Hobby Master Archive

The first of 583 F-4C ordered by the USAF began delivery in late 1963. They basically were F- 4Bs that had been refit for ground operations. The F-4C arrived in Southeast Asia in early 1965 and by 1966 equipped 7 squadrons in Vietnam and 3 in Thailand. The early F-4Cs lacked guns and relied totally on missiles but it wasn’t long before the addition of SUU-16A gun pods with M- 61AI-20-mm guns were put to use to compensate for the lack of internal guns. The addition of these gun pods gave the pilot gun fire but degraded the performance of the aircraft. The first F- 4Cs suffered from many defects such as wing tanks that would spring leaks and require resealing after every flight. Many had cracked ribs on outer wing panels. It wasn’t too long before the F-4D made an appearance.

One of Col. Robin Olds’ men had an idea that it might be possible to fool the enemy aircraft and inflict heavy casualties on them. The idea was presented to Col. Olds and it sounded feasible so plans were immediately worked on and ironed out. January 2, 1967 the plan, now called “Operation Bolo” was put into action. Instead of the usual F-105s leading the way and being intercepted by MiGs who departed the scene when the F-4s arrived, the F-4s took the lead and flew at normal F-105 speeds, altitudes and formations. When the MiGs came up to intercept what they thought were F-105s they instead found Phantom IIs.

Specification of the F-4C Manufacturer: McDonnell-Douglas Role - Fighter Performance Engines - (2) General Electric J79-GE-15 turbojets, 10,900 lb.s.t dry, 17,000 lb.s.t. with afterburner Maximum Speed - 1,433 mph @ 48,000 ft, 826 mph at sea level Initial Climb Rate - 40,550 fpm Service Ceiling - 56,100 ft Combat Ceiling - 55,600 ft Combat Range - 538 miles Maximum Range - 1,926 miles with maximum external fuel Weights Empty - 28,496 lbs Gross - 51,441 lbs Combat Weight - 38,352 lbs Maximum Take-Off Weight - 58,000 lbs Dimensions Wingspan 38 ft 5 ins Wing Area - 530 sq ft Length - 58 ft 3 3/4 ins Height - 16 ft 3 ins Fuel Maximum Internal - 1,986 US gallons (1,343 gallons in fuselage, 630 gallons in wings) Maximum External - 600 US gallons in centerline tank underneath the fuselage and 740 US gallons in (2) under-wing tanks / total fuel to 3,313 US gallons Armament (4) AIM-7D or -7E Sparrow semi active radar homing missiles in under-fuselage recesses Inner pylons could each accommodate (2) AIM-9B/D Sidewinder infrared homing missiles Ground Attack Mode - able to carry up to 16,000 pounds of ordnance on centerline pylon underneath the fuselage Plus (4) under-wing hard-points

Hobby Master 1/72 Air Power Series HA1941 McDonnell Douglas F-4C Phantom II s/n 63-7680, Col. Robin Olds “Operation Bolo” 8th TFW, Ubon Royal Thai AF Base, 2 Jan 1967

True 1/72 scale Professionally painted Great attention to detail All markings are Tampoed (pad applied)

Option to display the model on a stand that is provided Model can be shown with the landing gear in the down or up positions Canopies can be displayed open or closed Crew figures Extremely heavy metal with a minimum of plastic Highly collectable