How the US F-4 Phantom II Destroyed Viet Cong Targets in Vietnam War

by Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization 

(Washington DC) The F-4 Phantom II aircraft built its fame in Vietnam, bolstering it later in Iraq, in 1991, during Operation Desert Storm. During these wars, the aircraft notched as many as 280 air-to-air victories and eliminated more than 200 anti-aircraft sites.

Before it was retired from U.S. military service in 1996, the aircraft proved itself combat-worthy over a period of many decades. It first took to the sky as far back as 1958, according to an essay from Boeing. Into the late 1990s, the aircraft continued to support allied countries including Australia, Egypt, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Iran, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Spain, and Turkey. The Phantom II began life as a Navy jet but evolved into key ground-attack roles supporting Marines in firefights.

“The aircraft flew every traditional military mission: air superiority, close air support, interception, air defense suppression, long-range strike, fleet defense, attack and reconnaissance,” according to Boeing.

There were several variants and modernization efforts pursued with the F-4 Phantom over the years, according to Joe Baugher.

The first variant was the F-4J, a model powered by J79-GE-10 engines able to generate 17,900 pounds of afterburning thrust. The engines, Baugher explains, were heavy and generated a need for stronger landing-gear with larger mainwheels.

“In order to accommodate these larger mainwheels, the upper and lower surfaces of the inner wing had to be bulged outward like those on the USAF F-4C. An additional fuel cell was fitted in the rear fuselage to bring internal fuel capacity to 1998 gallons,” Baugher writes.