Phantom: A Legend in its Own Time

No one could describe the Phantom as an attractive aeroplane, with its sharply dihedralled outer wings, crate-like engine intakes, drooping nose and a tailplane that seems to have been put on upside down. Yet this extraordinary American Navy fighter not only established an unprecedented clutch of world records but eclipsed almost every fighter in service with the US Air Force.
So it was that when the Air Force needed an interim aircraft pending delivery of the controversial F-111 swing-wing fighter-bomber, the Phantom was selected—and so successful did it prove that it remained in first-line service for 17 years. More important, it played a major part in America's involvement in Vietnam between 1965 and 1973 and, although it was not ideal for the role cast—no aircraft was—it proved to be the finest fighter in the world at the time, a fact supported by its selection for service with so many Western air forces, including the Royal Air Force.
There is nothing phantom-like in the sight of an F-4 (whose weight is almost as great as a fully loaded Lancaster or B-17 bomber) blasting away from a runway with 16 tons of thrust from its twin afterburning General Electric engines.


by Francis K. Mason
Published by PSL 1984 1st edition. 184pp profusely illustrated, index, appendices, bibliography. 18x24 fine, including d/j.






Note:
"Long" descriptions, where shown, may have been taken from the book's dust jacket notes, and as such are relevant to the date of publication (e.g. any references to "previously unpublished photographs" etc.) and not the present.

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