The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II was the most mass-produced supersonic fighter jet ever flown in the history of the United States of America. It was originally procured by the US Navy, but later went on to be the primary fighter platform for the US Air Force and the US Marine Corps. When the last example, an F-4EJ, rolled off the line at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan, the grand total came to 5,195 produced.

The last Phantom in service in the United States was retired in 1997, but to this day, a handful of examples remain airworthy and in service with air forces like Greece. Even when the United States retired the F-4 from frontline service, its story did not end there. The airframes were converted to drones and used as live fire missile targets.

Despite its checkered combat results in the skies over Vietnam after it first debuted, the Phantom was much loved by pilots and aircrew for its speed, power, and range, among other qualities. Among the aircraft made by McDonnell Douglas, which includes the F-15 Eagle, A-4 Skyhawk, and F/A-18 Hornet, its production run vastly overshadows all of them, nearly equaling the total production of all three of these equally iconic fighter jets.

Of the total number produced, there were several variants. The initial USN and USMC F-4Bs were designed to fly high and fast with long-range missiles as their primary weapons. That design proved to be unreliable and impractical on a battlefield with complicated rules of engagement and real-world conditions that prevented the perfect performance of missiles in combat. The F-4C and the F-4D also would not receive a gun, nor would the F-4G, which was specially designed to attack enemy air defenses (“Wild Weasel”).

It wasn’t until the F-4E in 1967 that the M61A1 Vulcan Gatling cannon would be integrated into the nose of the jet. This variant would go on to be the most popular, with 1,370 being made. Meanwhile, other special reconnaissance configurations, like the RF-4C of the USAF, were redesigned with cameras in the nose and ditched armament completely in favor of surveillance sensors.

The Phantom holds the unique honor of being the only jet flown by both flight demonstrations of the USAF and USN’s Thunderbirds and Blue Angels, respectively. Although the aircraft did see some tragic losses in combat in its early years, it was considered widely successful in many roles, including interceptor, fighter bomber, and reconnaissance.

The F-4E was considered the ultimate version thanks to its internal gun as well as the leading-edge slats installed on later models, which significantly improved its maneuverability in dogfighting scenarios. The Phantom’s speed and heavy payload dwarfed its competitors in the 1960s, and it proved to be a highly versatile platform.

The F-4 Goes To Sea

If F-4A was technically the first variant, however, the F-4B was the first to be produced in large numbers. This aircraft was made specifically as a carrier-based interceptor with thin wings for storage and a powerful nose-mounted radar. The absent gun was supplanted by AIM-7 Sparrow and AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles. The Marines used the F-4B for land-based close air support and air superiority, deploying their first operational squadron (VMFA-314) in June 1962.

The Phantom was immediately forged by the fire of the Vietnam War upon its introduction to service. US Navy squadrons would score the first and last air-to-air victories of the conflict, with both units being deployed aboard the same aircraft carrier, the USS Midway. VF-21 scored in 1965, and VF-161 in 1973, according to the US Naval Institute.

The Phantom was also the last fighter jet to use the catapult bridle system that was derived from the days of propeller-based carrier aviation. Before the tow-bar on the nose wheel became standard, the cable was connected to the two wing roots and the catapult shuttle. When the jet was launched, the cable was dropped into a basket at the end of the flight deck. Looking like two horns coming from the bow of the carrier, the “bridle catchers” became a distinctive feature of the older “boats” with the Nimitz-class ships made after USS Enterprise (CVN-65) leaving them out.

The Navy and Marines never adopted the F-4E as the changes to the airframe made it incompatible with carrier operations. There was an F-4N, which integrated a number of enhancements to the airframe and avionics until the Grumman F-14 Tomcat was fully deployed to the fleet in the 1980s. The last active-duty Navy Phantom launch occurred on March 25, 1986, from the USS Midway.

The Zoomies’ Phantom

Despite being the secondary procurement service of the F-4 Phantom, the US Air Force (affectionately referred to as « Zoomies » by the Navy) would end up operating many more than the Navy and Marines over the nearly four decades of the jet’s active duty career. In fact, the first variant the Air Force flew still had folding wings and an arresting hook. There were changes to the air refueling equipment and landing gear, but much was still the same.

The Air Force’s workhorse model during the Vietnam conflict was the F-4D. The primary enhancements were in the avionics, with new attack and navigation systems, including an improved AN/APQ-109 radar and a lead-computing gunsight for aiming external cannon pods. The USAF would lay claim to 993 of the later F-4E variant, which was introduced in 1968.

The RF-4C was completely unarmed and featured cameras with a horizon-to-horizon angle view as well as side-looking radar in an elongated nose section. Not only did these jets serve extensively during the war in Vietnam, but they continued to do so until 1995, seeing action in Operation Desert Storm.

Then there was the iconic “Wild Weasel” variant, the F-4G, which redefined the anti-air defense mission. As surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) took a toll on the American bomber and fighter fleets, Phantom crews were given the mission of Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD). These aircraft would intentionally allow themselves to be targeted by enemy air defenses in order to counter-launch radar-seeking missiles and destroy the enemy weapons.

The F-4G Wild Weasel was derived from the F-4E and replaced the nose-mounted gun with the AN/APR-38/47 radar homing and warning system. The mission was inherited by the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, and with the Viper (as the F-16 is often called) now headed on its way to retirement, it is being taken over by the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II.

The F-4’s Extended Family

The only factory that was not located in St. Louis, Missouri, to produce F-4 Phantoms was the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries facility in Japan. Of the 140 F-4EJ models, 138 were produced in Japan for the Japan Air Self Defense Force (JASDF). These aircraft did not have equipment for ground attack or aerial refueling initially; they were later upgraded to the “Kai” model. Just under 100 of these aircraft were produced and featured radar from the F-16 as well as heads-up displays (HUD). The last JASDF examples would not be retired until 2021.

Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, there was no factory for the Phantom, but both the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force often installed Rolls-Royce “Spey” turbofan engines that were more powerful and larger than the General Electric J79s. These jets would be known as the F-4K (RN) and the F-4M (RAF). The Spey engines provided 30% more thrust but required a widened fuselage and larger air intakes, which increased drag and slightly reduced the aircraft’s top speed at high altitudes.

The F-4F was a simplified version of the F-4E produced for West Germany. The « Improved Combat Efficiency » (ICE) program equipped the Luftwaffe’s F-4Fs with the AN/APG-65 radar (from the F/A-18), allowing them to fire the AIM-120 AMRAAM missile for beyond-visual-range combat.

The Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) was a major operator of the F-4 Phantom II, which they nicknamed the « Goblin of the Sky. » South Korea first acquired the F-4D in 1969, and the aircraft served as the backbone of its air defense for 55 years. The ROKAF officially retired its last F-4E Phantoms in a ceremony on June 7, 2024.

The Hebrew Hammer

Developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), the Kurnass 2000 (Hebrew for « Sledgehammer« ) upgrade featured the AN/APG-76 radar, a new mission computer, and the ability to fire Popeye standoff missiles. IAI also tested a « Super Phantom » with Pratt & Whitney PW1120 engines, though it was not mass-produced.

The Kurnass arrived in Israel in 1969 at the height of the War of Attrition and quickly became the IAF’s primary multirole platform. Israeli Phantoms are credited with 116.5 air-to-air kills against 55 combat losses. In one of the most famous dogfights in history, two Israeli F-4Es scrambled without orders during the opening moments of the Yom Kippur War and shot down seven Egyptian MiGs in under six minutes.

Over roughly 35 years of service, the IAF operated approximately 200 to 220 airframes, primarily F-4E and RF-4E variants. The IAF officially retired its final F-4 Phantom squadrons in 2004, after the aircraft had been largely replaced in frontline air superiority roles by the F-15 and F-16. Today, many remain as museum pieces or test platforms.

The Phantom Today

Israel also helped upgrade F-4Es for the Turkish Air Force, dubbed the “2020 Terminator” variant. The remaining operational Phantoms are concentrated in a single unit, 111 Filo « Panterler » (Panthers), based at the Eskişehir Air Base. Reports estimate the active fleet size at approximately 30 to 40 aircraft.

Today, Greece and Turkey still operate the F-4E. Its days are numbered, however, as Greece is expected to receive the F-35 by the end of the decade, and Turkey also plans to begin phasing out its fleet after 2030. That will only leave Iran as an operator with its aging fleet acquired during the religious revolution that overthrew the Shah in 1979.