The Phantom is my favorite of some 18 aircraft I had the pleasure of working with. It was the premier fighter in Vietnam. Powered by two huge J79 series jet engines it was capable of mach 2 plus flight. Unique for the fighter aircraft community Navy F-4′s had no guns for air to air combat but depended on Sidewinder and Sparrow missiles instead. They could drop bombs but Navy Aviators shunned that like the plaque. Some Air Force types had guns and dropped bombs regularly. VF-161 shot down four MIG 17′s in May 1972 and got the last air-to-air kill of Vietnam in 1973. I was attached to VF-161 aboard the USS Midway from Oct 74 until Dec 77. As a Phabulous Phantom Phixer I was responsible for the engines and fuel systems of the aircraft. My job evolved to the point where most of my time was spent in the cockpit running the engines. I was not only checking the operation of the engines but most other systems as well. Sometimes it was either required or more expeditious to check other systems for other shops in the squadron. Airframes had hydraulic leaks to check and flight control systems to check. Electricians, Avionics and Fire Control technicians had various things to check as well. The most fun to be had, however was the high power and afterburner runs. Safety was paramount at all times. All ground runs required screens on the intakes and upwards to 12 chains as a hold back device for AB runs.
What a thrill it was for a boy from Anacortes to slam a throttle forward and have the Afterburner kick in and shoot flame out the back of the aircraft! At night I would light up the whole flight deck and ruin the night vision of every body up there. At a fuel consumption of 36000 pounds of fuel per hour I must have contributed to the fuel crisis of the 70′s. This fuel consumption helped spell the demise of the aircraft in favor of more fuel efficient engines but the Phantom ruled the skies in the 60′s and 70′s.
Darrell, in Oak Harbor, 2013: 
2 comments:
I just stumbled across this post and was surprised to learn that Darrell worked on the same type of aircraft that I did. I was crew chief on RF4Cs in Vietnam and had to have a license to run the engines. At night time, it was a thrill to hit afterburner on both engines (not supposed to do both together). I could relate to everything Darrell said.
Darrell, I hope you are doing well these days and maintaining good health.
Other Daryl from AHS, class of 65
I was on the Forrestal in Cuba waters when we all went for chow on night flight quarters.. When I returned to duty station the F-4 that was doing a high speed turn up on the hanger deck was missing half of the plane... Someone had closed the hanger bay door on the plane..From the wings back it was just gone... ripped apart. With Hurricane tie downs the plane was well secured..yep, alot of people got real excited.. Hahahahahaha... Kinda like when someone turned on the salt water sprinklers on ALL the planes..ALL had their canopys up .. interesting to say the least.
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