F4E Da Nang based tail codes

[f111guru]

This photo was sent to the F-4 Phantom forever group a number of years ago by an Air Force pilot named Don Jay. The photo was taken August 1969 at Korat RTAFB Thailand. All credit goes to him.

Quite a few aircraft were painted in colors and like during WW2 was for someones personal ride. Also check out this website. https://www.aviationarthangar.com/spunkyvif4.html for some additional photos. Zotz decals number 48046 has a nice set of this squadron. Believe these are still available.

Also have a shot of the other side of 680313

This should clear some air. I try to have visual proof of the subject I craft. Especially if it contains a certain drawing or art work.

All The Best

Ron VanDerwarker

[neil5208]

First picture show the variation of paint fade between the nose and body. It looks like the tail was replaced as the tan on it is much darker than the fuselage below.

[iainpeden]

@f111guru - useful pictures thanks.

 

@neil5208 - I see what you mean about the tan on the fin but the two greens also on the fin appear to have the same level of fading as the paint on the fuselage; in fact there looks to be some respraying underneath, behind,  the JJ marking.

 

Thinking back to the funny green/tan which appeared on some SEA camo a/c, it was often that patch of tan on the fin which appeared to be resprayed on the Phantom. Maybe there was an equipment fit in there which necessitated a local bit of touching up. Maybe @Gene K could shed light on the matter?

[steh2o]

Thank you Ron! It's new to me!

Thanks again!

[steh2o]

 

Interestingly enough Betty Lou underwent a similar repaint job- light green near the exhaust was touched up too

 

[neil5208]

54 minutes ago, steh2o said:

 

Interestingly enough Betty Lou underwent a similar repaint job- light green near the exhaust was touched up too

 

Definitely respraying being done, maybe due to tail code change and they did further touch ups.

[f111guru]

What I've heard and read over the years can make perfect sense when viewing photos like these. The USAF and the Air Divisions that were controlling the aircraft movement in those areas would replace aircraft on some sort of schedule. Whether it was from being shot down or for a schedule airframe inspection. Those inspections would take many months to do and would have a replacement aircraft from the facility to replace that aircraft. So a new tailcode would be painted on after it arrived. Then the other would be to fix frame damage from being shot at. Quite a bit battle damage repair was done in country. Saw enough of it at Udorn. The 388th TFW did move from Vietnam to Korat RTAFB Thailand but do not know when or from where. They were in Korat when I passed through there to drop some people off and then went on to another Air Force base.

 

When I got to Udorn late June 1972 our aircraft as with the 432nd's aircraft had the slim light, strip light installed as part of a technical order upgrade. Those pictured above do not and have the original short muzzle fairing. Great pictures for a modelling subject. To go along with your completed project.

 

All The Best,

Ron VanDerwarker

[Hook]

Excellent photos there!, thanks for posting. 

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

[Gene K]

On 7/1/2021 at 8:00 AM, iainpeden said:

Maybe @Gene K could shed light on the matter?

 

When it comes to myriad Phantom camo paint variations:

 

 

 

Gene K

 

Edited July 2, 2021 by Gene K

[f111guru]

I can still hear that line in my head. One of the great many shows.

 

Ron VanDerwarker

[Billy54]

On 6/30/2021 at 4:20 PM, f111guru said:

This photo was sent to the F-4 Phantom forever group a number of years ago by an Air Force pilot named Don Jay. The photo was taken August 1969 at Korat RTAFB Thailand. All credit goes to him.

Quite a few aircraft were painted in colors and like during WW2 was for someones personal ride. Also check out this website. https://www.aviationarthangar.com/spunkyvif4.html for some additional photos. Zotz decals number 48046 has a nice set of this squadron. Believe these are still available.

Also have a shot of the other side of 680313

This should clear some air. I try to have visual proof of the subject I craft. Especially if it contains a certain drawing or art work.

All The Best

Ron VanDerwarker

 

A quick question, how common was that load out on the first phot? Mk.82's with fuse extenders on in the inboard pylon and fuel tank on the centre?   

[f111guru]

@Billy54I can only say what was happening at Udorn RTAFB the last half of 1972. As a young dumb airman I loaded what was delivered without question. It wasn't until later I asked what the difference was between loads on different aircraft. It was told that the load depended on the target the cell was going after. The extended bombs what ever the size was meant to explode above ground for the maximum fragmentation possible. The majority of munitions I remember loading were mk-82 and M117's. Followed by CBU-58's and M-36 clusters. Not a whole lot of rockets or AIM-9's. All the aircraft loaded and launched had at least 2 AIM-7's and ALQ-87 and ALQ-101 ECM pods. I can say that stations 1 and 9 or the outboard stations had 370 fuel tanks. I can remember only twice changing the centerline ejector to a soft ejector foot. This was used for the 600 center tank. Don't ever remember seeing the outboard stations loaded except in training.

 

So as to answer your question, before 1972 I would guess quite a bit. Most of the photos were taken in country. Others such as the top flying out of Korat had tanker support to and from.

 

I remember reading and hearing news reports of a munitions shortage and had seen photos in books about the air war Vietnam showing partial munition loads on F-4's and F-105's.

Hope this helps.

 

All The Best

[Chrisj2003]

Really useful thread and great photos. Intending to build FineMolds "Spunky VI" as per photo all nicely weathered / repainted. Any consensus on what the loadout is? Slicks on MER (4?) on left outboard, 3(?) daisy cutters on inboard TER, repeated on right?

 

Chris

 

On 01/07/2021 at 00:20, f111guru said:

Quite a few aircraft were painted in colors and like during WW2 was for someones personal ride. Also check out this website. https://www.aviationarthangar.com/spunkyvif4.html for some additional photos. Zotz decals number 48046 has a nice set of this squadron.

 

[f111guru]

32 minutes ago, Chrisj2003 said:

Really useful thread and great photos. Intending to build FineMolds "Spunky VI" as per photo all nicely weathered / repainted. Any consensus on what the loadout is? Slicks on MER (4?) on left outboard, 3(?) daisy cutters on inboard TER, repeated on right?

 

Chris

 

 

Chris,

This is an oddity for loads. I say this because it is not duplicated on the other side. This was my thought also. On station 8 or the right inboard pylon, an ALQ-87 is loaded. So I'm going to jump out here and say there are 5 MK-82 low drag bombs loaded on the MER station 9. I sent off an email to the photo originator to confirm my thoughts. You will notice that only 4 MK-82's are on aircraft station 1. So my thought process for 5 on 9 is weight and balance. I also see what appears to be a left forward mounted strike camera. If I get a read back then this loadout is 4x1 MER, 3x 1TER, Fwd strike camera 2x AIM=7/E, 1x ALQ-87, 5x 1MER. Also a fully loaded drum of 20mm of bullets.

Other loads I did in 1972 Udorn was outboard tanks, inboard 4x AIM-9E/J or 4x AIM-4 and ECM pods, 4x AIM-7/E, centerline fuel tank.

12x MK-82, 2x AIM-7, 2x ALQ-87 and ALQ-101 or just 1 and in either fwd cavity

12x MK-82SE, 2x AIM-7, 2 or 1 ECM pods

6x MK-82 or SE, 6x M-36, 2x AIM-7, ECM

11x CBU-58, 2x AIM-7, ECM

These are some examples and if you can find any photos of your tail numbered subject that would give you a head start on the loadout.

 

All The Best,

Ron VanDerwarker

[Chrisj2003]

3 hours ago, f111guru said:

4 hours ago, Chrisj2003 said:

 

Chris,

This is an oddity for loads. I say this because it is not duplicated on the other side. This was my thought also. On station 8 or the right inboard pylon, an ALQ-87 is loaded. So I'm going to jump out here and say there are 5 MK-82 low drag bombs loaded on the MER station 9. I sent off an email to the photo originator to confirm my thoughts. You will notice that only 4 MK-82's are on aircraft station 1. So my thought process for 5 on 9 is weight and balance. I also see what appears to be a left forward mounted strike camera. If I get a read back then this loadout is 4x1 MER, 3x 1TER, Fwd strike camera 2x AIM=7/E, 1x ALQ-87, 5x 1MER. Also a fully loaded drum of 20mm of bullets.

Ron, brilliant, thank you. That makes it even more interesting, weathered paint and asymmetric load. I’ll go with your suggestions. 
 

Chris

[f111guru]

Chris,

I did get a reply back and yes the opposite side did have an extra bomb loaded to closely maintain weight and balance. This is not DaNang but of Udorn September 1972. This F-4D with 2 TER's inboard pylons with M36 Clusters and a MER centerline with 6 MK-62 low drag. Notice the rails on the pylon. ECM pods in the fwd missile cavities.

Then the opposite. M36's centerline and extended MK-82's on the inboard pylons.

Enjoy

 

All The Best,

Ron VanDerwarker

[Patrick Martin]

366th Tactical Fighter Wing

   The 366 Tactical Fighter Wing moved to Phan Rang AB, RSVN from Holloman AFB on 20/3/66, then on to Da Nang AB, RSVN on 10/10/66.  The wing adopted a separate tail code system, than the later excepted PACAF system.  The three F-4C squadrons 389, 390 and 480 TFS started applying tail codes to F-4C in January 1967.  The first of two letters represented the squadron, the second the individual aircraft.  Thus possible tail codes:  

              AA to AZ             389 TFS               F-4C

              BA to BZ             390 TFS               F-4C

              CA to CZ             480 TFS               F-4C

   This system continued throughout the F-4D conversion process.  Late in 1969 the 390 TFS recoded LF, while 480 and 389 TFS transferring to Phu Cat AB, RSVN and adopted the 37 TFW tail codes HB and HK, thus ending this unique system.  The 4 and 421 TFS arrived in April 1969 from CONUS with F-4E coded LA and LC.  Both left in May 1972, joining the 432 TRW although based at Takhli RTAFB until moving to Udorn RTAFB on 31/10/72.  The two squadrons had an unconventional tail code history as both maintained the LA and LC tail codes on subsequent transfers.  The 35 TFS attached for the period between 3/4/72 and 12/6/72 flying UP tail coded F-4D, from the 3 TFW.  The AN tail coded EC-47 of the 362 TEWS reassigned on 1/2/72 from the 483 TAW and inactivated on 12/6/72.  The wing reassigned to Takhli RTAFB on 27/6/72, then reassigned to Mountain Home AFB, on 31/10/72.

 

All from 

Tail Code

United States Air Force  Distinctive Unit Aircraft Identification Markings

by your truly,  Patrick Martin

[tony.t]

 

McDonnell-Douglas camouflaged deliveries just had the title USAF and last five serial digits all applied in black in 6" lettering underneath IIRC.

This simple presentation was usually oversprayed at the bases, with 6" AF & Fiscal Year number, 15" last three serial digits and 24" two letter DUIs as seen in the photos above. The McDonnell-Douglas epoxy enamel was very matt and the FS30219 tan more sand coloured than regular tan-brown, so resprays were deeper in colour and often had a sheen.

 

Tony