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tag along to the f-4g post


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Are you asking if they were painted in any camouflage besides the Hill Gray scheme?

Yes, they were initially painted in the Southeast Asia (Vietnam camouflage) scheme:

F-4G-WW-4-S.jpg

Then they went to a wraparound scheme where they painted the belly with the tan and two greens from the topside:

11492093_16fa1445bf_z.jpg?zz=1

Then they went to the Europe I scheme:

8398399726_0c26bc1f3c.jpg

And finally the two-tone gray Hill Gray:

F-4G-1.jpg

Speed Hunter Graphics has a sheet with some Europe I schemes: http://www.reidairpublishing.com/product-p/shg32005.htm

HTH.

Ben

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At one time back about '85 or so, you could see three of those four, plus over-all ADC gray on the Hawaii Air National Guard flightline all at the same time. We never had any Euro I birds. The Hill Gray scheme was a three tone one at the HIANG.

For a little while there was one that had a Hill Gray fuselage and SEA wings due to repairing a spar crack.

Edited by Grey Ghost 531
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There were no F-4G's in Vietnam (except the USN ones, but those were just F-4B's with some extra gizmos). Externally, they stayed pretty much the same troughout the years. Only the paintschemes and some of the weapons changed.

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  • 3 weeks later...

At one time back about '85 or so, you could see three of those four, plus over-all ADC gray on the Hawaii Air National Guard flightline all at the same time. We never had any Euro I birds. The Hill Gray scheme was a three tone one at the HIANG.

ADC on an F-4G rather than an F-4D/E? Really?

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There were no F-4G's in Vietnam (except the USN ones, but those were just F-4B's with some extra gizmos). Externally, they stayed pretty much the same troughout the years. Only the paintschemes and some of the weapons changed.

All technically true, but the USAF did field a small number of F-4Cs in SEA that were modified for the defense-suppression role, sometimes referred to as "EF-4C"; same basic idea as the later F-4G, just nowhere near as thorough.

By the way, I intentionally avoid the term "Wild Weasel" in reference to the aircraft, because that was always the name of an evolving weapons-development program, not an actual aircraft type. The name stuck, I know (and the 35th FW still has the "WW" tail code), but it was always a misnomer.

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At one time back about '85 or so, you could see three of those four, plus over-all ADC gray on the Hawaii Air National Guard flightline all at the same time.

While I never say never, I will say that in all the tens of thousands of images of F-4s I've seen, I've never seen or heard of a USAF F-4G Wild Weasel painted overall ADC gray. I'd need to see a photo to believe it ever happened. They were a TAC asset, and TAC never had any overall ADC Gray Phantoms except those that belonged to ADTAC, which were dedicated interceptors assigned to the ANG.

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While I never say never, I will say that in all the tens of thousands of images of F-4s I've seen, I've never seen or heard of a USAF F-4G Wild Weasel painted overall ADC gray. I'd need to see a photo to believe it ever happened. They were a TAC asset, and TAC never had any overall ADC Gray Phantoms except those that belonged to ADTAC, which were dedicated interceptors assigned to the ANG.

I think you misunderstood the comment, which was those 3 schemes plus overall ADC grey on the flightline. I'd expect the ADC Grey Phantom's were indeed assigned to ADTAC and just happened to share the ramp with the G's.

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At one time back about '85 or so, you could see three of those four, plus over-all ADC gray on the Hawaii Air National Guard flightline all at the same time. We never had any Euro I birds. The Hill Gray scheme was a three tone one at the HIANG.

For a little while there was one that had a Hill Gray fuselage and SEA wings due to repairing a spar crack.

Since i had the Don Logan ANG/AFRES Phantom's book next to me.

Quick phone snap.

F-4C 63-7575 Hawaii ANG 1987 credit Marty Isham/Don Logan

11204929_10206973524962277_8829367782387882258_n_zpsvgciiwtp.jpg

Edited by mungo1974
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Michgian (171st FIS) had a glossy grey airplane with a wraparound SEA left wing after a mid-air with a Beech Baron off the coast of NC. I had a slide of it taken in Jan 84.

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I think you misunderstood the comment, which was those 3 schemes plus overall ADC grey on the flightline. I'd expect the ADC Grey Phantom's were indeed assigned to ADTAC and just happened to share the ramp with the G's.

You never know who might be passing through, but none of the G's would've been ADC gray. According to my references, the Hawaii Air National Guard (199th TFS/154th CG) flew the F-4C until they converted to the F-15A in the late '80s.

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did any of the camo'd weasels that fought in desert storm have the new frameless front canopy?

I seriously doubt it, but I'm not certain. If I recall correctly, the frameless windshield was installed on certain ANG F-4Es, maybe New Jersey? I'll have to do a little digging ...

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I don't think any G's ever got the single piece front canopy. Never seen a pic of one anyway.

Yes, Hawaii had F-4Cs and traded them for the ancient (FY74) F-15As from Elmendorf in 1987 when Elmendorf got ancient C's to defend Alaska with. But hey, at least the Cs had CFTs. Bear Hunting with F-15As was only marginally easier than hunting them with F-4Es and F-102s.

Edited by Jennings
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Just to prove atleast one F-4G with the single piece screen saw combat..

Taken from the Desert Storm Wild Weasels Facebook page

37th TFW Wingking jet in lead,note windscreen

10858620_10203800717287558_2745995454458346833_n_zpsvthe1urh.jpg

In theater with sanitized markings

10532554_10152994801151047_1257010964352206480_n_zpszuzwapeb.jpg

8994_10152944968546047_1184690569206522231_n_zpsocbzozfz.jpg

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several F-4Gs got the one-piece windscreen, several more E-models, and even a handful of RF-4Cs.

Yes, the only G-model in theater was 69-7263 as Gary mentions.

Jake

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...If I recall correctly, the frameless windshield was installed on certain ANG F-4Es, maybe New Jersey? I'll have to do a little digging ...

The 110th TFS of the Missouri ANG had a few of their F-4E's with the frameless front windscreen. I believe they were the initial receivers/testers of the new windscreen being ideally located right across the field from McDonnell Douglas.

In terms of the F-4G using the frameless windscreen, in addition to what Mungo1974 posted above, here is F-4G 69-0298 (the aircraft on the left of the photo that is not banking):

http://www.largescaleplanes.com/reviews/images/1479/1479-12.jpg

Better shot of her:

http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/0/7/1/0728170.jpg

So there were a few G's with the frameless front windscreen but not as many that had the framed front windscreen installed.

Personally I prefer the G's in the Hill Grey or Euro One schemes myself.

Regards,

Don.

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The 110th TFS of the Missouri ANG had a few of their F-4E's with the frameless front windscreen. I believe they were the initial receivers/testers of the new windscreen being ideally located right across the field from McDonnell Douglas.

In terms of the F-4G using the frameless windscreen, in addition to what Mungo1974 posted above, here is F-4G 69-0298 (the aircraft on the left of the photo that is not banking):

http://www.largescaleplanes.com/reviews/images/1479/1479-12.jpg

Better shot of her:

http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/0/7/1/0728170.jpg

So there were a few G's with the frameless front windscreen but not as many that had the framed front windscreen installed.

Personally I prefer the G's in the Hill Grey or Euro One schemes myself.

I didn't realize how many F-4s got the frameless windshield. I wonder how expensive that mod was and why it wasn't more widely adopted. The F-4E/G looks oddly modern with a frameless windshield.

New question: Are we to infer from the second pic that when the 35th FW transferred its F-4Gs to the Idaho ANG that the aircraft retained the "WW" tail code, at least for a while? That's strange. Wasn't the 35th getting Block 50 F-16s at the same time? I would've thought they'd have changed the tail code when they added the "Idaho" tail stripe.

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