Thanks!!!

This was great. Experience and knowledge, good production and easy to listen to. Not to mention I love hearing about those J-79s. The F-4 is a favorite of mine! Thanks and new sub!

Great job with this video!!

really awesome!

Thank you, Wings! I love hearing from those who know. What about that awesome grey Thunderchief back there? Story up!

How cool is that!

Also the BEST nickname for a fighter… Phantom… freaking awesome

Very nice!

Fantastic episode thank you and just want say hello from the UK 🖐

Structural Maintainer here. Is there any chance we’d be able to hear from a maintainer, either who worked on this particular aircraft or others? That would really interesting to hear about.

Amazing!!!!!!!

Nice video!

10:50 "Ooops..." (RAF style) 😂

This was Grrrreeeaaat! Bravo Zulu!

4:42 All of the prescence of the US and UK forces in central Europe up until the early 1990s when they wound it back. I bet they wish they hadn’t wound it back now. I’m finding this video infinitely fascinating, you’ve got a new subscriber today my friends.

Worked the Wheel and tire shop at SJ AFB mid 80's. F4E they are aBeast.

01:30 R.I.P. “Texas Raiders”!

Phantom 2 and Panavia Tornado are the most beautiful aircrafts ever! Maybe Alpha Jet and Harrier as second

Thanks guys my favorite jet saw them in the pattern in front of me at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana always wish i was the pilot in the F4 phantom 👍😜😎

I saw one in Idaho, it was silver and really big. I'm 45 and I don't think I've ever seen one flying. I worked for Pat Cronin, he flew them.

1:36 holy smokes. A fighter that can carry twice the payload of a B-17. That’s incredible.

I was in Denver a few years ago and did not know about this museum 😮

As a kid i had a picture of a phantom with a vulcan cannon under the nose. I wanted to fly one of them they looked amazing.

You didn't cover the hard wing and blown flaps. (The soft wing didn't have BLC, right?)

I trained in the old SAC hanger in the 80’s. Lowry was an awesome base.

Great video John. Always prefer to hear actual pilots talking like in this video. Why were the stabilators in anhedral? Thanks

Ugly and powerful. Love this thing. Remember it leaving black trails in the skies as a kid during Cold War. Sonic booms were common.

Brill.

เป็นเครื่องบินรบที่สวยงามมาก พร้อม เอฟ 5 ด้วยรูปทรงที่สวยพร้อมรบ แค่ได้ยินเสียงเตรียมเลยหายนะกำลังมา ชอบครับ

Think you could do a behind the wings episode on some famous fictionnal aircrafts?

F-4 is my favorite plane, I am so happy to watch this video, the only question I have is how do I fly one, cose that is my biggest wish, to fly an F-4 untill I die

is the Heatblur F4E a hard or soft wing?

Wonderful overview of the F-4 in some of its various configurations. Pilots, too...very nice. Cold War iconic warhorse. Nice to hear some real world talk about it. All I know is it looks cool AF and kicked ass in combat. Made a great model when I was a kid. Also, great export product to many nations who needed a capable platform. One of the best.

Is that true the air intakes on the Mig23/27 are copied from the Fantom ??

One of the best war planes ever!The defender of the free world!!!

Breaks my heart how they used them as drones, but with over 5,000 of them, you have to do something with it.

I love even more if she is powered by Pratt and Whitney 1120.

My first love in Ace Combat.

Well on alert …. The Crew Chief is there with the pilots on the Ready Alert pad … he has another cartridge almost ready in one hand and his Snoopy in the other hand. The problem with a bad start … you have to wait for the old cart to finish its burn … and for the motor to spool down

What is DCS?

I live in the Netherlands center ,Amersfoort, near Soesterbrrg .as a kid weekly at the bike and go to spotters spot and wave hello ,yeah . I understand that little Soesterberg was populair by US mililtairy .some dutch girls catched to America ❤ 😂

How bout having an interview of a maintainer?

Cameo appearance by an F-15, but that still doesn’t detract from the classic the F-4 really is… Phantoms Phorever!

That's Major General Dad right there

"Hey, now that you retire, you can't going on and use your secret test pilot name. What do you wanna be called for the rest of your life? Make it quick" "Ah...John...? ...Mann...?!" "OK, John Mann it is. Thanks for your service" LOL

Am lost about the self versus hard wing!

98,500 FEET?!!! You could just about reach out and shake ET's hand @ that Altitude! Those engines had to be Starving 😫for Air! My old man flew Phantoms (2) Tours in South East Asia Air Force .. He thought the Phantom Hung the Moon!..

I,suggest.the f4.be.given a slightly new design.plus advanced avionics making its eqivilence to the present newer fighter jets.after all it has proven itself to be a true warrior,and most feared bird in the sky.

if i'm not mistaken, our old airbase Soesterberg is a muesum now. I'm not a whole 100% - but i know that some of the old NATO airbases we had are turned into museums.

Fan-friggin-tastic!!!

they're still flying it as a target drone??

The Phantom was a Great Fighter, The problem was with LBJs Administration of the Beyond Visual Range ONLY Doctrine that actually had pilots maneuvering the phantom at Close Ranges when they wasn’t equipped to do this from the beginning. However when you did have pilots who could maneuver the phantom they would become ACEs . Captain Frank Ault was did a report on this called the Ault Report, and he found the issues to be with Missile Failures and In Close pilot training. So Dan Pedersen armed with this report stated to retrain phantom pilots at a school he started called Fighter Weapons school . These phantom pilots took the ratio from 2:1 and it became closer to 24:1 with the phantoms by the end of Vietnam.. why this newer phantom record is never Discussed remains a Mystery..

It is definitely loud.

She is still a bad ass fighter. She was quieter with the Tolls Royce turbofans.

This channel is for aircraft enthusiasts, don't waste your time with the F-4 background blabla on a teleprompter... John Barry said he occasionaly flew the RAF Phantom it would have been interesting to have his say about the Spey vs the J-79! Also you both guys didn't spoke about the negative points of the Brick. I remember the testimony of an ANG pilot who flew the F-106, the F-4 and the early F-16A, he absolutly hated the Phantom in the air-to-air role. Even if as an enthusiast the F-4s from Ramstein, Spangdhalem, Sembach and Zweibrucken AFBs made my days when I lived in the Budensrepublik Deutschland in the late 80s 😜

These videos are great but, for the love of the Aviation Gods, can you only play the music at the beginning and end of a vid??? Please...

T-38 - check no leaks before flight. F-4 - check have the normal leaks before flight.

Israel used her effectively

I wonder how many "go pills" that guy took waking up from a dead sleep

Oh man what happened to that other host? This one sounds like he's just reading prompts and it's a bit of a shame tbh

You can't play the same intro music 20 times in the video, it's unbearable.

Same old thing for the last 25 years. Nothing new at all in this video.

My father was a Phantom Phixer when he was in Thailand and with the 107th Niagara Falls, i thought they were beautiful planes, i miss hearing them flying around