The F-4 Phantom was originally designated the F-110. That wasa back in the day of the Secretary of Defence Robert Macnamera and “universal one size fits all” weapon systems. So the F-4 and the F-111 were supposed to be used by the USAF, the Navy, and the Marines. The F-4 worked out, but the F-111 was to heavy and large for carrier operations so the Navy and Marines never went fully operational with the F-111. The A-7 also fit into this program.
Thanks! I honestly did not know that about the F-4 (despite being one of my favorite aircraft), or the F-111 either.
I don’t currently have an F-4 in my stash, but several years ago, I did complete the 1/32nd F-4J Phantom II by Tamiya. Too big to display along with my Century Series aircraft; it currently sits atop a curio cabinet in my living room.
There is a great vidio of the F-110A roll-out. There is also some great vidio of the F-111 A USAF, and the F-111B Navy.
The “swing wing” design goes back to Germany and Massershmit. The Bell X-5 was based upon the German design. The Navy had the Jaguar design as its first swing wing (variable geometry) design. It was not until the F-111 that this concept would be come a reality and go into production. Then later came the F-14 “Tomcat”. Of note is that the F-111 is still flying!! Just say’n !
Isn’t that the F-4 flown by Navy Aces Duke Cunningham and Bill Driscal?
Whooo Doggies!
That is one Big Bird! Reminds me ( the first photo) of the early Aurora kit with the escape pod feature. Neat bird all around.
Hi Aggieman!
being the self punishing person I am, I decided ALL my “Century Series” A/C. Had to be Natural metal( Read various forms of foil chrome) I just wanted sumpin purty.
It is.
Yes, that would be a form of punishment (having recently done not one, but two 1/48 B-29s in NMF, although not foil). I actually considered building all these in SEA camouflage, but since I never found any photos of the -106 wearing this scheme, I opted for what I figure is the most common paint jobs for each of these aircraft.
The a/c that became the F-4C was origially the F-110 Spectre. There had been a YF-110, so the names was “in use” hence the skip to F-111.
The other missing birds are
F-107 the “Ultra Saber”
F-108 Rapier, North American’s escort for the XB-70.
F-109 the Bell D-188 that never left the drawing board.
Convair had sorted the F-111 design out before Macnamara started monkeying with the process. They had designed the bird to what they expected the AF to want, based on their prior experience.
So, when they had to make the bird carrier-capable, they really wound up with a different a/c. This was labled F-111B for USN/MC use and F-111A for AF use. The Bravo had longer wings to increase lift, too. Only a coule of feet, but enough to reduce the commonality quotient.
Mac also came up with the notion that no military service need more than one plane type, no matter what mission type was being flown. Mac had previously convinced Ford that the Edsel, coupe, sedan, and wagon, would take over the auto indusrty, too (that’s why he was available to be SecDef).
So Convair had another problem, how to pile external stores on what had been meant to be a fighter-interceptor. They had a leg up, in the heavier F-111B airframe, which had enough frame oomph to carry al lthe hydraulics for pivoting stores pylons (which Convair resisted no small amount).
In the end, the Bravo was too big, too heavy, too slow (engines designed for the lighter weight)–while also too fast for best carrier landings, and only just adequate landing gear. The “parts commonality” was down to 20-30%, so Convair saved no money, which raised the unit price, and lengthened the delivery times. So, around a billion over budget, DepNav pulled the plug. And, this was not unknown in the industry. So, Grumman just happened to have a desinged from the get-go carrier-ready a/c with variable geometry wings. And, designed around AIM-54, which the AF no longer had a good a/c for.
Most of which I was a bystander to, as my dad was on the USN audit team working at Convair.
Convair converted al lthe Bavos to be strike fighters, which were designated FB-111.
Mac passed into history, and the AF got the figher they actually wanted in the F-15, and as a bonus, Convair also got them the F-16. That latter light fighter competition also got us Northup’s F-17, and the Mac-Doug F-18.
And now, I may have “jet fatigue” [:)]
Yeah I’ve had a decal or two stick to my finger too! Sweet bird!
I remembering walking along the F-111 reventment area talking pictures and noticed that their canopies had a gold tint to them. I did some checking with a couple maint. guys and they said it was to help protect the pilots during a nuke detonation.
The pictures of the 111s with the Navy style paint job were taken at Sheppard A.F.B. in 1975. I was attending a school there and these were used as training devices for people going through aircraft maintennance training courses. Yhey also had a couple of A-7Ds without the refueling hump, just like the old revell A-7D kit back in the 60s. There may have been a couple grey and white F-4s but I didn’t hang around to find out. I just grabbed what shots I could sneak in and got out of there. No telling when you might run into someone in the security police with a ego bigger than his knowledge.