At Vintage Aviation News, we have been covering the restoration efforts of the Castle Air Museum in Atwater, CA in restoring a McDonnell F-4S Phantom II known as the “Black Bunny”, which was famously flown by Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Four (VX-4), better known as “The Evaluators” during the 1980s at NAS Point Mugu, CA. The aircraft sat for over 30 years at the Boneyard at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson, AZ, before it was trucked into Atwater. On May 24, after nearly two years of restoration work, F-4S Phantom II “Black Bunny” BuNo 155539 was officially rolled out of the Castle Air Museum’s restoration hangar and placed on display along with the rest of the museum’s outdoor collection of aircraft, some of which were opened to the public as part of the museum’s Spring Open Cockpit Day.
Though the museum had announced the rollout of the aircraft during the Open Cockpit Day, weather permitting, the museum’s team of restoration volunteers worked around the clock to get the aircraft’s iconic paint scheme back to its glossy finish. One detail kept intact on the Black Bunny has been the formation lights on the fuselage and on the tail, which pass through one of the ears of the Bunny on each side.
On a bright sunny day, the Black Bunny was at last rolled out of the Castle Air Museum’s restoration hangar at Merced-Castle Airport, and a tug driven by one of the museum volunteers towed the aircraft to the museum, where it now sits on outdoor display at the northern end of the museum’s display area, along with the museum’s McDonnell Douglas F-15A Eagle and Grumman HU-16B Albatross. Now that the Black Bunny is on display, it will be maintained by volunteer detailers who will look over the aircraft now on outdoor display. With the restoration of the Black Bunny complete, the museum’s restoration volunteers will continue their ongoing work on other projects, such as their F-117 Nighthawk nicknamed the “Toxic Avenger” and their Bell UH-1 Iroquois “Huey”, US Army serial number 68-16165. The Black Bunny is also the second F-4 Phantom displayed at the Castle Air Museum, which also displays a former USAF Thunderbird, F-4E Phantom II serial number 66-0289, which has been restored in its Thunderbird livery.
While the museum is currently raising funds to put some of its airplanes indoors, fans of the Black Bunny can rest assured that in Atwater, the aircraft has finally found a home in the largest aviation collection in the California Central Valley. For more information, visit the Castle Air Museum’s website HERE.
Black Bunny Phantom II Unveiled – Castle Air Museum
