laststandonzombieisland

Saw this great image passed around the interwebs without much detailed explanation and had to nerd out on it.

After some digging, I am fairly certain it is a USAF F-4E-44-M Phantom II, SN 69-7298, with its nose cone pivoted and Westinghouse AN/APQ-120 X-band fire control radar showing. The Phantom’s “ZF” tail flash would put it as the 31st TFW (307th and 308th TFS) out of Udorn AB, Thailand, circa April 1972 to June 1973.

Note the full-color 31st TFW’s flying sea horse shield on her intake. 

Founded in 1940 as the old 31st Pursuit Group– which, flying Spitfires, had been the first American unit to engage in combat in Europe– when it came to Vietnam the 31st TFW more than paid their dues, earning the Presidential Unit Citation and ten campaign streamers flying over 100,000 close air support sorties between 1965 and 1970 out of Bien Hoa and Tuy Hoa in the venerable F-100 Super Sabre.

Finally rotated back home to Homestead AFB, Florida in 1970, where they transitioned to new 1969-model 44/45 block F-4Es, they were tapped to return to Southeast Asia two years later, hence the above image.

As noted in the unit’s history:

From April to 13 August 1972, the 308 TFS deployed to Udorn Royal Thai Air Base, Thailand to augment tactical air forces already deployed to that country. It was followed in July by the 307 TFS. In June 1972, Captains John Cerak and David B. Dingee of the 308 TFS were shot down and captured by the North Vietnamese and confirmed as prisoners of war. In March 1973 both were released and returned to the United States. On 15 October 1972, Captains James L. Hendrickson and Gary M. Rubus of the 307 TFS, who replaced the 308 TFS at Udorn, Thailand, shot down a MiG-21 northeast of Hanoi. This marked the first and only aerial victory for the 31 TFW. The 308 TFS completed the wing’s final deployment to Southeast Asia from December 1972 to June 1973.

The particular bird shown above, as detailed by Baugher, originally flew with the 4th TFW before switching to the 31st TFW. By 1977 it was with the 68th TFS (347th TFW). 

Converted at the Ogden Air Logistics Center along with 115 of her circa 1969 sisters to the F-4G Wild Weasel SEAD standard in 1979 (with the same Westinghouse radar but with digital processor added), she flew with various squadrons of the 37th TFW until 1991 and then for a few years with the 35th TFW before being shipped off to the Idaho Air Guard’s 190th FS/124th FW in 1993. 

F-4G SN 69-7298 was then sent to the boneyard at AMARC as FP1004 in December 1995, converted by Tracor Flight Systems to QF-4G drone AF183 three years later, and expended in missile test in 2002. 

As for the 31st TFW? They transitioned from F-4s to F-16s in the 1980s and moved out of Homestead after it was all but destroyed by Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

Since then, they have been pushing their Vipers out of Aviano, which is surely an upgrade. Over the past two decades, they have been the “tip of the spear,” so to speak, in operations in the Balkans, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya.