Air Power Series>1:72 die-cast display model>F-4>HA1904

General Background

With its maiden flight in 1958 the F-4 Phantom II proved itself as the major jet-fighter of the United States and its Allies through decades of the Cold War and became a legend of its own lifetime. Built in over 5000 examples and numerous versions, the Phantom saw service in 12 countries, flying both from land bases and aircraft carriers, from the Arabian deserts to the jungles of Vietnam to the North Atlantic. Missions flown were ranging from air defence to reconnaissance to fighter-bomber tasks and many more special tasks had been fulfilled by McDonnell Douglas` big fighter.

German F-4F

Germany became a member of the Phantom Club back in 1971 introducing the reconnaisance version RF-4E Phantom II. Two years later the F-4F entered service with the Luftwaffe. 175 aircraft were purchased for the use in two fighter and two fighter bomber wings. The F-version was developed from the F-4E version and was a specially designed light-weight Phantom for Germany, which looked at the F-4F as a stop-gap-solution until the introduction of the Eurofighter. However the Phantom had to serve much longer as planned and received several upgrades of which the most significant turned them into F-4F ICE (Improved Combat Efficiency) in the early 1990ies. This program made the German Phantoms pure air defence fighters with BVR (Beyond Visual Range) capability. The heart therefore is now the AN/APG-65 radar combined with the AIM-120 AMRAAM missile, of which four can be carried together with four AIM-9 Sidewinders and the internal M61A1 gun.

Jagdgeschwader 74

Jagdgeschwader 74 is together with its northern sister unit, Jagdgeschwader 71 “Richthofen” responsible for the air defence of Germany and is based at Neuburg AB in Bavaria, Southern Germany. First equipped with the North American F-86K Sabre and the famous Lockheed F-104G Starfighter the wing converted to the Phantom in1974. With the introduction of the F-4F ICE the wing lost its secondary air-to-ground tasks and became an air defence fighter wing. 365 days per year two aircraft are kept at QRA status (Quick Reaction Alert) under NATO command, armed and ready to scramble within minutes. In 1973 the wing received the traditional name “Werner Mölders”, who was a highly decorated German fighter pilot in World War II. His skills as a pilot and in human leadership combined with criticism of the Nazi-regime made him the right person to act as symbol for the soldiers of the now Jagdgeschwader 74 “Mölders”. Due to changing politic influence the name was later removed from the unit under protest in 2005. Nowadays the JG-74 has already received its first Eurofighters and the famous smoke-trails of the Phantoms will disappear from the skies over Neuburg in 2008.

38+53 represents the classic F-4F Phantom II ICE how it flew in the 1990ies.

Written and researched by Florian Morasch.