EF-4C Wild Weasel

[ThePhantomTwo]

Here are some pics of the F-4C ex-Wild Weasel's we have on display at our base(F-4C-19-MC 63-7565),I took a few pics of the non-standard items that were fitted on the EF-4C's.I don't have the book to give designations of the lumps and bumps that were fitted on them but as soon as I get off work I'll edit this post with the proper designations.I knew I should have brought that stuff to work with me! <_< Hopefully this will help those who are using the new TwoBob's and Fox One decals.

Nose with AN/APR-25 antenna on IR seeker fairing

Behind the nose,when the system was used there was a ER-142/ALR-53 homing antennea blister behind the radome at the 2 o'clock and 10 o'clock positions.

Intake ER-142/ALR-53 direction finding antenna blister

Tail,AN-/APR-46 antenna on dragchute door

A over-all pic

Note:EF-4C is/was a unofficial designation for the F-4C Wild Weasel's.

Edited April 24, 2006 by ThePhantomTwo

[jmel]

I sure hope those gate guards get re-painted soon.

Jake

[ThePhantomTwo]

I sure hope those gate guards get re-painted soon.

Jake

My understanding from the former Wing Historian is that they are supposed to be done this year,hopefully that'll happen.I know they had the paintschemes all picked out(the F-84F was going to be bare-metal/silver)and ready to go when the weather got nicer,I'll have to check into when they are going to get re-done.

[BAM'n'IVM]

I'm not sure how "non-standard" the RWR receivers under the nose and on the tail are - there's an F-4D from the 704th FS on display at the VFW in Manchaca, TX, and my photos show the same blisters as your first and fourth photos. I'll post the photos in a minute, once I've got 'em on Photobucket.

[BAM'n'IVM]

OK, here we go. Here's the only shot I got of the rear section:

And here's the nose with its RWR blisters much easier to spot:

One last thing - are you sure it's an "EF-4C"? I've never heard of that. I've always seen it presented as the F-4C Wild Weasel, which was replaced by the F-4G Wild Weasel.

Edited April 23, 2006 by BAM'n'IVM

[ThePhantomTwo]

The EF-4C designation is unofficial,it's been used in several books describing the F-4C Wild Weasel I imagine to set it apart from the standard F-4C.

The RWR recievers on the IR fairing and on the drag-chute housing are non-standard for a F-4C(the blister on the intake is VERY non-standard for a F-4C and were only on the F-4C Wild Weasel mods,F-4D's did not have them),they were standard equipment on the F-4D.Our unit had a mix of ex-Weasels until 1985,then we went to all ex-Weasels when the 122nd TFW/163rd TFS transitioned to the F-4E.

The standard F-4C's we had did not have the RWR's that the pics show.

Also,the pic you show is NOT a F-4D,it's a F-4C and one that was converted to Wild Weasel standards.The bullet RWR fairing at the top of the tail is a dead give away,the F-4D had more of a rounded fairing on the aft end of it.Also the tail number is of F-4C-23-MC 64-0791,F-4D's first started off the production line with F-4D-23-MC 64-0929.

F-4C Wild Weasel tail numbers:

63-7423, 7433, 7437, 7440, 7443, 7447, 7452, 7459, 7462, 7467, 7470, 7474, 7478, 7481, 7508, 7512, 7513, 7565, 7567, 7574, 7594, 7596, 7607, 7615, 7623 and 64-0675, 0741, 0757, 0781, 0787, 0790, 0791, 0815, 0840, 0844, and 0847.

And here is a list of our F-4C's we had,notice 64-0791 on the list.

181st TFG/113th TFS F-4C's

63-7418

-7422

-7423(WW)

-7433(WW)

-7437(WW)

-7440(WW)

-7443(WW)

-7447(WW)

-7452(WW)

-7459(WW)

-7470(WW)-W/O Nov. 19,1986,Tyndall AFB,a/c fire

-7471

-7473

-7478(WW)

-7508(WW)

-7513(WW)

-7564(WW)

-7565(WW)

-7568

-7574(WW)

-7581

-7594(WW)

-7581

-7594(WW)

-7596(WW)

-7607(WW)-Painted in Hill scheme

-7615(WW)

-7623 – Mig-kill May 20,1967,Mig-17

-7657

-7665

64-0672

-0675(WW)

-0724

-0757(WW)

-0780

-0781(WW)

-0783

-0790(WW)

-0791(WW)

-0815(WW)

-0840(WW)

-0844(WW)

64-0847

(WW) – Wild Weasel modification

Edited April 23, 2006 by ThePhantomTwo

[BAM'n'IVM]

Interesting - I had no idea the 704th was flying F-4C's in the '80's - I had always heard they were "D" model unit. They certainly weren't a Wild Weasel outfit. Do you know when the 181st passed this airframe down to the 924thTFG/704th TFS?

[ThePhantomTwo]

Interesting - I had no idea the 704th was flying F-4C's in the '80's - I had always heard they were "D" model unit. They certainly weren't a Wild Weasel outfit. Do you know when the 181st passed this airframe down to the 924thTFG/704th TFS?

The 704th never flew F-4C's,only F-4D's.We started to retire(if the a/c had high airframe hours) or transfer the standard F-4C's around 1985,we also retired a few of the high time ex-Wild Weasel F-4C's at the same time thus making room for the lower houred ex-F-4C's Wild Weasels from Ft. Wayne.I believe '791 left base in late 1986/early 1987,I don't ever recall seeing it or working on it when I joined the unit in 1987 after my four years USAF active duty.I wasn't assigned a F-4C due to the unit getting F-4E's but was a flightline floater for a year until we fully transitioned to F-4E's but I managed to work on nearly all the F-4C's we had on the flightline at that time.

64-0791 flew with the 57th FWW at Nellis,the 67th TFS at Korat RTAFB,named "Squirrely Bird"(it's on the TwoBobs F-4C Wild Weasel sheet),then we recieved it around 1980.I can track down the crew chief who crewed it if you like to try to get the exact retirement timeframe.

[BAM'n'IVM]

I've got a big, thick book of operational and production data on every F-4 airframe built (William Peake's F-4 Phantom II Production and Operational Data in fact...) that shows 64-0791 being retired due to damage in May 1987 from Bergstrom AFB (no unit given, which is unusual) to VFW Post 3377. The same book lists the 924th as flying only F-4D's and F-4E's.

Why would a damaged airframe be shipped from Indiana to Texas to be presented to a VFW post? Why not use a worn out one from 704th, as they did when they presented one to the VFW hall in Bastrop, TX, or when the 67th TRW presented a RF-4C (after hiding the bird strike damage to the canopy frame...) to Del Valley Elementary School?

[ThePhantomTwo]

I've got a big, thick book of operational and production data on every F-4 airframe built (William Peake's F-4 Phantom II Production and Operational Data in fact...) that shows 64-0791 being retired due to damage in May 1987 from Bergstrom AFB (no unit given, which is unusual) to VFW Post 3377. The same book lists the 924th as flying only F-4D's and F-4E's.

Why would a damaged airframe be shipped from Indiana to Texas to be presented to a VFW post? Why not use a worn out one from 704th, as they did when they presented one to the VFW hall in Bastrop, TX, or when the 67th TRW presented a RF-4C (after hiding the bird strike damage to the canopy frame...) to Del Valley Elementary School?

Well,I joined the 181st flightline in March of 1987 and don't ever recall having a broken and written off a/c at Bergstrom.I'll check this week with the guys at the base and see what I can turn up as far as info.I imagine it was tranfered to Bergstrom for a ABDR airframe,most of our C models ended up ABDR airframes or on a gunnery/bombing range,only a few actually made it to the boneyard(most of our F-4E's ended up in foriegn service instead of at AMARC).

As far as having a F-4C on display,it has to be approved by people higher than the Wing or State level,if there wasn't a F-4D available at the time then most likely that's how they recieved the F-4C.I believe it's North Dakota or Minnisota that has a F-4C painted up in thier markings in thier museum because a D airframe wasn't available.

[ThePhantomTwo]

First post updated with the system/antenna call-outs.