F-110A aka F-4C

[NorthBayKid]

62-1220 was a complete b**tard child.  It was neither fish nor fowl.  No other USAF F-4 looked like it.  All production RF-4Cs had wide tyres and bulged wings, as did all other USAF production F-4s.

[gingerbob]

The "F-110" is one of those things on the "could be interesting" back-of-my-mind to do list.  Higher up the priority list is the P-51D "Down for Double" flown by Gordon Graham (if I remember his name right).  Just one of those "Ooh, that's a pretty one!" schemes.  I eventually found his memoir, and was rather tickled to discover that he'd ferried one of the F-110s to its new owners (or something like that).  Incidentally, he did not have kind things to say about the F-84F, partly because it tried to kill him...

[iainpeden]

15 hours ago, NorthBayKid said:

62-1220 was a complete b**tard child.  It was neither fish nor fowl.  No other USAF F-4 looked like it.  All production RF-4Cs had wide tyres and bulged wings, as did all other USAF production F-4s.

With the possible exception of 62-12201 which was the other F-4B "borrowed" to convert to prototype YF-4C standard and which "Spirit in the Skies" (Aerospace/World Air Power) states went to Canute AFB in Illinois.😉

[NorthBayKid]

I just came across this really interesting history of the 4453rd Combat Crew Training Wing.  They only spent a year at MacDill AFB, Florida before crowded ramp space forced them to move to Davis Monthan AFB, Arizona in Tucson, where they stayed for most of their lives.  The first F-4C arrived at MacDill in November of 1963.

 

http://home.insightbb.com/~buckseibert/page1.html

 

http://home.insightbb.com/~buckseibert/page2.html

 

http://4453rd.com/page1.html

 

http://4453rd.com/page2.html

 

Edited November 30, 2019 by NorthBayKid

[Gmat]

 FYI Chanute AFB not Canute. It may have been a slip to leave the H out. Spent 6 months at tech school there. Some interesting aircraft at that time. 

Sorry, not meant to offend. 

Grant

 

Hasegawa released  Kit # 00618, F-110A Phantom II in 72nd scale in 2003. F-4B sprue and the instruction sheet for KA3 the F-4B/N kit with a small sheet for the F-110A. Sprues A, B, D, no G, J, K, Q/RX2, P, T, and W.  Sprue F is also added. Decals are for 406 with the smaller fuselage letters and numbers.  405 has a larger sized letters and numbers but they are smaller than the ones shown on the photo of 406.  One thing that I've noticed was that the actual TAC badge lightning bolt was gold, but Hasegawa used yellow. 

00618 kit review with decal illustrated. 

http://modelingmadness.com/scott/viet/previews/has/00618.htm

 

Grant. 

[iainpeden]

12 hours ago, Gmat said:

 FYI Chanute AFB not Canute. It may have been a slip to leave the H out. Spent 6 months at tech school there. Some interesting aircraft at that time. 

Sorry, not meant to offend. 

Grant

No offence taken, Grant. I could claim it was a misspelling but then I could be accused of being "economical" with the truth. I looked up the museum which was there at one point and is now closed; what a shame so many airframes went for scrapping.

[71chally]

Not really followed the conversation, but it is one of those great 'what ifs' for me, if the USAF stuck with its original F-110 Spectre designation and name.  Imagine Spangdahlem based EF-110G Weasels!

 

If you take the designation thing to extremes, would the RAF have had F-110M Spectre FGR.1s, the Royal Navy keeping with F-4K Phantom FG.1s?

 

I'm waffling. 🧥

 

[iainpeden]

5 minutes ago, 71chally said:

Not really followed the conversation, but it is one of those great 'what ifs' for me, if the USAF stuck with its original F-110 Spectre designation and name.  Imagine Spangdahlem based EF-110G Weasels!

 

If you take the designation thing to extremes, would the RAF have had F-110M Spectre FGR.1s, the Royal Navy keeping with F-4K Phantom FG.1s?

 

I'm waffling. 🧥

 

You are!😉

 

Interesting idea about the FGR.1/FG.1 designation.

I'm blaming James for my next off- topic drift but there is a link (honest). I'm having a minor disagreement on UKAR with somebody who reckons our F-4Js were only ever designated as that - not with the (UK) suffix. Most of what I have read always refers to F-4J (UK) {NEVER F.3/FGR.3 {Wikipedia]} but he posted scans of manuals and the AM78 for ZE350- all of which just refer to F-4J. Any clarification either way?

 

Didn't Spang get some of the EF-4Cs though?

[NorthBayKid]

Likely that the suffix letters would have run somewhat differently if the USN and USAF had kept their respective designation systems.  The F4H-1 would have led to the F4H-2 (F-4B), F4H-3 (F-4J), and possibly later on the F4H-2B (F-4N), and F4H-3B (F-4S).  Thus, the RN might well have received F4H-4 Phantoms while the RAF might well have received F-4Es (since the FGR.2 concept pre-dated the real world F-4E project).  That might have lead to the USAF getting F-4Fs and the Germans getting F-4Gs!  And on and on it might have gone.  The F-14A might very well have become the Grumman F14F-1!

[Retired Bob]

On 27/11/2019 at 15:21, 72modeler said:

Want to do FJ-406 as she is in the color photos, especially with the green antiglare, but want to get it right!

Hi Mike, looking at that excellent colour photo, to "get it right" building a standard F-4B, to back date it you will need some Mk. H5  ejection seats, luckily Hypersonic make a set in 1/48th scale (HMR 48014-1 Martin Baker Mk. H5 seats, Navy).  Also the tailplanes need to be the early unslotted type.  These are the usual mistakes made when a F-110A is modelled, other than that its Navy light gull grey over insignia white not forgetting the corogard leading edges including the vertical tail that can be seen in the photo. 

Bob.

[NorthBayKid]

On 11/30/2019 at 1:53 PM, Gmat said:

One thing that I've noticed was that the actual TAC badge lightning bolt was gold, but Hasegawa used yellow. 

 

I can't explain why, but if you download every F-110 photo you can find online (which is actually quite a few), you can see that the colour of the lightning bolt changed!  It was a deep mustard yellow, and at some point a creamy off-white colour.  Not a case of wonky colour reproduction - that's the only thing that changes.  

 

I've heard through the grapevine that F-110 decals that will finally get the markings correct may be in the offing.

[iainpeden]

Regarding flash colour, could it be fading in the sun?

[NorthBayKid]

2 hours ago, iainpeden said:

Regarding flash colour, could it be fading in the sun?

It could be but we’re talking about a period of a very few months, and it’s not like they were exactly abused airplanes. If anything they were seriously babied while they were with the USAF.