F-4C airbrakes

[Sergei Galicky, Russia]

Hi!

Calling all experts..

I'd like to clarify the type of airbrakes on the Vietnam-era F-4C.

Did the holes on the inside of the airbrakes look like those on the F-4B, or like those on the later F-4D/E/G, since the airbrakes were designed for the thicker, flared wing?

For example, Eduard makes brakes for the F-4C with holes like the F-4B, but the F-4D has a later variant.

 

Some museum photos of the F-4C already show later airbrakes - this from primeportal.net

 

As we understand it, they could have been replaced much later in service.

Some hours later I found answer!

I remembered that in the documentary "Great Planes - McDonnell-Douglas F-4 Phantom" features footage of the early F-4C's components in operation,  and clearly shows the same brake flaps as on the F-4B. Perhaps this information will be useful to some modelers.

Edited November 19, 2025 by Sergei Galicky, Russia

[Ben Brown]

Hi Sergei,

 

All F-4Cs had the thicker wing to make room for the wider main gear tires, so they would have what you're calling the later speed brake. I can't find any photos of FJ-188, but I do have one of FJ-187, which was one of the 29 F-4Bs loaned to the USAF by the Navy. The two lower photos are of a jet with the F-4B thin wing and narrow main gear tires, so I'd say that FJ-118 was one of the 29 F-4Bs. Only the F-4A (F4H-1), F-4B, and all but the last 12 RF-4Bs had the thin wing.

 

Ben

Edited November 20, 2025 by Ben Brown

[Sergei Galicky, Russia]

7 hours ago, Ben Brown said:

Hi Sergei,

 

All F-4Cs had the thicker wing to make room for the wider main gear tires, so they would have what you're calling the later speed brake. I can't find any photos of FJ-188, but I do have one of FJ-187, which was one of the 29 F-4Bs loaned to the USAF by the Navy. The two lower photos are of a jet with the F-4B thin wing and narrow main gear tires, so I'd say that FJ-118 was one of the 29 F-4Bs. Only the F-4A (F4H-1), F-4B, and all but the last 12 RF-4Bs had the thin wing.

 

Ben

Thank you very much, Ben, for your expert opinion! You're right, this type of air brakes was only used on the B-series and the early F-4Cs with thin tires that were transferred to the USAF. I was inattentive. This film shows comparison footage of Navy and USAF tires on the same aircraft, which has thin tires.

[BillS]

The “Thickness” was the fairing on the wing upper surface.

[Ben Brown]

Sergei, I'm always happy to help! That's a great comparison of the two tires.

 

BillS, wasn't there some bulging on the underside, too, so the gear doors and speed brakes were slightly different? I don't have access to my F-4 models to check.

 

Ben 

[Dave Williams]

Yes, there was also a bulge on the underside.  The MLG doors were bulged too.

[CF104]

On 11/19/2025 at 9:43 AM, Sergei Galicky, Russia said:

Hi!

Calling all experts..

I'd like to clarify the type of airbrakes on the Vietnam-era F-4C.

Did the holes on the inside of the airbrakes look like those on the F-4B, or like those on the later F-4D/E/G, since the airbrakes were designed for the thicker, flared wing?

For example, Eduard makes brakes for the F-4C with holes like the F-4B, but the F-4D has a later variant.

 

Some museum photos of the F-4C already show later airbrakes - this from primeportal.net

 

As we understand it, they could have been replaced much later in service.

Some hours later I found answer!

I remembered that in the documentary "Great Planes - McDonnell-Douglas F-4 Phantom" features footage of the early F-4C's components in operation,  and clearly shows the same brake flaps as on the F-4B. Perhaps this information will be useful to some modelers.

 

You're assuming that Eduard did their homework and got the F-4C set correct. The thick wing speedbrakes should be nearly, if not identical between all models. The thin wing speedbrakes are different than the thick wing ones. The Eduard F-4C set appears to be fictional when I compare it to all of my references. It doesn't even represent the thin wing F-4B/N.

 

Cheers,

John

[BillS]

I’m going from memory but come to think of it, Dave’s comment on the MLG door bulge joggled my memory. The speed brake also had a “kink” to accommodate that difference. Now this discussion has me wanting to go look at references and models! What's sad is I was around D’s and E’s a lot on a daily basis. I would tell myself, “Naw, you don’t need a picture, you’ll remember. Ha! It’s amazing what the passage of 30 years does to your “snapshot” memory!