F4 Phantom

[Skaz]

No contest...this is the sexiest plane ever, and one day when I'm old and gray and retired and have money, I want one.

So...would it be at all possible some time down the line to buy an old warbird from somewhere and own it as a civvy?

Maybe rip out all the systems we wont tneed and slap in a nice Garmin & CD player, beat a fuel tank into a luggage pod......

please just tell me it is so...

 

[banned username 2]

beat a fuel tank into a luggage pod......

You'll need that fuel tank AND a Platinum VISA to fill it up, the F-4 is a HUGE Gas Guzzler!

 

[JimNtexas]

General Steve Richie got the Air Force to give him an F-4 to fly at airshows ( http://www.collingsfoundation.org/tx_f-4dphantom.htm ). Tracor used to fly some for flight test purposes.

As a former F-4 WSO/EWO, I was astounded to see the Collings Foundation ebay rides in the F-4 back seat for cross countries for over $15,000!

It's been a while, but I seem to recall that the F-4 has 8000 pounds of gas internal, which is good for about a .8 - 1.0 flight.

The back seat is an unpleasent place below 10,000 feet if it is at all warm. The warmer it is, the more unpleasent it gets.

The plane is about as complicated to fly as a harley is to drive, but it requires a real pilot, not some fly-by-wire poser. It can bite if you mishandle it, there are no computers to keep you out of trouble. You'd need a large fortune to operate one.

There are lots of Jet warbirds that show up on aso.com from time to time. I haven't seen any F-4s though.

 

[Skaz]

oh bummer... was hoping it might sound a bit more hopefull.

maybe I should build a 75% composite scale and fit some P&W fanjets or something.... mmm

thanks guys

 

[bssthound]

Just pulled out my RF-4 Dash One. Never know when you might need it! The Mighty, Mighty Rhino holds a little over 12,000 lbs. internal. The weights vary depending on the type fuel.

I remember planning high-level cruise at 100 pounds per minute and low level at 200 pounds per minute. If you left it in afterburner after takeoff you had 11 minutes before you were out of gas. That's including the 4000 lb. capacity centerline tank. Yeah, it'd cost a little to operate one.

 

[JimNtexas]

"Just pulled out my RF-4 Dash One. Never know when you might need it! The Mighty, Mighty Rhino holds a little over 12,000 lbs. internal. The weights vary depending on the type fuel."

You're right. I lost my dash one, but isn't it 8000lbs in the fusalage and 4000 in the wings?

100/200lbs/min sounds about right .

 

[bssthound]

Correct, 8 grand in the fuselage and 4 in the wings.

JohnNTexas

 

[Mud Eagle]

General Steve Richie got the Air Force to give him an F-4 to fly at airshows ( http://www.collingsfoundation.org/tx_f-4dphantom.htm ).

I don't know about recently, but during the late 90s when Ritchie was flying the F-4 at airshows it was an active-duty Holloman F-4 that was repainted to look like his Vietnam-era jet, not this one that the Collings Foundation owns.

 

[Mud Eagle]

Best Private Jet Warbird

So this is changing the original thread topic a bit, but for my money I'd say that a Tweet or T-38 would be a great jet warbird to privately own.

The Tweet would be great just for sheer fun-factor; lots of Gs (for a second or two at least!), spinnable, fun acro machine. The C models with the J85 engine upgrade lose many of the worst aspects of the J69-powered Tweet, like the obnoxious noise and the unbelievably long spool-up time.

A T-38 would also be fun...faster, better roll rate, better G. A fighter on a budget, basically.

Any of the bigger fighters, while fun to fly and cool to be seen in at the airport, would be a nightmare to maintain by comparison, especially when you start throwing more complicated avionics into the mix. Of course, as has been mentioned, the $10,000-per-hour gas bill isn't very attractive, either.

 

[Skaz]

Guys, thanks a lot for all the gen.
The F4 is stil my favourite jet of all time, but it seems a RC model might be more affordable!

If the A-10 ever gets retired, would you be able to get your mits on one?
Or E6B Prowler? that one's cool too

If the folks at Viper jet could build one, surely a scale F4 in composite with smaller engines might be a possibility?