Love the Phantom! One of my all time fave fighters!
Here's a throwback to me flying an F-4 Phantom simulator in 96 at Holloman AFB. A group of 10 of us Marine GCI guys got to go on det to Holloman and control flights for the 120th Silver Lobos, who transitioned from F-4s to F-16s and were hosting the Luftwaffe in F-4s and Tornados. I think most other squadrons there were flying the F-117. We got to sit in one, and I was surprised how 'old' the cockpit was, but alas - no pictures allowed LOL. We jarheads got to live like kings in the Air Force barracks and party with the enlisted German crews they brought over with them. They had an old F-4 sim that they let us fly. I was the only pilot in the group (with a private license and about 50 hours total). So my buddies volunteered me to go first with one of our always crabby Gunny’s in the backseat LOL. I figured it was a real man’s jet (never touched a jet) and figured it would take some force to manipulate the controls. I was wrong lol. I went to full afterburner yanked back on the stick and stalled the jet… crashing in shame lol.
Everyone laughed. But the sim tech had mercy and let me try again. He said, use a feather touch, just think about pitch and roll. So, next try I went full afterburner and rotated into a nice climb. Pulled up the gear and flaps and off we went. Then he set me up with a basic 1v1 MiG intercept and gave my backseater some work. We got vectored to a merge with a MiG 21, which developed into a one circle fight. I was able to get behind him and let a sidewinder off the rail. Splash one MiG. I was the only one to get a kill that day.
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