USAF McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II

Description

In many respects the most successful, versatile and widely-used combat aircraft of the post-war era the F-4 Phantom II was quickly adopted by the USAF after its spectacular US Navy introduction. Its introduction to USAF squadrons happened just in time for the Vietnam conflict where USAF F-4Cs took over MiG-fighting duties from the F-100 Super Sabre. Although the F-4 was never intended as a dog-fighter to tangle with light, nimble, gun-armed MiGs it was responsible for destroying 109 MiGs in aerial combat. At the end of their careers many of the survivors from the 3,380 'land-based' Phantoms were converted into target drones for training purposes. New aircraft were also built for West Germany, Iran and Israel. The USAF's experience with the Phantom showed clearly that the air-to-air fighter was still a necessity and its decision to fund its successor, the McDonnell-Douglas F-15 Eagle (as well as the F-16 Fighting Falcon and F-22A Raptor) was heavily influenced by the lessons of US and other Phantom pilots in combat.

Peter E Davies has written or co-written nineteen books on modern American combat aircraft, including the standard reference work on US Navy and Marine Corps Phantom II operations, Gray Ghosts. He is based in Bristol, UK. Henry Morshead is a design consultant in the European automotive and aerospace sectors, with clients including Jaguar, Bentley, Citroen and Airbus. He is also a technical sponsor of the Bloodhound supersonic car, contributing digital surfacing and design services. A former officer in the Royal Engineers and illustrator for Jane's, he maintains a keen interest in the design and use of military land and air vehicles.

"In this book, Peter Davies covers the design, development and use of the F-4 by the various services and includes some of their combat as well. The book is superbly illustrated with mostly color photographs and a few pages of artwork that include a cutaway drawing in the back of the book in a fold-out page. It is a very nice primer on the type and a book that any enthusiast of the type should have on their shelves." --Scott Van Aken, Modeling Madness "An in-depth look at an iconic American fighter aircraft of the Cold War. Throughout the book are numerous photographs and a number of detailed drawings showing different paint schemes and action shots of the F4s in combat situations over Vietnam and Isreal. Many of these are intended to aid model builders, a community Osprey caters to. For those who love delving into the history of favorite weapons, the Osprey series is hard to beat and there are many other aircraft-related titles in their series." --Military Heritage magazine