McDonnell Douglas F-4E - The RAAF retain the Phantom!

[Spinners]

McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom - No.6 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, 1975

 

The Australian Government's decision to back the recommendation of Air Vice Marshal CF Read to lease 24 brand-new McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantoms received warm support from the Royal Australian Air Force and especially from the crews of the Canberra squadrons. Entering service in September 1970, the Phantom was extremely popular with RAAF aircrews and groundcrew alike and by 1972 the Australian Government had started negotiations with the US Government to purchase 18 of the remaining 23 F-4E's plus the leased ground support equipment and by early October 1972 an agreement was reached. Whilst F-111C's re-equipped No.1 and No.2 squadrons, the F-4E's remained in service with No.6 squadron, receiving a new Mirage style camo scheme in 1973, and remained in service until 2002.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[+Stratos]

Great!! Will you share it??

[Derk]

I would have taken up more of 'em I had been Aussie....

 

[+daddyairplanes]

in service til '02? how many did the Aussies snatch up after the USAF fleet drawn down in the 90's? IRL they benefitted from some F-111Gs that were used to train on, while preserving airframe life on the C's and RF's. just food for thought there.......

Edited August 18, 2012 by daddyairplanes

[+Wrench]

use the 'skin start year switch'; start with the SEA camo version (available in our handy dandy downloads section - a FULL aircraft mod), and just use the StartDefaultDate= line in the Euro camo's textureset.ini. That'll make it automatically 'turn on' when you want it too.

[+daddyairplanes]

wery true on the skins Kevin, but i was pointing out how far one could go with this line of logic mirroring the Aussie Pigs..... weps upgrades, a homegrown recce version, extras after the Gulf War as we Americans retired ours to the boneyard. it's a great idea that deserves more than just this one posting.

[Sheriff001]

It may be a good idea to take this in another direction. When the RAAF proposed purchasing all 23 remaining F-4E's, one of the grounds for refusal was the need to disband a Mirage squadron to provide the aircrew (1 and 6 Squadrons would transition from the F-4E to the F-111C after delivery of the latter). I would therefore suggest AA loadouts and using Mirage Squadron markings.

 

During the mid-1990s, you could have the aircraft undergo an ICE-style upgrade. The APG-65 radars would come from F/A-18s (the radar part of HUG being done earlier). This could combine with the Egypt 1 colour scheme, or the light grey ICE Phantom scheme.

[dsawan]

Yes, plz share

[+Wrench]

we can't disband the Mirage squadrons ...

 

we just got the DLC!!!

[+SayethWhaaaa]

This is a thing of beauty Spinners! Don't tease us with this!! It's a shame they had almost no air to air capacity in actual service. I know they undertook trials for the USAF with the AIM-7, but as far as I've been able to find out, they rarely, if ever carried AIM-9s. A high/low mixture of IIOs and the F-4E would have been a massive capability boost over the Mirage IIIO's barely functional AIM-9Bs and surprisingly short ranged Matra R530s and their 50/50 chance to hit from 10kms and out. Even with AIM-7Es, the Phantom would have provided an actual air defence capability in the 70s! I love it!

[Spinners]

McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom - No.1 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, 1971

 

 

 

 

[Spinners]

 

 

I'll need to change my backstory to accommodate No.3 Squadron

[+daddyairplanes]

and the block 48 long gun muzzles if they're keepin em past 72. were developed to prevent flameout from gun gases but IRL they were returned Stateside before the modifications were ready.

[Sheriff001]

Spinners, could you tell me what font you used for the serial numbers?

[Spinners]

It's the standard RAF font available at the simmerspaintshop

 

If there's a closer match I'd be delighted to know.

[+Wrench]

RAF_PW_ATH

 

is the font name. ther's also an RCAF one, thats slightly 'fatter'

[+HomeFries]

Drop dead gorgeous, Spinners!

 

Those will go well with my fantasy RAAF A-6 (no pics; don't want to hijack the thread).

[Sheriff001]

Thanks. I intend to use it on my RAAF F-4M (an accompaniment to my RAN F-4K)

[Spinners]

McDonnell Douglas F-4EO Phantom - No.3 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, 1994

 

 

 

 

 

(From a suggestion by someone over at the 'What If Modelers' website).

[+daddyairplanes]

pure awesomeness! please tell me you're releasing that one!

[+Stratos]

Wow this last one is just amazing. Will look eve better with more modern missiles. Hope you can release the whole pack, is just too cool to lose it.