This book tells the fascinating story of this truly unique aircraft's design and development as an icon of American airpower, and relives its glorious record in the Vietnam War, various Arab-Israeli conflicts, the Cold War, and Operation Desert Storm.

Conceived in 1953 in a chickenwire-covered cubicle known as the advanced design cage at McDonnell Aircraft, the F-4 Phantom II fighter-bomber was produced for 25 years, serving a full workload in Vietnam for the Navy, Marines, and Air Force, and surviving through the 1990s in the air arms of eleven nations. While most case studies of modern aircraft focus on the many ways the military-industrial complex goes wrong, this trenchant, invigorating study looks deeper at how those who built the complex intended it to work. Step by step the reader discovers how the relationships among parts, systems, procedures, economies, and missions were shaped by relationships among people - scientists, engineers, testers, program managers, subcontractors, military strategists, pilots and corporate leaders. Drawing on exhaustive research, including interviews with key players, the author makes a major advance in the burgeoning body of literature on technology management by showing how McDonnell worked through the problems of technical integration that plagued defense engineering in the 1960s and 1970s and led to programs full of "complexity". It is as much a study of how aircraft manufacturers and military officers went about their business as it is a life-and-times history of an important aircraft.

The 'Phabulous' Phantom first took to the air on 27 May 1958 and has been in service around the world for many decades. The United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Iran, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Spain and Turkey have all operated this powerful aircraft. The Phantom starred in both the Vietnam War and Operation Desert Storm, and in its service career has flown every traditional military mission. With many F-4 variants in service (from FG.1s to 'Wild Weasels'), and some 25 scale model kits currently available, the possibilities for modelling this subject are endless. There are few guides currently available to the F-4 modeller: this book seeks to redress the imbalance, providing an in-depth and step-by-step approach to modelling this plane across a variety of scales, types, and national schemes.

This newly revised and expanded edition is the complete story of the world's best-loved and greatest fighter, ever-the F-4 Phantom. Tasked with a host of different missions, the Phantom served many countries and took part in conflicts stretching from the Vietnam War through the Gulf War. This book's authoritative text provides the reader with in-depth analysis of this important cold war warrior. It is packed with two-page color artworks, cutaways, technical drawings and a staggering array of photos. Every variant, every operator and every weapon carried by the Phantom are described.

Twenty-five US Marine Corps squadrons flew versions of the Phantom II and 11 of them used the aircraft in South-East Asia from May 1965 through to early 1973. Rather than the air-to-air missiles that were the main component in the original F-4 armament, these aircraft carried an ever-expanding range of weaponry. Some toted 24,500-lb bombs and others strafed with up to three 20 mm gun pods, while most flew daily sorties delivering napalm, Snakeye bombs and big Zuni rockets. Many US Marines holding small outpost positions in Laos and South Vietnam against heavy Viet Cong attack owed their lives to the Phantom II pilots who repeatedly drove off the enemy. The book will examine these missions in the context of US Marine Corps close-support doctrine, using the direct experience of a selection of the aircrew who flew and organised those missions.

Features: 128 pages Chr(45) full colour throughout; Details of the Phantoms flown by the Armed Forces of Germany, Japan, United Kingdom, Greece, Turkey, Australia, Israel, Spain, South Korea, Egypt and Iran; Individual nation airframe anomalies and weaponry; Colour side-views by David Howley; Modelling Export Versions in popular scales; A guide to available kits, decals and accessories; Scale plans by David Howley.

The Phantom was developed for the US Navy as a long-range all-weather fighter and first flew in May 1958, before becoming operational in 1961. The US Air Force then realized that the Navy had an aircraft that was far better than any tactical aircraft in their inventory and ordered 543 F-4C variants. There then followed a spate of orders from around the world. In Britain, it was ordered for the Navy and Air Force, but was modified to take the Rolls-Royce Spey turbofan. One of the Royal Navy's Phantoms stole the record for the fastest Atlantic crossing, a record that stood until taken by the remarkable Blackbird. Phantoms have been used in combat in many conflicts throughout its long service history. It was one of America's most utilized aircraft during the long Vietnam War and has been flown in anger in the Middle East by a number of different air forces.This is the perfect book for the general reader, enthusiast or modeler wishing to find a succinct yet detailed introduction to the design of the aircraft that has made history. It features a multitude of stories as relayed by USAF and Israeli airmen who actually flew this remarkable aircraft in wars in SE Asia and the Middle East, detailing just what it was like to fly the F-4 in combat. Many of the dozen or so chapters include combat testimonies of the Phantom design and durability in SE Asia and in the wars fought between Israel and her surrounding Arab enemies throughout the 1970s and beyond.The book also features a wealth of technical data along with stirring images that supplement the text perfectly, enhancing its visual appeal.

This behind-the-scenes account of a USAF career is “an absorbing read, written with the classic humor fighter pilots seem to have” (Flight Line Book Review). From Baron von Richthofen to Robin Olds, the mystique of the fighter pilot endures. The skill, cunning, and bravery that characterizes this distinctive band of brothers is well known, but there are other dimensions to those who take to the skies to do battle that have not been given the emphasis they deserve—until now. You don’t have to be an aviation aficionado to enjoy Colonel Steve Ladd’s fascinating personal tale, woven around his twenty-eight-year career as a fighter pilot. This extremely engaging account follows a young man from basic pilot training to senior command through narratives that define a unique ethos. From the United States to Southeast Asia, Europe to the Middle East, the amusing and tongue-in-cheek to the deadly serious and poignant, this is the lifelong journey of a fighter pilot. The anecdotes are absorbing, providing an insight into life as an Air Force pilot, but, in this book, as Colonel Ladd stresses, the focus is not on fireworks or stirring tales of derring-do. Instead, this is an articulate and absorbing account of what life is really like among a rare breed of arrogant, cocky, boisterous, and fun-loving young men who readily transform into steely professionals at the controls of a fighter aircraft. “This book will appeal to a variety of readers with its Vietnam War combat stories and accounts of flying the Warthog in Cold War Europe. Fun, flying, international experiences—you won’t want to put it down.” —Aviation News