Phantoms vs Space!

[Stretch]

Sort of.

I don't know where this would otherwise fit (sts), but its just too cool not to share.

https://www.twz.com/air/f-4-phantoms-sought-by-private-space-launch-company

[VMFA187]

What a badass aircraft. I miss when carriers and Air Force bases had a wide variety of aircraft.

[Blue]

Reminds me of this article from Air and Space Smithsonian magazine from 10 years ago.

What Couldn’t the F-4 Phantom Do?

Specifically the below.  At the time, thought I knew most of the lore about the Phantom, but had never heard they chased Titan rockets with it.

Quote

 

First, they tried an F-104. “Not enough wing or thrust,” recalls Jack Petry, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel. When NASA engineers were launching rockets at Florida’s Cape Canaveral in the 1960s, they needed pilots to fly close enough to film the missiles as they accelerated through Mach 1 at 35,000 feet. Petry was one of the chosen. And the preferred chase airplane was the McDonnell F-4 Phantom.

“Those two J79 engines made all the difference,” says Petry. After a Mach 1.2 dive synched to the launch countdown, he “walked the [rocket’s] contrail” up to the intercept, tweaking closing speed and updating mission control while camera pods mounted under each wing shot film at 900 frames per second. Matching velocity with a Titan rocket for 90 extreme seconds, the Phantom powered through the missile’s thundering wash, then broke away as the rocket surged toward space. Of pacing a Titan II in a two-seat fighter, Petry says: “Absolutely beautiful. To see that massive thing in flight and be right there in the air with it—you can imagine the exhilaration.” 

“yes, 68,000 is well above the F-4’s operating range,” says Jack Petry. “We weren’t supposed to go above 50-, so we didn’t tell anybody.” That day in January 1965, while he and his backseater, Captain Ray Seal, were chasing the Titan II rocket, their Phantom’s “smash”—flight energy—pushed the space program’s comfort zone.

In his helmet headset, Petry could hear that the range controller at Cape Canaveral was getting nervous: “Break it off,” the controller repeated.

“Negative,” Petry replied, assuring the controller that his finite momentum wouldn’t mess with the missile. “The whole idea was to keep the airplane pointed at the missile,” he says. “So we stayed with it just as long as we had the airspeed—to keep the cameras rolling.”

For a fleeting moment, his altimeter eclipsed 68,000 feet. “We had virtually no energy left,” says Petry. “We weren’t flying anymore at that point—just riding. But the F-4 stayed quite stable.”

The Titan leaned into its trajectory and barreled downrange. Petry broke away inverted and maneuvered to restore airflow over the wings. He and his backseater kept Gemini II in the F-4’s camera sights, he says, “until we fell out of the sky.”  

 

 

[arg]

I got to be about this close at Osan back in the day

[GKinnear]

48 minutes ago, arg said:

I got to be about this close at Osan back in the day

HELL YEAH, BROTHER!!

Excuse the all CAPS...but I assume you're hard of hearing after being that close to nearly 36,000 lbs of awesomeness!

 

When I was an EWO stud Lt at Randolph, I was lucky to be there when the 100th Century of Flight Tattoo was held. 

2x jets set off all the car alarms in the parking lot...the BONE and the Phantom...and all my old-school G-model instructors were quick to point out the F-4 didn't need the afterburners to do it.

 

[HuggyU2]

On 5/30/2025 at 10:29 AM, Stretch said:

I don't know where this would otherwise fit (sts), but it's just too cool not to share.

[Springer]

16 hours ago, Blue said:

Reminds me of this article from Air and Space Smithsonian magazine from 10 years ago.

What Couldn’t the F-4 Phantom Do?

Specifically the below.  At the time, thought I knew most of the lore about the Phantom, but had never heard they chased Titan rockets with it.

 

Having flown it, that is impressive and obviously flown clean.