Phantom Phanatic

Military Aviation/Space/Trek USAF Veteran SAC Yankee Air Pirate 🏴‍☠️

[usafpantom12]

Tap arrow or copy and paste link to watch

🤞☝️🇺🇸

[usafphantom2]

A Blue Angel jet looks good everywhere, but particularly striking against a mountain background in the western United States.

Grand Junction Airshow, 2023.

@VikingSeaDub via X

[usafphantom2]

A B-24 Liberator heavy bomber (Ford B-24H-25-FO Liberator, serial number 42-95086) of the 735th Squadron, 453rd Bombardment Group, U.S. Air Force, in flight over the airfield of the French city of Châteaudun. June 22, 1944

@Destroye83 via X

[usafphantom2]

American B-25 Mitchell bombers from the 1st Air Commando Group bomb Japanese warehouses at Wuntho in Burma. March 18, 1944

@Destroye83 via X

[usafphantom2]

F-18E Hornet Entering the Groove

@refueled via X

[usafphantom2]

Resurrected from an old 35mm slide taken with a Minolta 101. China Lake Airshow. A4

credit Glenn Roquemore.

@CcibChris via X

[usafphantom2]

These are pictures of the very first SR-71, the 950. The plane that Robert Gilliland flew on the first flight, December 22, 1964

January 1967, it was burnt up during a test flight of the anti-skid braking system at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California. The main tires blew out, leading to a massive fire that destroyed the airframe. Test pilot Art Peterson was at the controls and safely evacuated.

Because this was an experimental test flight, the RSO seat was empty. The white circle around the nose was used to keep track of it during early flights.

Linda Sheffield

@Habubrats71 via X

[usafpantom12]

Shot down over Laos. Captured. Tortured. He escaped a jungle prison camp and survived alone for weeks. This is the incredible true story of Navy pilot Dieter Dengler: February 1, 1966. Lieutenant Junior Grade Dieter Dengler was flying an A-1 Skyraider on a secret mission over Laos when anti-aircraft fire tore his wing off. His plane crashed into the dense jungle. Within hours he was captured by Pathet Lao guerrillas. They beat him, starved him, and marched him through the wilderness. Dengler never stopped looking for a way out. 1/3

2/3

On June 29, 1966, after months in captivity, Dengler and several fellow prisoners made their move. They overpowered the guards in a violent breakout, killing several of their captors before disappearing into the jungle. What followed was 23 days of pure hell. Barefoot, starving, and alone after his last companion was killed by hostile villagers, Dengler survived on insects, snakes, and rainwater while being hunted by enemy patrols. He refused to surrender.

3/3

On July 20, 1966, an Air Force A-1 Skyraider pilot named Lieutenant Colonel Eugene Deatrick spotted a tiny figure waving desperately from the riverbank. Even though no Americans were reported missing in the area, something told him to investigate. A rescue helicopter was called in. Dengler, now weighing just 98 pounds, was finally pulled to safety. He became one of the very few Americans to successfully escape captivity in Southeast Asia during the war. His courage and unbreakable will earned him the Navy Cross. Decades later his story was told in his own book Escape from Laos and dramatized in the film Rescue Dawn. One man. Against impossible odds. He never gave up. America came for him in the end. Stories like Dengler’s remind us why we never leave anyone behind.🫡 #DieterDengler #VietnamWar #EscapeAndEvasion #NeverLeaveOneBehind #USNavy

@F15sRdaBest via X

[usafphantom2]

YF-23 with an F-16B Chase Plane at Edwards AFB.

@_yf23_ via X

[usafphantom2]

A B-24 Liberator bomber (Ford B-24J-1-FO Liberator, serial number 42-50625) of the 565th Squadron, 389th Bombardment Group, U.S. Air Force, flies over the burning French town of St. Malo. 1944

@Destroye83 via X

[usafphantom2]

Armourers loading “Iron” bombs on our F4K’s aboard Ark Royal. 540lbs was our standard. We could carry 13. But not far.

@CcibChris via X

[usafphantom2]

China's own derivative the J-16 'Hidden Dragon' of the Su-30 family of Flanker heavy fighters. #FlankerFriday

@Ryukuanripper via X

[usafphantom2]

Continuing this trend with the Flankers. This time from China. Reposting because of a damn typo. The J-11BG, it is a 4.5 generation twin-engine fighter of the People's Liberation Army Air Force and Navy. Copied from the Su-27SK. #SukhoiSaturday

@Ryukuanripper via X

[usafphantom2]

Great aircraft. This one’s a IIIRD I think

@justaBrit2 via X

[usafpantom12]

How many F-4 phantoms were shot down in Vietnam?

During the Vietnam War, approximately 200 F-4 Phantom II fighters were shot down. The F-4 Phantom was a key aircraft used by the U.S. Air Force and Navy during the conflict, and it faced significant challenges in combat...

...including ground fire and enemy aircraft. Casualties included both pilots and crew members, with many surviving incidents of being shot down and subsequently rescued or captured.

Photo: F-4s Phantom during Operation Linebaker. Vietnam War, 23 October 1972

A lot more than 200.

@e_libertas via X

usafphantom2: If the Americans had the RollsRoyce engine there would have been no smoke trails pointing to them…..

And the Ridiculous Rules of Engagement required visual id of a target before firing negating the Phantoms primary weapon the Aim-7 which wasn’t designed for twisting turning combat and mostly ineffective

[usafphantom2]

Mirage IIIR

credit Aviation Francaise

@CcibChris via X

[usafphantom2]

A USN F-14A Tomcat approaches the USS John F. Kennedy (p. wiggins)

@kadonkey via X