Awesome footage from aboard one the last USAF F-4s, as it flies in formation with another Phantom over the amazing scenery of the Grand Canyon.

The U.S. Air Force retired its last F-4 Phantom at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, on Dec. 21, 2016.

The final appearance of the mighty “Rhino” at an airshow occurred during Nellis Air Force Base’s Aviation Nation air show, on Nov. 12 and 13.

The following crazy cool video was filmed as the two aircraft that took part at the airshow, piloted by Lt. Col. Ron “Elvis” King and by Lt. Col. (Ret) Jim “WAM” Harkins, departed Nellis AFB to return to their homebase.

The footage, filmed with a camera attached to the flight helmet of WAM, lets you experience the afterburner formation takeoff, the rendezvous with a T-33 for short air-to-air photo session and then the flight over the amazing scenery of the Grand Canyon, as if you were strapped into the cockpit of one of the last USAF F-4s.

At 04:56 into the video you can also get a clear view of the Grand Canyon West Airport, close to the famous Skywalk.

H/T to Giulio Cristante for the link to the stunning AirshowStuff video!

Here’s an outstanding video from one of the world’s last Phatom operators.

Although they don’t fly with the USAF anymore, other air arms around the world still operate the F-4 Phantom, including the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force; the Turkish Air Force, whose F-4s have had a role in the coup attempt last July; South Korea’s ROKAF (Republic of Korea Air Force), that has also employed the Phantoms to stage Elephant Walks “against” the North; the Hellenic Air Force and the Japanese Air Self Defense Force.

Located in central eastern Japan, Hyakuri airbase, hosts all the remaining F-4 Phantom units of the Japan Air Self Defense Force: 301 and 302 Hilotai, flying the F-4E, and the 501 Hikotai, flying the RF-4E. Needless to say, for this reason, this base is the place to visit for Phantom lovers.

The following video provides some really cool footage about the daily activities of the Japanese “Rhinos” at Hyakuri: all-weather take-offs, landings and taxis, along with high-speed passes in slow motion.

Cool.

The Paradise of Phantoms from 1-300 on Vimeo.

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Here’s UK Quick Reaction Alert in the 1970s.

Last week, UK’s air defense was once again put to the test by two Russian strategic bombers that flew off Cornwall during a routine long-range patrol over northern Europe.

The two Bear H aircraft were intercepted and shadowed by two Royal Air Force Typhoons: a pretty standard practice since the Cold War, in the UK and the rest of Europe.

The following footage, shows the UK QRA, Quick Reaction Alert, at work against possible Soviet threat 45 years ago.

At that time, the Royal Air Force interceptor was the mighty F-4 Phantom.

According to the user who uploaded the footage to Youtube, the video shows scenes shot RAF Wattisham, involving the Southern QRA. A commenter says the footage comes from a RAF recruiting film titled “Intercept” which was filmed at several locations across the British Isles to cover the whole UK Air Defence System and RAF units that supported it.

Anyway, enjoy a few minutes of cool Phantom Phootage!

 Image credit: Crown Copyright

H/T Andrew Jacklin for the heads-up

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If you thought modern combat planes use only a handful of Laser Guided Bombs you were wrong.

On Oct. 2, several assets belonging to the Hellenic Armed Forces attended the final phase of the national joint exercise “PARMENION 2014”  held from Sept. 29 to Oct. 2, throughout the territory of Greece and within Athens FIR (Flight Information Region).

Among the aircraft that took part in the live firing demo in Evros there were four F-4E AUP Phantom II of the 338 Squadron, firing 12 Mk82 (500lbs) dumb bombs each.

Here are some images showing the sort-of carpet bombing by the 40-year old Phantoms involved in the drills along with F-16s and AH-64 Apache gunship helicopters.

BDA (Battle Damage Assessment) was conducted by RF-4Es, including a Special Color one.

Below is a video with the highlights of the activity on the firing range.

 H/T e-Amyna for the heads-up. Image credit HAF

An amazing footage from 41 years ago shows a dogfight between an Israeli Phantom and an Egyptian Mig.

This clip, part of the documentary “Israel: A Home Movie” was filmed by Moshe Shargal who recalls the day when, in 1973, along with his friends, he witnessed a dogfight between an Israeli Air Force F-4 Kurnass (Sledgehammer) and an Egyptian Mig-17 over Ras Muhammad beach, at the southern extreme of the Sinai Peninsula, overlooking the Gulf of Suez, a territory captured by Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967.

It was Oct. 6, 1973, the day the hostilities started.

Suddenly, a group of Israeli friends who were celebrating the Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism, in the Israeli-occupied territories, saw Mig fighter jets flying into Israel.

Twenty minutes later they spotted a Mig-17 again, followed by a Phantom that fired an air-to-air missile that brought down the Egyptian fighter jet.

Although bad in quality, the footage is an amazing document of one of the Israeli aerial victories during the Yom Kippur War.

In 1973, Israeli Air force (IAF) found itself facing an Arab Air Forces coalition which was composed by Egyptian and Syrian fighter squadrons, but also by units from Algeria, Iraq, Libya and … North Korea, that deployed a MiG-21 squadron to Bir Arida to protect Egypt’s south.

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