F-4 Phantom II
By McDonnell Douglas
· During Project Top Flight on December 6, 1959, the F4H-1 prototype took off from Edwards AFB and before it landed had set a new absolute altitude record of 98,557 feet.
· The Phantom was the first multiservice aircraft to be flown by the U.S. Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps at the same time.
· The Phantom was the first and only aircraft to be flown by the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds at the same time.
· The Phantom served admirably during the Vietnam War and Operation Desert Storm, racking up 280 air-to-air victories and destruction of more than 200 anti-aircraft sites.
· The Phantom was retired from U. S. service in 1996, but from 1958 until retirement, it flew more than 17 million miles. This would be equal to one aircraft flying continuously for more than 2,000 years!!
· The Phantom has been flown by 11 other nations: Australia, Egypt, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Iran, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Spain and Turkey and hold the record for the largest production run of any supersonic fighter built in the United States.
· The Phantom was appreciated and respected by those who flew and worked on the ground with it as a “workhorse”. Not only could you count on it to “do it all”; It gets the job done and then gets you home again!
Phabulous indeed!