F4F Phantom II Walk Around Photo Index Page

Aircraft Resource Center

F4-F Phantom II

USAF #72-1128

Photos taken at EAA Convention, Oshkosh, WI July 2000

These photos were taken by Steve Stohr

Steve Stohr is the proud owner of North American Hobbies online hobby shop.

Descriptions kindly provided by Dave Aungst.

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Left nose, showing the front of the gun muzzle.	Left, nose, showing the left air conditioner / avionics cooling intake.	Left nose, showing the engine intake and intake splitter plate. The splitter plate is divided into two sections. The forward section is fixed (non-moving). the rear sections pivots to limit the amount of air flowing into the intake at high speeds.	Left nose detail. The large thing to the lower left of the picture is the previously mentioned air conditioner / avionics cooling intake. Of note are the small strakes between the engine intake and fuselage that brace the intake splitter plate. The two upper ones are visible. There are two more in the shadows on the lower half of the splitter plate.


Left engine intake.	Left engine intake.	Left engine intake. Note how far back the gray paint goes before the white paint starts. Note also the airspeed sensor inside the duct. Information gathered by this sensor controls the pivoting of the moving splitter plate sections. This sensor is present inside both intakes (left and right).	Left engine intake. Just visible in the shadows is the face of the J79-17 engine. The intake trunk is rather deep and snakes upward a bit from the lower intake lip.


Lower left wing, showing the center one of the three inboard wing slat actuator fairings. Note the plumbing attachment points and cleats on the lower wing surface where the outboard weapons pylon attaches. Also note the angle of the small, upper main wheel well door and its proximity to the landing gear and main wheel well door.	Left wing leading edge. This is the view rotated to the left of the previous picture. The third inboard wing slat actuator fairing is visible, as are details of the inboard portion of the outer wing slat. Note that the inboard slat does not overhang the wing leading edge in the closed position.	Left wing aileron, seen in the typical, drooped position. Both ailerons droop on the ground after the hydraulic pressure bleeds off. Note that the wing flap is fully up, though. A mechanical lock holds the flaps up so that they do not droop on the ground. You may notice that this mirrors the control surface behavior of another McDonnell Douglas aircraft -- the F-15 Eagle.	Left engine exhaust. Note the varying colors of the bare metal and the polished plate on the base of the arresting hook.


Arresting hook, seen from the left. Note the relative cleanliness of the entire rear fuselage. The Rhinos at Holloman AFB get extremely well cared for nowadays. In years gone by, this are would be filthy with built-up soot from the engines.	Fuel dump mast and para-brake door, viewed from the right, at the rear base of the vertical tail..	Right rear elevator, topside detail. Note the lack of an "arrow head" reinforcing plate on the top center of the elevator.	Right rear fuselage detail. Again, note the relative cleanliness of the area. Also not the presence of an "arrow head" reinforcing plate on the bottom of the left elevator. Generally, these reinforcing plates are on both elevators, top and bottom, for Air Force versions of the Phantom, but not always.


Right engine exhaust. Not the sag of the lower irises compared to the upper. The engine does slope upwards inside the fuselage, but not as much as is indicated by the canted exhaust cone. I have yet to find a model of the Phantom (or any other jet) that captures this canting (downward sag) of the exhaust cones correctly.	Small inspection window on the right rear fuselage, just above the engine exhaust.	Right wing leading edge, showing the outboard details of the outer wing slat. Note the six attachment points along the slat. The second and fifth ones are the actuators the cause the movement of the slat. The other four are fixed pivot points. The slat does not actually move anywhere. It just rocks on the pivot points, increasing and decreasing the space between itself and the outer wing panel. Even fully "retracted", there is a gap between the outer wing panel and the slat.	Right wing tip detail. Shown is the placement of the low-intensity formation light ("tape light") and the green navigation light. The black thing is an RHAW antenna. The left wing tip is the same, only with a red light. Note the darkness of the green in the navigation light. Clear green paint over a silver base coat is way to bright for an unlighted light. Use a dark gloss green for modeling the green lights and a gloss maroon for the red lights.


Two things visible here. The first is the center actuator fairing for the right inboard wing slat. The other is the flare / chaff dispenser mounted onto the rear of the weapons pylon. Note the details of this dispenser as Hasegawa does not capture it correctly on their 1/48th scale kits.	Right engine intake.	Overview of the center right fuselage.	Overview of the forward right fuselage.


Detail of the forward right fuselage. Visible are the low-intensity formation light ("tape light"), AOA sensor spike, and right side air conditioner / avionics cooling intake.	Nose landing gear, viewed from the right. The red item is the retraction lock to prevent the landing gear from retraction on the ground. The green bag is the storage bag for all the airframe "Remove Before Flight" pins and streamers.	Closer view of the AOA sensor spike and right side air conditioner / avionics cooling intake.	Right side of the nose. The small intake on the top of the nose is the gun gas purge vent. This vent is normally open on the ground.


Upper half of the left main landing gear, viewed from the front. The red item is the retraction lock to prevent the landing gear from retraction on the ground.	Left main wheel well, front side. The angle is facing outboard from under the wing at about a 10 o'clock angle.	Left main wheel well, front side. The angle is facing outboard from under the wing at about a 11 o'clock angle.	Left main wheel well, rear side. The angle is facing inboard from under the wing at about a 4 o'clock angle.

Inside of the inboard left main wheel well door. Left main landing gear, inboard. Right main landing gear, outboard. Left main landing gear, from the front.

Left speed brake, viewed from the outboard side. Note the angle of the sag in the speed brake. This angle varies from aircraft to aircraft, even between the left and right sides of the some aircraft. Left speed brake, viewed from behind. Note the colors. The speed brake interior side is red. The actuator strut is red. The speed brake well is whatever the underside color of the aircraft is. Left speed brake, viewed from behind. Right speed brake, viewed from behind. Note this one is sagging open more than the left one is -- not uncommon.


Left speed brake, viewed from behind.	Right engine intake underside. Note the bleed air points present on the rear of the splitter plate. These are present on the upper side of the splitter plate, too.	Left nose close-up showing the location of where the integrated boarding ladder is found. Also in the picture are the low-intensity formation light ("tape light") and front end of the AIM-7 Sparrow missile well.	Inside of the larger nose wheel well door. Note the retraction linkage attached to the center portion of the door. The linkage is mechanical. As the landing gear strut retracts into the "C" shaped actuator fitting, it pulls the wheel well door shut.


Nose wheel well, looking forward. Prominent in the picture are the retraction arm for the nose landing gear, the "C" fitting of the door actuator, and a slew of wires and pipes. The red item is the retraction lock to prevent the landing gear from retraction on the ground.	Nose landing gear, viewed from the left rear side.	Nose landing gear from behind.	Nose landing gear from the front. Note the dual lights, one in the door and one below the door. All of the F-4E/F/G versions use this light configuration.


Auxiliary air intake for the engine. These doors are on either side of the centerline fuel tank and open automatically when the landing gear is lowered.	Another view of the auxiliary air intake for the engine. Visible inside are plumbing and wiring for the engine. Inside the right side door (on Air Force Phantoms) is where the hookup is found for the APU starter cart.	Rear of the centerline fuel tank. Note the attachment of the rear fin to the lower fuselage. This is the newer F-15 style fuel tank. The older F-4 style tank did not have this rear attachment.	Left inboard weapons pylon, viewed from behind. Visible are the flare / chaff dispenser fairings on both sides of the pylon. Note that the actual flare / chaff dispensers were not installed on this aircraft when the picture was taken, only the fairings are present. Note also that the fairings have different shapes between the inboard and outboard. The outboard dispenser mounts at an angle downward. The inboard dispenser mounts facing straight aft.


Left inboard weapons pylon, viewed from the front, left. The pylon is carrying a MXU-648 luggage pod. Note that only one AIM-9 Sidewinder missile rail is mounted on the pylon. Note also the style of the rail attachment. This is very different from the style used on Navy Phantoms.	Left inboard weapons pylon, viewed from the front.	Left inboard weapons pylon, viewed from the front, right.