Question re correct weapons for F-4S Phantom

[Lothar]

Question for the knowing: I need to know which were the correct weapons for the F-4S, my Google search drew a blank. I think Sparrows and Sidewinders

were the main load, but which version? Any help with this is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Lothar

Edited August 1, 2020 by Lothar

[John1]

By the 80's, should be the L/M model Sidewinder and either the F or M model Sparrow (not sure if the Marines used the M or not). 

[Dave Williams]

Likely AIM-9L/M and AIM-7F or M

Edited August 1, 2020 by Dave Williams

[scimitarf1]

I am building one at the mo of a 1981 period airframe. The -7M was tested in 1982 so have gone for  -9Ls and -7E2s

 

The Two Bobs sheet is very nice

 

Will

[Dave Williams]

30 minutes ago, scimitarf1 said:

I am building one at the mo of a 1981 period airframe. The -7M was tested in 1982 so have gone for  -9Ls and -7E2s

 

The Two Bobs sheet is very nice

 

Will

The -7F entered service in 1976, so that may be more likely for 1981.

[Lothar]

Thank you all for your informative answers. Good feeling to know what to look for now.

Lothar

[Chek]

I just had a browse through my 1400+  F-4S photos (but includes a couple of 40+ walkarounds) showing Navy and Marine squadrons both aboard carriers and at their land bases, and the most striking thing now I'm looking for it was how often they were completely unarmed.

 

Most common sight is empty inboard pylons, inboard pylons with empty Sidewinder rails, Sidewinder rails with one round attached, then inboard pylon with empty rails and TER attached, and rarely with  a couple of 500lb Mk82s and only sometimes all three stations bombed up.

 

What surprised me was the lack of Sparrows, as early on two rear Sparrows were considered fairly essential ballast for Phantoms. The most I've got in my collection are the two forward bays loaded, but most commonly when armed at all is just a single Sparrow in the forward stations that could be either port or starboard. Also one non-airshow photo with a Sparrow on the port inboard pylon and a single Sidewinder on the starboard side. Even when intercepting Russian bombers, one Sidewinder and one Sparrow seems to have been considered sufficient. Reliability mustn't have been considered as big an issue as it once was, bearing in mind many of these were shots taken in the early to mid '80s when the Russian threat was still a live issue. USS Midway was the most used carrier by the S models, and that wasn't Tomcat capable, so the Navy and Marine embarked Phantoms would've been its only air defence. 

 

A Royal Jet centreline fuel tank looks to have been am almost permanent fixture and wing tanks extremely rare. My overall general impression seems to be pilots preferred flying them clean where possible.

Edited August 4, 2020 by Chek

[Lothar]

Thank you so much for your intensive insider information Chek. I came up empty handed when looking for pictures, but found out that there were indeed carrier

based Navy squadrons (VF-151, 161, 74 and maybe 103). These I guess would most likely be armed for air defence, that's why I decided to arm my

model with Aim-9M and Aim-7M - at least it would "theroretically" have been possible. Do you think I can head this direction? The model is for the display

cabinet only anyway.

Lothar

[thierry laurent]

Hi guys,

 

It is true there are not tons of pictures showing F-4S with a warload. Most of the ones I have show the planes without missiles and even quite often without drop tanks! However, this does not mean there are none. For instance, the Midway F-4S were commonly loaded with AIM-7 and AIM-9 missiles. Here's a sample of what I found in my folders.

 

 

Hope this helps.

 

Cheers

 

Thierry

[Lothar]

I do indeed owe you a couple of cold ones Thierry 

Lothar

[John1]

2 hours ago, Lothar said:

Thank you so much for your intensive insider information Chek. I came up empty handed when looking for pictures, but found out that there were indeed carrier

based Navy squadrons (VF-151, 161, 74 and maybe 103). These I guess would most likely be armed for air defence, that's why I decided to arm my

model with Aim-9M and Aim-7M - at least it would "theroretically" have been possible. Do you think I can head this direction? The model is for the display

cabinet only anyway.

Lothar

You can head in any direction you wish, it’s your model.  Certainly in a go-to-war configuration, you would have seen these jets fully armed.   In peacetime, even on intercept duty or live fire exercises, this would have been extremely rare.
 

Whatever floats your boat!  

Edited August 4, 2020 by John1

[ade rowlands]

Well this is quite timely. I’ve just ordered the ZM 1/48 F-4 series of kits and was pondering which way to go with the F-4S. I’ve decided there’s too many Phantoms that I want to do and not enough display space to do them all in 1/32 so 1/48 it is. 

Edited August 4, 2020 by ade rowlands

[Lothar]

4 minutes ago, ade rowlands said:

Well this is quite timely. I’ve just ordered the ZM 1/48 F-4 series of kits and was pondering which way to go with the F-4S. I’ve decided there’s too many Phantoms that I want to do and not enough display space to do them all in 1/32 so 1/48 it is. 

 

I have to give this a serious thought, might save me some frustration!!! Decals are one thing, they're available in this scale and the correct markings.

Lothar

[thierry laurent]

The problem with 1/32 F-4S is the fact they WERE available from various decal producers but obviously they disappeared for at least ten years...

[Out2gtcha]

Ive got plans in the works for an F-4S of my own.............I initially purchased some CAM decals for F-4S 3904 from VMFA-321.  The CAM decals were hard to get, but IIRC I got some other decals for the same plane, but they were not CAM decals.  Dont remember who made the second sheet...............