Jg. 71 "Richthofen Squadron" Spottertag 2012 (F-4F Phantom content)

[NoDubJustYet]

Here are a handful of pics of one of the last operation F-4F squadrons in the western world. The Germans will be retiring them shortly and replacing the Phantom with the Eurofighter. This is probably one of the last public viewings of the aircraft in Germany.

They had a similar, but much larger, event in 2009 that I was also fortunate enough to attend. That event had a special liveried Phantom complete with the Red Baron and his aircraft. There were also jets from other NATO countries... This time around was just Jg. 71.

No flying unfortunately.













DERP!

[yz1337]

heartbreaking to see a phantom squadron go down. Still my favorite airplane of all time. Smoky, old, and ugly, just like my herks The way God intended em.

[NoDubJustYet]

heartbreaking to see a phantom squadron go down. Still my favorite airplane of all time. Smoky, old, and ugly, just like my herks The way God intended em.

x100000

I have a special attachment because my dad was a WSO in the RF-4C back in the Cold War days...

[yz1337]

x100000

I have a special attachment because my dad was a WSO in the RF-4C back in the Cold War days...

My uncle was a phantom WSO as well during that period.

[Cooper]

Amazing it's been in service so long.

I grew up during the Vietnam War, so it was always in the news.

My dad was an engineer at Republic in the 1950s designing the F-105, which the F-4 pretty much replaced in Vietnam.

[NoDubJustYet]

Amazing it's been in service so long.

You can't bring the Phantom down!! There are plenty left in service!!

I remember watching these things fly when I was a kid. The base playground was right along the flightline... Man that was awesome!

[NHDUBN#2]

You can't bring the Phantom down!! There are plenty left in service!!

I remember watching these things fly when I was a kid. The base playground was right along the flightline... Man that was awesome!

Me too. They were in and out of Pease AFB all the time when i was a kid. Love the F4

[NoDubJustYet]

Pics are back up...

[GTaye]

You can't bring the Phantom down!! There are plenty left in service!!

I remember watching these things fly when I was a kid. The base playground was right along the flightline... Man that was awesome!

When I was a little kid we lived in post housing at Landstuhl Army Base near the hospital. (my Dad was stationed at Miesau). Flyovers from Ramstein were common but one day an F-4 went over our heads as we played in a field next to our building. I swear, that thing looked close enough to reach out and touch, directly over our heads! And the sound.... pure awesomeness even though all us kids had our ears clamped to our heads!! It was a sight and sound I won't ever forget.

Always wondered if the Pilot got in trouble... there were more than a few complaints I remember.

btw, Where is the Richthofen Squadron stationed?

[NoDubJustYet]

I was born at Landstuhl... Dad flew out of Zweibrücken.

Jg 71 is located in Wittmund in the state of Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony). It's way up north, about 1.5hrs NW of Bremen.

Apparently the rules back during the Cold War were pretty lax. My dad has stories about bombing down the Rhein, eye-level with the fancy restuarants that were in the castles. That **** wouldn't fly nowadays.

[Cooper]

Always wondered if the Pilot got in trouble... there were more than a few complaints I remember.

My dad was an engineer at Sikorsky when I was a kid.

Sikorsky is on the Housatonic river right by a the Merritt - Wilbur Cross Parkway bridge from Stratford, CT to Milford. Easy to see on mapquest or google. There are a lot more helicopters out in the google maps photo.

Test pilots would fly under the bridge until that was stopped.

[dubraycer36]

As in low?

This plane is undergoing restoration at Wings and Rotor Air Museum in Whittier CA
http://www.wingsandrotors.org

[AZGolf]

Apparently the rules back during the Cold War were pretty lax. My dad has stories about bombing down the Rhein, eye-level with the fancy restuarants that were in the castles. That **** wouldn't fly nowadays.

I've heard a similar story from an old AF pilot. My grandfather-in-law is 86 years old and had an AF buddy over at his house for a dinner about a year ago. They were talking AF stuff and I of course had to ask what the other guy flew. He said he'd flown many, but that the F-104 was his favorite since it was so fast even at low level. He said him and another pilot doing operations in northern Arizona loved one particular day where they did a run through part of the Grand Canyon. I laughed and told him that would never work today since it's all blocked off airspace to aircraft. He said actually it wasn't allowed back then either but they figured they were going to fast for anyone to read their tail numbers.

[NHDUBN#2]

I had a F4 pilot tell me once " The fastest Brick ever built."

[Cooper]

... but that the F-104 was his favorite since it was so fast even at low level.

I think they pretty much had to fly fast to get enough lift form the stubby little wings. My dad said landing a 104 was essentially a controlled crash.

[NoDubJustYet]

Here are a few shots from the same event back in 2009.

Note the phancy Phantom, Eurofighter, Tornado and some other NATO aircraft, all of which were absent this year.

[NoDubJustYet]

I had a F4 pilot tell me once " The fastest Brick ever built."

"Take three states just to make a turn!"

[NHDUBN#2]

"Take three states just to make a turn!"

[ErikGTI]

Seeing those F-4's in person was a great privilege. I think these were the only active F-4's I've ever seen in my lifetime. I'm jealous of NoDub(my brother) seeing F-4's flying, especially on the deck with our dad in the backseat like the stories I've heard The F-4 is proof that if you put big enough engines on something it will fly.


Erik

[NoDubJustYet]

I keep forgetting that he was done flying the F-4 before you were even born...

[Elbows]

If I'm correct, didn't the Richtofen squadron fly their last on-duty sorties with the F4 sometime late last year? I read part of an article on it in one of the International aviation magazines.





My father finally got his Mark Styling print framed. I posted this picture a while back in this forum when it was a digital image. It's been beautifully framed with subdued glass etc. The print is about 36" wide. It came out well.

NoDub - how did I miss your father was a WSO? My father was a RIO (and subsequently a WSO in F111's which he didn't care for).

[NHDUBN#2]

If I'm correct, didn't the Richtofen squadron fly their last on-duty sorties with the F4 sometime late last year? I read part of an article on it in one of the International aviation magazines.



My father finally got his Mark Styling print framed. I posted this picture a while back in this forum when it was a digital image. It's been beautifully framed with subdued glass etc. The print is about 36" wide. It came out well.

NoDub - how did I miss your father was a WSO? My father was a RIO (and subsequently a WSO in F111's which he didn't care for).

Is that a Mig kill star i see?? Your dads?

[NoDubJustYet]

The Saratoga huh?

Does you dad know the ******* Tomcat driver that shotdown an RF-4C out of Germany?

[Elbows]

Is that a Mig kill star i see?? Your dads?

Sadly no. My father was a 74 grad of the Citadel, so he was left in school and not pushed over to Vietnam. By the time he was in the RAG, he met up with Commander Roy Cash, who was a MIG killer RIO from Vietnam. Cash was going through re(tread?) to become a pilot. He took a liking to my father, and chose him as his RIO when they hit the squadron together.

It was the same guy flying with my father when their F4 caught fire leaving out of Oceana (same exact runway was the F-18 that crashed there a few months back).

PS: NoDub --- doubt it. He only flew for a couple of years, before going Air Force because of my sister and I's arrival to the world. He later lost his flight status due to medical issues, and finished his career doing secret squirrel intelligence work. He retired AF, but is authorized to wear both sets of wings on his uniform, etc.

[NoDubJustYet]

Interesting transition... USN to USAF? Two sets of wings is pretty cool.

My dad had a similar route, Phantom to intel to Startotanker back to intel.

[Elbows]

He had a rather storied...interesting life for sure. Even spent one of his summers during college serve on a German torpedo boat in the Mediterranean. Drove destroyers for a bit, did some photo interpretation, etc. A man of many, many curious skills.

My mother is equally ridiculous, and they met in Pensacola, when my mother was the only female Naval Aviation Physiologist down there. Their roommates met, and introduced them etc.

I gave up pretending I'd live up to that stuff a long time ago.

[NoDubJustYet]

Ha ha...

I had congressional nominations to the Naval and Air Force (dad is a ringknocker) Academies back in high school - my physics grades SUCKED so I didn't make the final cut.

Oh well, not doing too bad now.

[NoDubJustYet]

The Turks just lost a Phantom off the coast of Syria.

[ErikGTI]

And it's been confirmed that Syria shot it down. It was an RF also. Hopefully both crewmen ejected.



Erik

[Cooper]

I just read that in the newspaper.

[NoDubJustYet]

Luftwaffe escort startles holidaymakers

<!-- Article Start -->Published: 25 Jul 12 17:16 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20120725-43977.html








Holidaymakers on their way to Majorca got a fright on Wednesday morning when out of the blue two Luftwaffe Phantom jets showed up right next to their plane and escorted it for 15 minutes.

<!--under_rr-->

“Air traffic control lost radio contact with the plane at 8:41 am, and activated a request for a sight identification of the plane,” André Hesse, Luftwaffe spokesman told The Local.

The Tuifly Nordic flight from Gothenburg in Sweden, to Palma de Majorca was over Bremen when radio contact was lost.

Hesse said Luftwaffe planes had to react within quarter of an hour to any such request as part of the Nato integrated air defence system covering Europe.

“We had two Phantom F4F jets in the air anyway on a training flight,” said Hesse.

“They were taken off their route and redirected to the plane to carry out a sight identification. This involves getting close enough to identify the plane – and to take a look in the cockpit to see whether anything unusual is happening. They have to come relatively close to do this.”

He said they would be close enough for the commercial pilots to give a thumbs-up to signal to show everything was ok.

“The Phantoms escorted the plane from 8:45 until 9:00, when radio contact with air traffic control was re-established,” said Hesse.

Alexander Huber, CEO of Tuifly Nordic, told The Local it was not uncommon for radio contact to be temporarily lost, and that an investigation would be launched to figure out what had happened in this case.

Hesse said it initially looked as if the Tuifly pilots may have muddled up the frequencies on their radio.

[.LSinLV.]

"Take three states just to make a turn!"

but will roll 720 in a second!