A look inside a real F-4 Phantom

[Diesel_Thunder]

I've been helping out with maintenance on the Collings F-4D, which is undergoing a maintenance check and inspection. We have a lot of the panels off, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to get the camera out and show what goes on underneath the panels. Not a lot of people outside of maintainers get to see the inner workings of the aircraft. In this video I do a top to bottom walk around and take a deep look inside the Phantom.

So while we wait patiently for the release of Heatblur's F-4E, please enjoy!

 

[Rudel_chw]

18 minutes ago, Diesel_Thunder said:

So while we wait patiently for the release of Heatblur's F-4E, please enjoy!

 

Thank you so much, I actually enjoyed this detailed look inside the F-4, from a maintenance point of view ...  really an amazing video, thanks a lot for sharing it, you've got a new subscriptor  

 

Edited August 21, 2022 by Rudel_chw

[Diesel_Thunder]

11 minutes ago, Rudel_chw said:

 

Thank you so much, I actually enjoyed this detailed look inside the F-4, from a maintenance point of view ...  really an amazing video, thanks a lot for sharing it, you've got a new subscriptor  

 

 

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!

My original plan for the channel was primarily DCS content, but since I've been involved with helping out and working on the F-4, I want to tell its story as well. She's one of the few, if not only, operational F-4 Phantoms in the U.S. I have more F-4 content in the works as we do more maintenance to her, plus the ground service equipment involved.

[RPY Variable]

Here is a very detailed and interesting tour of the F-4G rear cockpit an systems.

[Ramstein]

the later models had some of the electronic warfare instruments we usually want in our fighters. They were just mostly analog instruments up until the 1970's. Strike Fighters had the F-4 Phantom in it. you can check out flying it, but that sim is pretty old now. IN real life it had about an hour and a half of fuel. Unless you went full AB.  I spent three years with the 86th TAC and the F-4 Phantom. We had aircraft from F-4's with tail numbers from 1964 to 1970's but they were replacing them by 1981. Many variations. At one airbase we had the F-4 Wild Weasels. They took about 7 minutes to launch from a cold start (cold start only meant the aircraft was prepped (with full live AA and A-G weapons) at all times, just not with the engines running), using starter cartridges.

[Ramstein]

I took all these photos and thousands more. I will not post anything more here.

Edited August 22, 2022 by Ramstein

[salsantana]

I've had greatest awe for this aircraft since its early-60's service with the Blue Angels....... I grew up essentially on the campus of the US Naval Academy, attended the Naval Academy Primary School....... my bus stop was in front of the Naval Academy Chapel, where an F-4 and A-4 sat on display. We used to climb into the engine cavities, just dyin' to get a good look in the cockpit

The F-4's Blue Angels performance made that the best day of the year, second only to Christmas........ the Primary School was located on thousands of acres of flat land, where the towers of the world's largest submarine radio comm station were situated. Talk about incredible visibility and acoustics...... when they'd all climb at the same time to converge over head the sound was, to me, bliss

Thanks for this heads-up (so to speak)....... looking very forward to a try at it.

[SgtPappy]

On 8/21/2022 at 10:33 AM, Diesel_Thunder said:

I've been helping out with maintenance on the Collings F-4D, which is undergoing a maintenance check and inspection. We have a lot of the panels off, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to get the camera out and show what goes on underneath the panels. Not a lot of people outside of maintainers get to see the inner workings of the aircraft. In this video I do a top to bottom walk around and take a deep look inside the Phantom.

So while we wait patiently for the release of Heatblur's F-4E, please enjoy!

 

Thank you diesel thunder! I watched this yesterday and I'm so incredibly jealous of the work you get to do.

Excited to see more of this as we get closer to the module's release.

[Diesel_Thunder]

You're welcome! I feel pretty lucky that I have the opportunity to work on her, plus the ground equipment to keep her operational. I get out to the hangar about once a week, and I plan to have the camera with me as we do more work. I definitely want to see her in the air again! Another video will be out tommorow...

I also am looking forward to Heatblur's release of the Phantom. They did an outstanding job on the Tomcat, and I absolutely enjoy flying backseat in that as a crew of two humans. I have a feeling I am going to enjoy riding backseat in the Phantom as well!

 

[salsantana]

The air conditioner unit alone looks like a miniature of the entire propulsion system. As a technical illustrator/draftsman over 40 years, I tend to see art in such precision and complexity What also strikes me is that each ground crew member is (at least expected to be) a world-class expert; no mere dabblers there.

As the tour was focused on the engines I was recalling the account of USAF pilot Pete Bonanni, producer/contributor to the Microprose Falcon 4.0 manual; he'd seen an F-4 return from a flight with one engine torn by G's from its mounts.