bucklehead

I haven’t seen it in close to 20 years, but the Great Santini has some great F-4 phootage. Sully has some F-4E scenes in it. Hamburger Hill featured some F-4Es from what I like to believe, Clark AB dropping Hollywood “Napalm” in a few scenes. Then there’s this classic. I remember seeing it as a school kid on one of my dads VHS mixtapes from his time in the AF. Edit - Oh! I forgot the ultimate cheese. Iron Eagle II has F-4Es featured as MiGs hahaha

USAF F-4E with the 526th out of Ramstein AB, Germany.

We are hours away from seeing the video. Hopefully some good news!

@exhausted The F-4E is a great variant with a great history, variety of weapons and mission sets. I and many others are excited for the F-4E, and hope that your preferred USN and British variants eventually appear.

I seen that video earlier this week. Very well done. I think perhaps while researching the F-4E, Heatblur ran across F-105D documents and got sidetracked starting work on the Thud - hence the delay of the Phantom.

You could realistically save yourself some finger stress and leave this thread. I pray you find peace.

Bring it!!!

F

I deployed for a year looking forward to the F-4 being released upon my return. Checked every week for an update. I hope my leave doesn’t run out before it releases!

If the USAF thought it was an incredible waste of effort, I doubt they would’ve took the time to bring them all the way from PACAF. That said, you could argue the Marines realized that the F-4S would be a complete waste of resources and left them behind. Since we’re now talking DCS scenarios, placing a F-14B or F/A-18C on a carrier or forward base is much better than sending F-4S paltry into the grinder.

I would argue that the F-4S and the F-4E, especially in the late 80s early 90s filled two different roles for two different services, and as a result you get two different variations designed to prioritize different things. In 1992, the Hornet, as disgusting as it is, had pretty much replaced the Phantom in USMC use. If it was to play such a critical role in Marine Air, even all the way up to 92, I would have expected it to play a role in Desert Storm where the US pretty much brought everything. It did not. I believe that you believe the F-4S is much cooler. That’s cool!

The RF-4C guys may have something to say about that.

In what capacity is the F-4S a much better fit aligning in timeframe and doctrine than the F-4E? If the F-4E went out the door in 91, and the F-4S in 92, the timeframe argument doesn’t make much sense to me. Doctrinally wise, are we talking about use case? If so, both had replacements already in service. Both the MiG-29 and Su-27 came into service in the mid 80’s, well within the operational window of the F-4E. I don’t think you’re a fan of the F-4E, or at least it’s not your first pick - that’s fine. We all need to show Heatblur that there is demand for more Phantom variants.

Last I checked, it was USAF F-4Es that made it into Desert Storm. Where was the F-4S?