By Randy Malmstrom
Since his childhood, Randy Malmstrom has had a passion for aviation history and historic military aircraft in particular. He has a particular penchant for documenting specific airframes with a highly detailed series of walk-around images and an in-depth exploration of their history, which have proved to be popular with many of those who have seen them, and we thought our readers would be equally fascinated too. This installment of Randy’s Warbird Profiles takes a look at the Museum of Flight‘s F-4 Phantom.
McDonnell Douglas F-4C-23-MC Phantom II, #64-0776, tail code AK. A very brief description: The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is a tandem two-seat,twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber originally developed for the United States Navy by McDonnell Douglas Corporation. It was selected in 1958 by the U.S. Navy and entered service by 1960, and served in the roles of interceptor, air superiority fighter, ground attack, and reconnaissance aircraft, and was also operated by the U.S. Air Force (as the F-110), U.S. Marine Corps, as well at least 11 other countries, and remained in use by the U.S. in the reconnaissance and Wild Weasel (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) roles in the 1991 Gulf War, finally leaving service in 1996.
It was the largest produced American supersonic aircraft, with about 5,195 units produced between 1958 and 1981; of that number, 583 of the F-4C variants were built. Nicknames included “Snoopy,” “Rhino,” “Double Ugly,” “Old Smokey,” “Flying Anvil,” “Flying Footlocker,” “Flying Brick,” “Lead Sled,” “Big Iron Sled” and the “St. Louis Slugger.”
The F-4C (factory designation Model 98DE) had its maiden flight on May 27, 1963, and was fitted with dual controls (the backseat weapons officer now also a pilot). Power plant in this variant: two General Electric J-79-GE-15 engines; armament of the F-4C: four AIM-7D or-7E Sparrow semi-active radar homing missiles in underfuselage recesses; inner underwing pylons could each hold a pair of AIM-9B/D Sidewinder infrared homing missiles.
For ground attack mode, it could carry as much as 16,000 pounds of ordnance on both a center-line pylon underneath the fuselage and on four underwing hardpoints, and later, a 1× 20 mm (0.787 in) M61A1 Vulcan 6-barrel Gatling cannon with up to 1,200 rounds, and in the Wild Weasel air defense role, HARM anti-radiation missiles.
This particular aircraft was assigned to the 366 Tactical Fighter Wing (“The Gunfighters”), 389 Tactical Fighter Squadron. The letter “A” in the tail code denotes the 389 TFS, and the second letter denotes the individual aircraft in that squadron (normally a tail code is assigned to a squadron and all the aircraft in that squadron have that tail code with each individual plane in that squadron being identified by a number, but in the case of the 389 TFS, it was decided to do the tail codes as noted above).
Briefly, the 366th was activated in April of 1962 at Chaumont-Semoutiers Air Base (now Quartier Général d’Aboville), France as part of United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE), with personnel and equipment coming from federalized Air National Guard assets sent to Europe in the wake of the Berlin Crisis, flying F-84 Thunderstreaks.
It was reassigned to Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico in 1963, and by 1965, the 366th began converting to the new F-4C Phantom II, and later that year, the wing sent its first squadron to Vietnam (the 390th FS was deployed to Da Nang Air Base (6252d Tactical Wing) in October 1965, and the 391st went to Cam Ranh Bay Air Base (12th Tactical Fighter Wing) in January 1966). And it was March of 1966 that HQ 366th, the 389th, and various support units of the wing entered the conflict and were reassigned to Phan Rang Air Base, a former Japanese and French base dating back to World War II.
The 366th consisted of a mixture of F-100 Super Sabre and F-4C Phantom II squadrons, deployed from several Tactical Air Command wings. Because of the logistical difficulties in supporting both F-100 and F-4C aircraft at the same base, the 389th was moved to Da Nang Air Base (F-4Cs were already stationed there), making Phan Rang strictly an F-100 base, and sprawling Da Nang base complex became host to Army, Navy, Marine and Air Force units.
Between 1966 and 1972, the 366 Gunfighters logged 18 confirmed MiG victories in Vietnam, and this aircraft is credited with shooting down two (or three, depending on your sources) MiG-21 Fishbed aircraft with 2 different sets of crews. After its active Air Force duty, it served with the 183 TFG/170 TFS, Illinois Air National Guard, and then with the 123rd Fighter-Interceptor Squadron of the Oregon Air National Guard for nine years, flying tactical defense exercises from Portland International Airport.
It is on loan to the Museum of Flight in Seattle (MOF) from the National Museum of the United States Air Force through the cooperation and assistance of the Oregon National Guard and the Oregon Military Museum.
About the author
Randy Malmstrom grew up in a family steeped in aviation culture. His father, Bob, was still a cadet in training with the USAAF at the end of WWII, but did serve in Germany during the U.S. occupation in the immediate post-war period, where he had the opportunity to fly in a wide variety of types which flew in WWII. After returning to the States, Bob became a multi-engine aircraft sales manager and as such flew a wide variety of aircraft; Randy frequently accompanied him on these flights. Furthermore, Randy’s cousin, Einar Axel Malmstrom flew P-47 Thunderbolts with the 356th FG from RAF Martlesham Heath. He was commanding this unit at the time he was shot down over France on April 24th, 1944, spending the rest of the war as a prisoner of war. Following his repatriation at war’s end, Einar continued his military service, attaining the rank of Colonel. He was serving as Deputy Wing Commander of the 407th Strategic Fighter Wing at Great Falls AFB, MT at the time of his death in a T-33 training accident on August 21, 1954. The base was renamed in his honor in October 1955 and continues to serve in the present USAF as home to the 341st Missile Wing. Randy’s innate interest in history in general, and aviation history in particular, plus his educational background and passion for WWII warbirds, led him down his current path of capturing detailed aircraft walk-around photos and in-depth airframe histories, recording a precise description of a particular aircraft in all aspects.
