Questions about date of a picture and Egypt One livery of 177th Wing of North Dakota ANG's F-4D

[Guess who]

Hi,

I wonder when the two-tone gray livery commonly referred to as "Egypt One" appeared.
I came across a series of photos on the US National Archives of an interception of a Tu-95 Bear by an ANG unit (from North Dakota) in 1983, then detached to Iceland. It would involve two F-4D in "Egypt One" livery: 65-0696 and 65-0647.
https://nara.getarchive.net/topics/hooligan+pilots

It would therefore be the proof of the early arrival of this livery. But what raises questions for me, besides this precocity which does not appear elsewhere (I did not find any photo before 1985 with this livery and other later photos of the aircraft of this unit show them with a full light grey livery), is the grey radar cone of the 65-0696... which does not seem to exist before 1986, or even a little before.

I have not found any relevant information on the 65-696, but the 65-647 suggests that the 1983 date given by the US archives is erroneous, although it is used everywhere without question: this aircraft can, in my opinion, hardly participate in an interception in 1983 and with an "Egypt One" livery, when until 1985, at least, it is assigned to the New Jersey ANG, first in SEA livery and then in European One (for the time being, this is the official designation of this livery). However, it is found again at the North Dakota ANG in 1991, in "Egypt One" livery, with the black radar cone...

 

About this peculiar 65-0696, on the photo of the Bear interception, we see on the tail fin the serial number in the form AF/65 then 696. At that time, in 1983, it seems that it is not in this way that it was mentioned on the aircraft of our friends the "Happy Hooligans", but with five digits aligned.

So,

- by compiling photos of F-4 around 1983, all units and versions included, we do not see any grey cone before 1985. Obviously the technology to manufacture radar-permissive cones other than black was not available before;
- photos of the aircraft of the 119th Wing show that there too, around 1983, their aircrafts are all plain gray, with black noses and a five-digit code instead of seven on the tail. We notice that all their aircraft are then in 64-xxxx or even 64-09xx ;
- Finally, the third point is a corollary of the two others, in addition to the fact that 65-0696 was a few months earlier in SEA livery, which is not redhibitory but intriguing, this interception photo dated 1983 would probably make it the only aircraft of the time in "Egypt One" livery, the only one with a grey cone instead of a black one, the only one of its unit to carry a serial number in AF/FY xxx.

I find that there are too many elements against this dating, rather than seeing it as an exceptional or test aircraft that would justify this dating...

Thanks in advance to those who can enlighten me on the birth of this "Egypt One" livery and the true date of this interception photo.

[Dutch]

Probably a typo. Photo should read another year.  This is not an uncommon occurrence in photo labeling.  You can look up ANG deployments to USAFE and Iceland bases somewhere on the web.  Most likely, since the ANG would not be deployed to Iceland in 1983 as Active Duty USAF was there in the form of 57th FIS flying F-4Es before switch to F-15C/Ds in 1985.  

[Guess who]

Thank you for the answer !

In the meantime I found some additional informations : It seems, 119th Wing has been deployed to Iceland from 14 to 28 april 1984 with six F-4D :

64-0965, 64-0968, 64-0970, 64-0972, 64-0973 and 64-0975.

http://sharpshooter-maj.com/html/deploy84.htm

And I found a photo of the latter at Keflavik on april 15th 1984 :

https://www.airfighters.com/photo/120965/M/USA-Air-Force/McDonnell-Douglas-F-4D-Phantom-II/64-0975/

 

So I think I can consider the label of the picture by the US National Archives, after all, is erroneous !

[Spectre711]

For the 141st they transitioned to the F-4D in 1981 and over to the F-4E in 1985.

 

This phot of 65-0647 on Wikimedia Commons is dated January 1990.

 

 

Edited September 1, 2021 by Spectre711