Tag Archives: F-4N phantom

Just Jayhawking Around, in Full Color

Posted on by 2 comments

How about this fantastic Cold War color image of “NAWC-47” (Bloodhound 47), a red-trimmed QF-4N drone (BuNo 152253) with an on-board crew assigned to the Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC) Weapons Division, Point Magu.

The curious ordnance seen underwing is a Beechcraft AQM-37 Jayhawk, a zippy (Mach 4) little (14-foot, 600-pound) supersonic target drone of which some 5,000 were expended between 1963 and 2022.

Photo via NAWC, Pt. Magu

The above aircraft was built in 1964 as an F4H-1 (redesignated F-4B), MSN 934, and later converted to F-4J and F-4N standards. She is known to have flown operationally with VMFA-531, VF-14, VF-151, VF-84, VF-151, and VF-21.

Converted to a QF-4N after 1983, she was eventually expended in missile testing over the Pacific on 13 December 1994.

Happy President’s Day! CV-42 edition

Posted on by Leave a comment

An F-4N Phantom II (BuNo. 151008) of Fighter Squadron (VF) 111, the “Sundowners,” part of Carrier Air Wing 19 (CVW-19), launching from the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CV 42) operating in the Mediterranean Sea. This marked the final cruise for the aging Midway-class carrier, the first named for a President of the United States.

This photo was taken 45 years ago this month, in February 1977.

U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation photo No. 1996.253.7279.033

While the above was a magnificent photo of a beautiful full-color bird, there were lots of changes on the way.

On 30 June 1977, CVW-19 was disestablished.

FDR decommissioned on 30 September 1977 and was later sold for scrap.

As noted by Bob Hill of FDR’s 76-77 cruise:

It was a deployment of lasts (and a first)

The Sundowners, “Illegitimus Non-Carborundum,” was disestablished in 1995, although the aggressor squadron, VFC-111, continues the unit’s traditions if not its lineage, down at NAS Key West.

Even BuNo. 151008, the Phantom above, is listed as “Crashed with VF-171 off Norfolk, VA Nov 20, 1978.”

However, on my desk is a well-worn but tangible reminder of Big Frankie.