Since 1991, 254 Phantoms have served as unpiloted flying targets for missile and gun tests conducted near Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida and Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. But the venerable McDonnell design has one last mission to perform for the military: to go down in flames. In 1996 the aircraft was retired from the U.S. Two decades later, it flew combat missions in Desert Storm. It downed more adversaries (280 claimed victories) than any other U.S. In four decades of active service to the United States, the aircraft set 16 world performance records. Eventually the Phantom ended up even in the U.S. After studying its potential for close air support, interdiction, and counter-air operations, the Air Force added the F-4 to its fleet in 1963.
The F-4 entered service in 1960, flying for the U.S. Mostly, you’ll find these F-4s either sitting in the desert or lying at the bottom of the sea. Its mission is weapons testing, but no pilot flies it.
It’s a warplane, but it no longer fights. But in the United States, it leads a twilight existence. It still flies in other countries in northern Iraq, for example, the Turks use it in combat with the Kurds. But the life it leads today is an odd one.
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