[Rush104]

Here's a cool Phantom site in the UK-

Welcome To The Phantom Shrine

In addition to the Ark Royal Phantom, I could go for a 56 Sqn Red tail, a 64 Sqn Blue tail, and one of the grey/green camo lo-viz roundel birds...

[Phantom Phan1200]

Great link Rush, thanks.

[tank nut]

I want this one!!!!

[Hornchurch]

Originally Posted by Rush104

Here's a cool Phantom site in the UK-

Welcome To The Phantom Shrine

In addition to the Ark Royal Phantom, I could go for a 56 Sqn Red tail, a 64 Sqn Blue tail, and one of the grey/green camo lo-viz roundel birds...

Yeah, excellent link, many thanks !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I photographed a 'zillion' RAF F.4's in my time (lol) & quite a few USAF, too !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wattisham was home from home, for me !!!!!!!!

64 Sqdn, (with the Blue 'Scarab'-Beetle' marking) were also known as No.228 O.C.U.

They would (have) taken on the No.64 Sqdn 'mantle' if called upon, during wartime whilst they exsisted

I got some 'blinders' (photo's as it's landing & taking-off) of the No.92 Sqdn (all-blue) Phantom that the 'ex'-famous Hollywood-Actress Shirley Temple helped to save in real life, although the last I heard, the museum in Czech' had shut down, with some of the exhibits damaged, including (so I was told) that particular Phantom (sigh)

[Phantom Phan1200]

This one would be nice.




That profile came from another great U.K. phantom site.

The phantom zone
http://www.aviation-picture-hangar.co.uk/Phantom.html

[jasgreeny]

What are the main differences between the UK phantom and the US one ?? Not knowing much about them they look the same to me, except the royal navy ones seem to have a longer nose wheel ??? thanks

[SKUNKY]

Originally Posted by jasgreeny

......the royal navy ones seem to have a longer nose wheel ???

say what?...


Oh yeah, I see what you mean now...I wonder what the purpose of that was.....

[planejunky]

The Royal Navy operated much smaller carriers than their USN counterparts, therefore they featured an extendable nose wheel oleo which placed the Phantom at a better attitude on launch.

I just scanned some FGR.2 pictures I took during my Wattisham days, there's some great schemes here so hopefully Gemini will take note! The blue former 92 Sqn jet remained at WTM and flew with 74 Sqn until its retirement. I really hope that Gemini do the 56 Sqn jet with the red tail and sharkmouth, it was the personal aircraft of 56 Sqn's CO Wing Commander Barry Doggett, who incidently flew a tour with 892 NAS from Ark Royal in the 1970's. Please forgive the quality, these were taken long before the advent of the digital camera, and even the internet!

[planejunky]

Originally Posted by jasgreeny

What are the main differences between the UK phantom and the US one ?? Not knowing much about them they look the same to me, except the royal navy ones seem to have a longer nose wheel ??? thanks

When retracted the FG.1 nosewheel is actually little different to any other Phantom, the biggest difference is the engines and rear of the aircraft to house them. Buying an American jet didn't sit well with certain elements of Britain's politicians, so as a compromise they opted for Rolls Royce Spey engines rather the GE J-79 units used by everyone else (Interestingly the RAF opposed the fitting of the RR engines too, but as usual were ignored by their political masters). Although the Spey was indeed more powerful, any advantage was lost due to the need for wider and deeper engine bays needed to accomodate the new engines, and in fact lead to a deterioration in overall performance. Other external differences are the air intakes which had to be larger to feed the Speys, and the ARI 18228 Radar Warning Receivers which were later fitted in a box-like housing on top of the tailfin, again a British only modification.

There were two types in service in the UK, both based on the American F-4J. The FG.1 (F-4K) was built for the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, and the FGR.2 (F-4M) for the RAF, all the FAA machines were transferred to the RAF when HMS Ark Royal was decommissioned in the late 1970's, and were operated by 111 Sqn (as seen in tank nut's picture) and 43 Sqn from RAF Leuchars in Scotland.

Hope that helps.

[ZS-VAN]

Cool insights and great pics Planejunky. Some really cool schemes available to be done. I really dig Phantoms but with Gemini and HM doing them and as yet no F4E/F/Gs I can see me having a serious funding problem.