Restoring a real F-4 Phantom II and getting her running again
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- Опубліковано 5 жов 2024
- #Aviation #f4phantom #coldwar
Restoring a real F-4 Phantom II and getting her running again
If you want to help and get involved bpag.co.uk/
if you want to fly a phantom
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MESSAGE FROM BPAG:
Great video and thank you for coming to view our Phantoms at Cotswold
Airport. We would just like to clarify that the British Phantom Aviation
Groups initial mandate is to restore all three Phantom aircraft to a
pristine static condition for display only. There may be potential to
restore some systems if the opportunity arises, however that kind of
work is a long way off. None of the aircraft will be restored to any
form of operational status and will certainly not be performing fast
taxi runs due to the age of the airframes and high running costs.
As a USAF F4 crew chief this brings back lots of good memories, that F4K a British varient would have had a Rolls Royce engine, my F4C had GE J79 GE 15, hope your group gets it restored and back to life....
Wow that's so cool thanks for the info and kind words too.
I thought the F4’s that had the Spey engines had a slightly different shaped intake entrance. Also, it seemed like the British F4’s could only use the Spey because the internal engine mounts would line up with a J79. Heck, maybe I’m wrong, somebody correct me.
Are you guys kidding us ? Your restoring a British Phantom ! 😮😎 So many British pilots loved the Phantom. I bet they just love seeing g this being done. The Phantom is beloved all over the world. This is great news.
Thanks so much I can't wait to document more for you guys
Great video and thank you for coming to view our Phantoms at Cotswold Airport. We would just like to clarify that the British Phantom Aviation Groups initial mandate is to restore all three Phantom aircraft to a pristine static condition for display only. There may be potential to restore some systems if the opportunity arises, however that kind of work is a long way off. None of the aircraft will be restored to any form of operational status and will certainly not be performing fast taxi runs.
I will also mention this in the next video we do together ❤️
Great Video man! I was there as one of the volunteers that was there and it is great to see you enjoy our collection of Phantoms! Whilst unfortunately they wont be returned to taxiable condition (due to there being no active RR Spey engines to power them and the airframes themselves suffering badly from corrosion due to their outside storage since their retirement) we are hoping to get then restored and hopefully get some of their hydraulic and electrical systems active again!
Thanks mate I can't wait to make some more. Hopefully see you there soon
So jealous of you sitting in the cockpit . The F4 my hall time favourite aircraft
It was a amazing I'm sure I won't get bored if doing that. Thanks for watching
The GE J-79 will NOT fit into a F-4K. You will need Rolls Royce Speys.
The J79 is next to the F4J (UK) which does use the J79. The UK bought 15 ex US Navy F4J jets to bolster the RAF Phantom fleet after the Falklands conflict, and they served with 74sqn only from Aug 1984 to Jan 1991.. These aircraft were quite unique even after RAF mods, and used different ground support equipment, and their pilots had to use some none std flying kit (U.S. supplied)
They did say this to me however didn't get it in the video. I didn't even scratch the surface so much more to see
I would expect that the F-4 in the hangar is "ZE360 - Defence Fire Training and Development Centre, Manston Airport, Kent, England - not on public display." (Wikipedia). It is one of 15 F-4J Phantoms purchased in the 80s by the RAF. The J-79 will fit fine in it, of course. That is why they have it. [EDIT] On closer inspection you can see this is a USN F-4J in the hangar as it has the RWHR receiver on top of the engine intake. Original UK F-4s never had that.
The IDF back around 1987 put a pair of PW1120 engines A variant of the engines use in the F15 C AND D in what they call super hammer I saw it at the Paris air show I could go Mach 1 without using the blowers and Super cruise also there was a F16 built using a J 79 engine that was meant to be an export jet but Reagan decided to go ahead and allow them to be sold with the engines they use already funny, what countries will do on a budget
This is awesome. I really hope this project sees completion.
By the way those little holes in liner of the jet pipe are just for cooling air that maintains a layer of slightly cooler air while all that hot gas is exhausted. I've also been told that the holes play a role in noise reduction but I doubt that was the main priority given how loud these things are! The nozzles for fuel spray are in those rings at the most upstream end of the liner :)
Imagine how loud it would be without them then lol. That's for watching 👀
My late father was escorted by F4 fantom 2’s during his B52 bomber runs and missions in Vietnam late 1960’s and early 1970’s . Nothing like the sound of those F4 Phantom thunder makers!
I have forgotten what they sound like i think i was about 13 last time i saw one fly. i would love to see one now.
That myst of been an amazing sight watching them fly next to the b52. do you have any pictures of them
He passed away in 2014 . I will look through old pictures not many are left because of hurricane flooding years back . He retired and lived in South Carolina.
Always though the f-4 was one of the coolest looking fighters, I look forward to watching this phantom haunting the skies again
Thanks for watching 👀
I came to this video from a few automobile barn find vids, this is many orders of magnitude beyond those!
Well thanks for watching 👀
Mike, the last time i went past RAF Scampton there was a few aircraft on the outer edge of the airfield one of them being a Phantom completely cocooned in white plastic, as the place is all but shut down might be something for BPAG to look in to.
Thanks ill let them know. Thanks so much for watching and supporting
WOW! You guys are fantastic! (Chris, a recording engineer in NYC. Cutting a record in my avatar. Cheers, Lads!)
Thanks for watching 👀
I was a flight line engine mech back in the mid/late 70s and attaching and safety wiring the cannon plugs from the engine to the air frame on the F4 J-79 was a S.O.B!!!!!! Lol
That's so cool. I bet you miss them. Thanks for watching
@@MikeBarnett Half way through my tour we switched to the brand new F-15. Much easier to work on but it had it's teething problems! Remember fuel controls and such would fail often but plane was amazing!
One of the best fighters there ever was ...................................
100%
All those little holes in the reheat jet pipe, are to allow cooling air to come in, to protect the jet pipe from the heat. Where the fuel is fed in is further forward where you see those rings. Those are called gutters and that’s where the fuel is ignited.
Thanks gor the info and thanks gor watching
Please keep us updated on this one. I’ve been following the F-4 Phantom on The UA-cam page for Diesel Thunder, they’re getting ready to test the engines and get her certified for flight!
I watch him too. Yeah I will be making a series on this one
abs fantastic vid i spent many years watching F4's flying at Raf Wattisham,last time i saw a FGR2 fly was a Mildenhall Airfete 92 XT914 which is housed on display at Wattisham,im sure i remeber seeing photos of XT597 being held in open storage at Raf Bentwaters a few years ago,be fantastic when its full restored & its RR.Speys roaring again
That's so cool. Yeah I know let's hope it can become reality again
As an Airforce brat , I'm sentimental with F4s. A classic "Hot Rod".
Love it bet you seen some living on the pads. not sure what you call it in the us we call living on base the pads in the uk
Very cool. Pretty sure that the UK never built any F4s, although some of them had British supplied parts and RR engines. All airframes were USA build.
The RAF Phantoms were modified by Shorts in Belfast to take the Spey engines I think. So sort of British built.
Many had European parts including the engines and were assembled in the UK.
I will find out where the airframe was built for the next video. Thanks for the info 👍 and thanks for watching
@@crs9796 built in St Louis Missouri USA
The UK had 2 variants the Spey engines ones which were configured for the FAA….. these were transferred to the RAF. The RAF separately produced GE powered F4’s.
Phantom phorever!
100% thanks for watching 👀
I grew up in Valdosta GA, home of Moody Air Force Base. At the time, they had Phantoms, and apparently my house was right under one of their regular training routes, because they flew over all the time.
That must have been so cool
The F4 was way ahead of it's time, and the brute force of the RR Spey engines! My uncle was radar tech with 228 OCU at RAF Coningsby. Sadly, I can't see the CAA giving permission for a Phantom to fly, they were quick enough to ground the Vulcan after all.
Totally agree hence it is still in Service now 😀
@@MikeBarnett Greece, Luftwaffe and Japanese Defence Force I believe.
Vulcan ran out of airframe hours and nobody came up with the millions to design a service life extension program/refit! Had nothing to do with CAA!
Getting one of these Phantoms back into the air is easy ... just hire Marshal Aerospace, Sierra Nevada, IAI or Lufthansa Technik, spend some 10 million USD and off you go 👍🏻
Have fun ✅
Former Empire Test Pilots School aircraft
Very unique colour scheme 👌
Originally the first K version into the country via Aldergrove, used as trials for years under original FAA grey scheme, only went to Raspberry Ripple after it's Major at StAthan
I was based at RAF Wattisham for my first posting in the RAF on phantoms I worked in the Station Armoury in the role bay, but on occasion worked on Phantoms on the F4J &FGR2, broke My heart sreinge them scrapped and decommissioned
The ex fire practice F4 is their restoration project, it was originally one of two at the fire training facility, the other one was scrapped years ago which was a shame because it was a Vietnam veteran.
That's such a shame.. thanks for watching 👀
The F4 in service with the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force did have Rolls Royce Spey engines at that time. It was only later F4j(uk) that had HE J79 engines which if I remember performed better than the Speys.
Thanks for the info
Would be great to see one restored. Look at the 'boneyard" in Arizona, should still have some for parts there. I saw the last ones fly from Houston and then they got F-16's.
I would love to visit the bone yard do they do tours
Two F-4 Phantoms kept flying over my house this weekend just gone ( and on the Friday !! All day ! ) Yesterday I watched two taxi down and the runway to get ready for take off ! They were only a 100 metres away !
Oh wow where r u based that would be amazing to see
@@MikeBarnett I live in Attica , Greece . The Greek air force are still flying 33 of them .until 2026 The bases they are at are 100s of Kilometres away from me but I still see the occasionally one flyover . This weekend just gone the local airforce base in Northern Attica ,about 30 killometres away had an airshow .They had two Phantoms flying as part of the air display . I went Sunday and got some videos .The Friday the Phantoms were practicising for the airshow all
@Sam_Green____4114 no phantoms flew over your house as they do not operate in the uk or allowed to operate In the uk
@@MikeBarnett This is the video from yesterday ,Sunday .One of the two Phantoms taxi-ing to the end of the runway for take off .ua-cam.com/video/KymlSabtREk/v-deo.html
@@MikeBarnett The second Phantom Taxi-ing for take off yesterday ua-cam.com/video/CuHPdbQvXLQ/v-deo.html
F4 Phantom "Tatooine edition".
ha ha
What's the chances of one actually
flying again , I used to love the German phantom doing its touch and go at raf mildenhall back in the day I'm sure there's many out there like myself would love to see
One flying again.
Great if they can achieve it, The vulcan was fantastic.good luck
Thanks man and yeah love the Vulcan too
At 3:15 the 'little dinks' in the jet pipe will be for 'cooling air' to stop jet pipe melting / being damaged by the heat. Fuel is introduced near the circular rings the front of what you can see (called the flame holder). Would be excellent to see XT905 up and (ground) running as I used to work on it (and XV490) back on the OCU in the late 80s. Visited XT914 at Wattisham a couple of months ago that also an OCU jet when I was there so I've worked on three of the survivors!
That makes sense thanks for the info 👍
I worked on its last Major Service at StAthan
Oh wow thats so cool. It would be good to see come over and take a look at her again. contact me on insta if you would like to mike.barnett.official
That will never fly again.
only after spending 10 to 15 million USD and hiring a professional aeronautical MRO and Engineering firm like Lufthansa Technik or Sierra Nevada
More than likely
@@grahamthebaronhesketh. there you go with them negative waves!
This may have already been said, but there were no ‘British made’ Phantoms. 5057 Phantoms were made in St Louis, and 138 were built by Mitsubishi in Japan.
Thanks for the info really appreciated it
2:59 With my limited knowlegde, those holes you showed are to allow for cool air so the pipe wouldn't melt.
The rings you see in the back are the fuel sprayers.
9:52 I don't know either, but on normal Phantoms that was where the radarscreen was, so my guess is that it's radar related or they removed something.
Thanks for the info and thanks for watching 👀
Correct, the rings are the flameholder for the afterburner. This looks like a J79 so the burner is a four-stage afterburner. For the fuel nozzles in the rings, you'll have a primary and secondary core and a primary/secondary annulus. The green section with all of the holes is the burner liner and keeps the engine case from overheating.
That is indeed a radar screen though doesn't look like that is in the right spot. That screen should be in the backseat. The front seat would not have it recessed so far back, it should be even with the rest of the instrument panel. Seems like the gunsight controls panel where the screen should be is missing.
Clearly need to talk with Agent JayZ to get your J79 up and running again.
Who lol
Oke of our car club members ferried F-4s to Southeast Asia from St Louis.
That's cool
That screen is likely the CRT generating the HUD imagery. The part missing is the lens assembly and the HUD glass. Oh I just watched further and it was explained anyway haha
Lol yeah he did tell me in the end but I did ask the question so thanks for helping lol. Thanks for watching 🙏
Are you really serious ? An airworthy F-4K ? Oh dear God, I wish one day I see a team like Starfighters Inc using Phantoms.
I wish we could get it air worthy. Thanks for watching 👀
There are still some 100 to 150 operational F-4s in Greece, Turkey and Iran, plus one private F-4D flying in the US.
A F4H-1F (F-4A), the 11th Phantom ever built is almost airworthy and can be bought for a million USD.
The J-79 can only be used in an F-4J, It cannot be used in the Spey Engined Phantoms
Yeah they did say this to me but I never got it on camera. Let's hope the group can get some. Thanks for watching 👀
@michaeldenesyk3195 j79 used in all the U S versions, just different dash number, even the F104 used the mighty J79 -11 , used in USAF, USN, AND USMC types..
Ex USN F-4J (F-4J (UK) / F.3) in the hangar.
I worked at the plant that built the GE J-79 engines.They stopped producing them in 1979. But we built parts for them for years
Thanks for the info and thanks for watching 👀
Out of all interest, what DCS group are you with ?. Nice video. I was at Duxford last weekend and got to see the American F4 phantom which made me very happy.
Hi in not actually in one but would like to join. If you have any recommendations let me know 😊
@@MikeBarnett you have a fantastic group called VAF (Virtual Air Force) run by a guy called deephack who has his own tutorial channel on UA-cam. The people in there are epic. Obviously there are other groups but I haven’t researched them. I’m in VNAO because I’m all about US Navy operations and really love my Hornet not to mention the intense learning curve.
It is not well known that Aussie RAAF had F4E Phantoms for bombers in the early 1970s on loan for a few years pending delivery of the F111Cs to RAAF.
Thanks for the info
I would definitely send a couple bucks their way but I’m a yank across the pond and could probably never see her actually move in person
Thanks tell everyone about it I believe they can still be a member over the pond.
Imagine they get their hands on an F-14....
I dont think that will ever happen unfortunately
@@MikeBarnett probably, but never say never ya know
there is some great footage of F-4j UK's inc ZE360(155574) flying out of Raf Wattisham on youtube
I'll have a look thanks 😊
@@MikeBarnett your welcome Mike
I can remember my time at RAF St Athan in the 80s and I saw this brand new paint scheme on the aircraft as it came to our hanger after being painted at Pickitstone paint facility it looked brilliant then. I was out of training and my first job was removing the shingle panels and the jet blast panels, then for good measure I had to clean and strip the arrestor hook ! Wow it was heavy bit of metal.
I spent some time at St Athan when I was in the army. Unfortunately no f4s then. Thanks for the comment and watching 👀
For sure ... Never fly again.
It would be nice to get one in the air again but it is extremely unlikely
Ha we used f-4s in better shape then that for target practice.
Ha ha. Thanks for watching 👀
Taxi? Get one flying again!!!
That would be amazing
Unfortunately will never happen 😢
How the hell you gonna get that running look at the state of it?!!……and those GE engines ain’t the right engines for the British phantom they had the RR Spey engine
Thanks we know the engines are for the other phantom that i shown in the video. its more than likely she will be a static display but BPAG are working on restoring other phantoms. Thanks for watching
in america they get them flying
Wish it was like that here 😪
It’s just a matter of a lot of money, does not matter were in the world you are.
There is only 1 F-4 that is planned for flight. It last flew in 2019 and is owned by the Collings Foundation. Look up a channel called Diesel Thunder and you can see the progress. Several F-4E models were seen at airshows in the US about a decade ago and those were USAF Phantoms that were made flyable as target drones. They were destroyed in live fire exercises.
time and money anything is possible.
Except flight
100% let's hope we see life in the old gal one day
10 million USD and it will fly again😅
Probably lol
The F-4 is subject to the SALT reduction talks, and unless the airframe still belongs to the Govt, it is illegal to install and run engines in the airframe. If engines are refitted, the engine mountings must be sawn through. We have one on display, and are well aware of the regulations.The F-4D that is flown privately in the USA required an Act of Congress motion to permit it, and it is owned by a museum.
That sad news. Thanks for the info and thanks for watching
The Phantom was released from almost all restrictions some 5 years ago and are freely traded on the open market.
If you think about it, there are darned few airworthy ex-USAF fighters around.
so....not acrually restoring it. just talking about possibly restoring it. a nice clickbait.
How is this clickbait... yes we are restoring her as i have said in the video and in the comments. More than likely she will never fly or taxi again but she will be continuously worked on. She is already being worked on.
Fields full of them in USA. Sad state that such an iconic Aircraft that served in the UK should be all but gone and left in this state.
I need to come to the US so bad
Show us the fields full of F-4s in the US 🤣
57 left at AMARG and maybe 100 in museums and as gate guards!
FYI, stop calling the combined LCOSS a HUD, it is not a HUD, it is a Lead Computing gunsight, it did not display any airspeed to navigation data. In fact, there is an instrument called the 'HUD' on the instrument panel. The only exceptions are the RAF Harrier and Jaguar, those aircraft had an early generation HUD that displayed NAV/ATTACK information and weapon aiming cues.
Chill Winston 😎
But all honesty thanks I had this conversation before with my pal david so many people call it a hud when it is just a gun sight and there I am doing the same. Was almost the excitement of the day. Thanks for the info and watching 👀
What is it with you Europeans and the NY Yankees hats?
Is that what it is i thought it was just a fashion logo.... Maybe it JD sports favourite Basketball Team are the Yankees
This was a Joke btw
Millions of tax payers money just so it can taxi? What a stupid idea and a waste of money
It's volunteer based and nothing to do with the tax payer
@@MikeBarnett Really? So who pays for all the parts, fuel, the pilots, storage, up keep? Don't be naive thinking it's only volunteers. Besides all that, it's still a waste of money for that phantom not to fly. Do you realize how much fuel those J79-GE-17 burn?
@outlawflyer7868 privately owned and funded, over £100,000 spent to date.
“Tax payers money”...? 🤦♂️🤡😆 as if that would ever happen 🤦♂️😆
We're a volunteer organisation, we have no tax funding at all so all donations and work is done from the public who share our passion of these magnificent aircraft!
I used to go by this aircraft whenIi worked for vertical Aerospace. This is based at Kemble, NearCirencesterr in Gloucestershire
It seems like this aircraft has a place in so many people's hearts 💕 thanks for watching 👀
Will it fly again??
No i dont think so
Such a shame our CAA won’t let any historic jets fly anymore..😏
I know it's so sad
Could you make a homemade one.
Granted it wouldn't be an original, but people make replicas of other war aircraft.
Use smaller jet engines ect. Also I know that would be really expensive.