Mid/Late 80s F-4S A2A missile type

[B2Blain]

I am working on two F-4S Phantoms - one USN and one USMC. I haven't found many references for the type and color of Sparrow and Sidewinders for the F-4S. The AIM-9L saw combat in 1981 in the Gulf of Sidra and in 1982 in Falklands War and over the Bekaa Valley. The best references I have found are the Cruise Books from the USS Midway.

 

The Sidewinders look to be Ls. White body and dark gray metallic seeker head sections. Were the Sidewinders painted in light ghost gray primarily Ms? I'm guessing by the late 80s AIM-9Ms were the standard.

 

Regarding the Sparrows, the handful of images I have found indicate that they are likely AIM-7Fs, which were introduced in the mid 70s. The bodies and fins are white. I seem to remember F-14s carrying Sparrows with dark gray metallic fins. Were the Fs not standardized in USN service? Like the Sidewinders, the F-4S would likely have carried the AIM-7M in the late 80s. Were they painted the same as the AIM-9Ms?

 

If anyone has more accurate information I would appreciate it.

[GW8345]

For mid to late 80's, the AIM-9M and AIM-7M would be the front line missiles, both painted in Light Ghost Grey. The wings of the AIM-7M would be a dull steel.

[B2Blain]

Thanks for the info!

[Jon Krol]

Did the Marines fly the F-4S? I thought just the Navy flew them.

[Geoff M]

Marines flew F-4S.  

 

Edited November 9, 2024 by Geoff M

[Finn]

The AIM-7 can be taken apart into different sections and somethings the paint didn't match when the parts were put back together:

 

 

Jari 

[habu2]

In that photo the AIM-7 radomes/nosecones appear to be two different shapes?

[achterkirch]

43 minutes ago, habu2 said:

In that photo the AIM-7 radomes/nosecones appear to be two different shapes?

Two of them do look more pointy. Maybe two are F’s and two are M’s?  Kind looks that way. 

[B2Blain]

AIM-9L/M rear fins in that pic white? I've seen several pics of that combination from the mid 80s. Cruise Books are a good resources, but the resolution from back in the day is not that great. It also seems Sparrows were rarely carried, even for Soviet aircraft intercepts.

 

https://www.navysite.de/cruisebooks/

 

 

[B-ONE27]

On 11/12/2024 at 1:22 AM, Finn said:

The AIM-7 can be taken apart into different sections and somethings the paint didn't match when the parts were put back together:

 

 

Jari 

Nice picture of the business side of the S, too bad there aren't too many pictures of F-4S in general from the 80s/90s floating around on the web. I wish I could've photographed the VMFA-321 F-4S's I would always catch taxing out and coming back in at Andrews back 89/90. Don't recall them toting anything in particular as they taxied to and from their ramp; but I'm sure they would have some type of practice munitions as they routinely went to Dare County range.

[GW8345]

The Sparrow's on the left side of the picture are AIM-7M's while the one's on the right of the picture are AIM-7F's.

 

The reason why the nose of the missiles look "weird" is because of the distortion of viewing through the canopy of the jet that is taking the picture. If you notice the fins on the Sidewinders are also slightly distorted.

[mrvark]

I believe the Sparrows are all AIM-7Fs. The ones with the original long radomes were probably AIM-7F-4s that used 19.33" long CW-1178/D radomes. The ones with the shorter radomes are probably AIM-7F-11s that used the 13.42" long CW-1178B/D radomes (with a 3.56" long cylindrical spacer behind the radome), which were also used on all AIM-7Ms. The overall length of the missiles were 143.29" (F with original radome) & 140.94" (F with later radome and all Ms).

[BWDenver]

On 11/13/2024 at 8:37 PM, B-ONE27 said:

Nice picture of the business side of the S, too bad there aren't too many pictures of F-4S in general from the 80s/90s floating around on the web. I wish I could've photographed the VMFA-321 F-4S's I would always catch taxing out and coming back in at Andrews back 89/90. Don't recall them toting anything in particular as they taxied to and from their ramp; but I'm sure they would have some type of practice munitions as they routinely went to Dare County range.

When I was in the DC area I made it out to NAS Washington every Saturday I could.  On the lucky weekends we got to walk the 321 ramp.  loved shooting those birds in the late 80's/early 90's.  I think I managed to get shots of just about all of their birds.