streakeagle

Also note: in the last photo I posted, the radome got replaced with one that didn't have shark's teeth on it. The camo aft of the black area clearly does not match the rest of the aircraft.

I personally prefer the style of shark teeth you are using. However, the photos in this thread clearly show a much different style that not only has more teeth, but is partially blocked by the air intake scoops. The eyes are different, too. Interestingly enough, the 1/32 box art more or less shows the correct teeth clipped by the air intake, but the actual decal sheet comes to a point. They eyes are not quite right on both the box art and decal sheet.

This bird is older (67-0333), but shots of this unit are so rare and somehow this one is a MiG killer as well as having the later gun muzzle.

Those look so beautiful to my eyes!

One last shot of the red bird from an eBay photo of the decal sheet.

I got my first F-4E model, a 1/72 Revell in 2nd grade after having watched a film on the Thunderbirds at school. Sometime between then and halfway through the 3rd grade, I got the 1/32 Revell F-4E pictured above. I loved it even more than my Monogram 1/48 B-17G. I tried to paint it as a Thunderbird with no decals and no photo references, so it was ugly. But I never forgot the box art. When you went to hobby shops or department stores, two large models were almost always prominently displayed: the 1/48 Monogram B-17G and the 1/32 Revell F-4E. The box art for both of those is forever etched in my brain. Of course, unlike the box art, "Hey Jude" flew South Vietnam ground attack sorties and never got near a MiG-21 much less kill one. This is the B-17G box I always saw. I bought the same exact model just before I left the Navy in 1996 and have it painted/decaled per the box as El Lobo II hanging above me as I type this.

Researching the MiG-23MLA, there are two production numbers associated with this designation: the original 23-12a (the 23-12 being the MiG-23ML) and the 23-16. I cannot find with any certainty what the 23-16 was, but a forum suggested that was the designation for older MiG-23M and MiG23ML aircraft brought up to the MiG-23MLA standard. I cannot find any evidence that the MiG-23MLA aircraft exported to other countries was any different than those used by the USSR. Cuba received about around 12-14 MiG-23MLA.

They best I can do on the red bird logo is the box art from the old model.

I only found one later photo of 68-0307. As of 1975, the gun muzzle had been upgraded. 68-0307 | 3324 | McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom II | USA Air Force | Eric Tammer | AIRFIGHTERS.COM

She really got around. Looks like TISEO was removed. As of 1978, the gun muzzle had been upgraded to the Midas style. Aircraft Photo of 68-0317 / AF68-317 | McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom II | USA - Air Force | AirHistory.net #263205 68-0317 EG | F-4E. 33 TFW / 58 TFS. Eglin AFB, Florida. TAC.… | Flickr 68-0317 | 3343 | McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom II | USA Air Force | David F. Brown | AIRFIGHTERS.COM 68-0317 MY | F-4E. 347 TFW / 68 TFS. Moody AFB, Georgia. TAC… | Flickr

AMARC information on 68-0317 The AMARC Experience - AMARC Experience Database

I did find the fate of the aircraft by serial number: 68-0307 3324 68-0307 THK 1981 (THK = Turkish Air Force) 68-0317 3343 wfu (withdrawn from use) 14may90 AMARC AA FP0501 (AMARC inventory number) rts (returned to service) QF-4E 68-307 might still be flying. 68-317 was probably shot down during training/testing.

I can't find a better image than your first color photo and the decal sheet. It looks like some kind of bird with its wings up and one foot extended forward. Kiwis don't have wings. On the decal sheet, it looks more like a Dodo bird.

This is another decal sheet for Hey Jude. Wolfpak Decals 72-112 - "Devil's Fork" (usaf-sig.org) There is an image of the decal sheet itself that kind of shows the small red logo that it mounted low on the left side. On the sheet it is next to the "Hey Jude" decal. You can see the logo on the intake ramp of the first color photo of 307. s-l1600.jpg (1139×1600) (ebayimg.com)

I would bet on it. I would love to see Hey Jude's skin on the Heatblur DCS F-4E despite being post Vietnam slatted variant <hint, hint>

Here is a photo from the same unit, but the image is too low of a quality to be useful. It also appears to be lacking TISEO. F-4E_of_the_421st_Tactical_Fighter_Squadron_at_DaNang.jpg (600×400) (wikimedia.org)

My F-4 Phantom book collection might have some other similarly marked F-4Es in it, but notably not "Hey Jude". Maybe even the other one in the above photo, but possibly the same photo. I have never seen many photos of this unit in my quest to find photos of "Hey Jude". However, I was able to find color profiles in the past, including "Hey Jude". These profiles were typically on Russian sites since they were mostly copied out of books and posted without permission.

I found the photo on my facebook account. The web page source is long gone, but here is the photo. This is the info from the webiste: Photo of "Hey Jude" from website of a guy commissioned to build a model of it for its pilot, Brigadier General (Ret.) Bob Baxter. Apparently, "Hey Jude" was part of an operational evaluation of TISEO over Vietnam in February of 1972.

The lower photo is a bird I struggled to find before. It is "Hey Jude", which was the box art for the Revell 1/32 F-4E in my childhood, H198. Revell 1/32 McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom II Hey Jude, H198 (oldmodelkits.com) Here is a modern decal sheet: F-4 Phantom Hey Jude Graphics Set – Callie Graphics (callie-graphics.com) I did find a photo or two, maybe I have them linked on my Facebook?

The MiG-19S was promised before the MiG-19P was ever released. It is kind of like waiting for the early F-14A and the AI J35 Draken from Heatblur. DCS developers have a habit of promising more than they can deliver in a reasonable amount of time. At least some eventually deliver, like RAZBAM and Heatblur. The MiG-17F is sorely needed for 1960s historical conflicts in Vietnam and Israel, both for AI opposition and PVP. But I will have more fun with the MiG-23, which is essentially a single engine, single seat F-4 Phantom with less drag, more power, and half the armament.

I have been waiting for this for so long. The Strike Fighters MiG-23 mods were limited by the available avionics. This will finally provide a decent, combat capable simulation of the MiG-23. I would have preferred either an earlier MiG-23MF or the final MiG-23MLD, but I will gladly take RAZBAM's MiG-23MLA whose version was selected because that is the aircraft the developers physically have available for inspection/study. It is a Cuban aircraft, so I don't know if it will be identical to a Soviet frontline MLA or be partially degraded as an export model despite not having an export designation. I need to check my MiG-23 book to see if it identifies any variations in the Cuban models.

Two things going on: It was designed to be modular/adaptable to needs. It also went through at least three revisions, block I, block II, and another upgrade that I did not have a name.

This doesn't answer any of your questions, but I thought this was a very informative sales-brochure from Northrop-Grumman: google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiI-rCQ49WEAxW0RDABHYkYAVoQFnoECCkQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fdefense-arab.com%2Fvb%2Fattachments%2F61036%2F&usg=AOvVaw3-UqYWhEYhVEBzcohb5wUd&opi=89978449

Development has never really stopped. Some projects that were a long time in the making matured and have set a higher bar for SF mods. The new F-5 Freedom Fighter series is the one that comes to mind for me. It pretty much hits the limit of what can be done without game updates. There are many others who have been working on bits and pieces that uplift existing mods with new textures, updated avionics, etc. I would also look into anything and everything Ravenclaw has updated/replaced.

My goal was always to fly F-4 Phantoms in Vietnam, though I enjoyed many other aircraft and eras in flight sims. I started out the Jane's Fighters Anthology on a work laptop around 1998. I went back to college in 2000, so I bought a PC to allow me to do schoolwork at home, but set it up as a mid-range flight sim machine with Jane's USAF (and most of the other Jane's sims at that time). The graphics for Jane's USAF impressed me, particularly the nearly photo-real Nevada terrain. The cockpits and external models look pretty good. But then, I saw TK/Third Wire posting about their upcoming Strike Fighters Project 1 sim that featured the F-4 as one of the primary aircraft. I bought the half-finished/buggy Walmart edition as soon as I saw it on the shelf. I played the SF/WoX/SF2 series almost every day for quite a few years. Until TK had started dumbing down SF2 and finally abandoned it for the free-to-play tablet/phone games. At exactly that time, DCS World had recently released the P-51D Mustang and announced a crowd funded MiG-21bis. Beyond the MiG-21, DCS rapidly got the F-86, MiG-15, F-5, and UH-1. From that point on, DCS became my primary sim. I also migrated to flying in VR as well as flying lots of online multiplayer. I have had SF2 somewhat compatible with VR every now and then, but it cannot compare to the VR experience in DCS World. The F-4 Phantom is finally coming to DCS World, too. I very rarely startup SF2 anymore.