[hawkonevoodoo]

Originally Posted by kb466

By Hawk saying that it might be in the March list of releases tells me that there is a HM F-4E on the way for sure! If it this was a bogus rumor and it wasn't coming at all, it seems Hawk would have said so instead of saying it might show up in March-- Good news!

I also said no guarantees. I hope you aren't reading things into what I said because I'd hate for you to be disappointed.

[Saeta]

Originally Posted by flyXwire

Long nose F-4E...

uummmmm... I could be wrong, but this airframe looks like a RF-4E to me.
The bulge under the nose does not look like that of a Vulcan gun, and the nose, even if "long", is slightly different than that of a F-4E or G.
My bet is that this is a recconaisance airframe that never flew with the acrobatic team but that was painted in Thunderbirds colours to be displaye

[smartd]

Originally Posted by Saeta

uummmmm... I could be wrong, but this airframe looks like a RF-4E to me.
The bulge under the nose does not look like that of a Vulcan gun, and the nose, even if "long", is slightly different than that of a F-4E or G.
My bet is that this is a recconaisance airframe that never flew with the acrobatic team but that was painted in Thunderbirds colours to be displaye

Is that a B-36 in the background? What museum is that?

[kb466]

Originally Posted by Saeta

uummmmm... I could be wrong, but this airframe looks like a RF-4E to me.
The bulge under the nose does not look like that of a Vulcan gun, and the nose, even if "long", is slightly different than that of a F-4E or G.
My bet is that this is a recconaisance airframe that never flew with the acrobatic team but that was painted in Thunderbirds colours to be displaye

It surely looks like an F-4E to me. Definitely not an RF-4. And yes, that is a B-36 in the background-- Is this at Castle?

[flyXwire]

Originally Posted by Saeta

uummmmm... I could be wrong, but this airframe looks like a RF-4E to me.

Originally Posted by Saeta

The bulge under the nose does not look like that of a Vulcan gun, and the nose, even if "long", is slightly different than that of a F-4E or G.

My bet is that this is a recconaisance airframe that never flew with the acrobatic team but that was painted in Thunderbirds colours to be displaye

I beg to differ. See picture of RF-4E below. I rest my case.

[SKUNKY]

It's an F-4E alright....

[Saeta]

With all due respect to everybody, I have checked the photo again and it is an RF-4 ( I would not know if C or E ).
The muzzle of the vulcan gun hanged vertical under the radome, and then it extended further back along the forward part of the fuselage. The shorter heavily sloped protuberance we see there is the housing for... the cameras.

[HotTrap429]

Sorry Saeta,
The Thunderbirds used a heavily modified F4E version of the Phantom. The following is from the official USAF Thunderbirds website: USAF Thunderbirds

Look under the "history tab".

The Thunderbirds started the 1969 training season still in the F-100D's but in the spring of 1969 the team received the first of the new McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom II's and began the team's conversion.
The F-4's conversion was the most extensive in the team's history. Among other modifications, paints that had worked on the F-100 made the F-4 look patchy because of multicolored alloys used in the F-4 to resist heat and friction at Mach II speeds. As a result, a polyurethane paint base was developed and used to cover the problem. The white paint base remains a part of today's Thunderbird aircraft.
Compared with its predecessors, the F-4 was immense. It was big. It was heavy. It was powerful. With the earth-shaking roar of eight J-79 engines from the four diamond aircraft, no demonstration aircraft accomplished the mission of representing American airpower more impressively than the Phantom.

[kb466]

Originally Posted by Saeta

With all due respect to everybody, I have checked the photo again and it is an RF-4 ( I would not know if C or E ).
The muzzle of the vulcan gun hanged vertical under the radome, and then it extended further back along the forward part of the fuselage. The shorter heavily sloped protuberance we see there is the housing for... the cameras.

Actually, it is an early production F-4E, not an RF-4. This is how the housing for the cannon muzzle was on early production F-4E's. The later production F-4E's had the longer muzzle covers which I think are the ones you are referring to. Here is a photo of an early F-4E with the earlier, shorter, sloped muzzle housing.

[kb466]

Originally Posted by kb466

Actually, it is an early production F-4E, not an RF-4. This is how the housing for the cannon muzzle was on early production F-4E's. The later production F-4E's had the longer muzzle covers which I think are the ones you are referring to. Here is a photo of an early F-4E with the earlier, shorter, sloped muzzle housing.

Here are a couple of other photos that show the difference between the gun muzzle housings on early and late F-4E's. The USAF F-4E is the early and the gray South Korean F-4E is the late. You can click on the photos to enlarge them.