The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II was one of the principal combat aircraft of the United Kingdom (UK) from 1968 to 1992. The UK was the first export customer for the US-built F-4 Phantom, which was ordered amid political and economic difficulties that afflicted British designs for similar aircraft. The Phantom was procured to fill several roles with the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm and the Royal Air Force (RAF), including air defence, close air support, low-level attack and tactical reconnaissance.
Most Phantoms operated by the UK were built as a special batch containing British technology, an effort to support the British aerospace industry after major project cancellations. Two variants were initially built for the UK: the F-4K variant, designed from the outset as an air-defence interceptor to be operated by the Fleet Air Arm from the Royal Navy's aircraft carriers; and the F-4M version, operated by the RAF in tactical strike and reconnaissance roles. In the mid-1980s, a third Phantom variant was obtained when 15 second-hand F-4J aircraft were purchased to augment the UK's air defences after the Falklands War.
The Phantom entered service with the Fleet Air Arm and the RAF in 1969. In Fleet Air Arm service, it was primarily intended for fleet air defence, with secondary conventional and nuclear strike roles; in the RAF it was soon replaced in its initial tasks by other aircraft designed specifically for strike, close air support and reconnaissance, and was moved to the air-defence mission. By the mid-1970s, the Phantom had become the UK's principal interceptor; it continued in this role until 1992, when it was withdrawn as part of a series of post–Cold War defence cuts.
Background In the late 1950s, the United Kingdom began the process of replacing its early second-generation jet combat aircraft. During this period, aircraft of the RAF and Fleet Air Arm were largely sourced from the British aerospace industry. The 1957 Defence White Paper precipitated a major reorganization of that industry: the government compelled major aerospace manufacturers to amalgamate using new aircraft contracts as an incentive, having cancelled several ongoing projects. By the early 1960s, the major constituents were British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) (previously English Electric, Vickers-Armstrongs, Bristol Aircraft and Hunting) and Hawker Siddeley Aviation (previously Hawker, Avro, Gloster, Armstrong Whitworth, Folland, de Havilland and Blackburn).
The RAF wished to replace the English Electric Canberra light bomber in the long-range interdictor role, and the Hawker Hunter in the close air support role, while the Royal Navy (RN) sought an aircraft to assume the fleet air defence role from the de Havilland Sea Vixen. English Electric and Vickers had been working together on a high-performance strike aircraft, the TSR-2, which was intended for long-range, low-level strike missions with conventional and tactical nuclear weapons, as well as tactical reconnaissance. It was soon a victim of cost overruns.Burke 2010, p. 274. Hawker Siddeley was developing the P.1154, a proposed supersonic version of its P.1127 V/STOL demonstrator, that could be marketed to both the RAF and RN to fulfil several roles, including close air support, air superiority, and fleet air defence.Buttler 2003, pp. 118–119. Inter-service rivalry led to two very different specifications being submitted for the P.1154 that were impossible to fulfil with a single airframe.
Unsatisfied, in February 1964 the Royal Navy withdrew its interest in P.1154 and began a procurement processButtler 2003, p. 121 that selected the McDonnell F-4 Phantom II – then in service with the United States Navy (USN) – as its primary air defence aircraft, intended to be operated from both existing and planned aircraft carriers.Thetford 1994, pp. 254–255. This better suited the RN, as the Phantom had two engines (providing redundancy in the event of an engine failure), was cheaper than the P.1154, and was available immediately.McLelland 2017, p. 348.
In October 1964, a general election brought the Labour Party back into power. The new government undertook a defence review, which led to the cancellation of several projects, including both the P.1154 and the TSR-2 in early 1965. This was followed by the publication in February 1966 of a defence white paper, through which the government had to find alternatives to replace the Canberra and Hunter for the RAF. To replace the Canberra in the long-range role (which was intended for the TSR-2), the General Dynamics F-111 was selected, with the intention that the RAF buy a new variant with a sizable amount of British technology; the roles undertaken by the Hunter (for which P.1154 was intended) would be covered by a further purchase of F-4 Phantoms.Proctor 2014, p. 122
Partly as a means of maintaining employment in the British aerospace industry, agreement was reached that major portions of the UK's Phantoms would be built domestically.Davies 2016, p.25 Hawker Siddeley Aviation was thus appointed as McDonnell's primary UK partner in January 1965, to be responsible for repair, maintenance, design and modification work on Phantoms for the RAF and RN at Brough Aerodrome. Further work was delegated to BAC, at its Warton facility, and to Short Brothers in Belfast.
The F-4J variant, which was then the primary version in service with the USN, was the basis for the UK aircraft, subject to major redesign. The most significant change to the aircraft was the use of the larger and more powerful Rolls-Royce Spey turbofan in place of the General Electric J79 turbojet, to allow operations from the RN's smaller carriers.Richardson 1984, p. 26. To accommodate the larger engines, BAC redesigned and built the entire rear fuselage section. The Westinghouse AN/AWG-10 fire control system carried by the F-4J was to be built under licence by Ferranti.Chant 2013, p. 434 Approximately half of the structure and equipment of the UK's Phantoms was produced by British manufacturers; all the components were then shipped to St. Louis for assembly by McDonnell. Around 43% of the price of each airframe went to UK companies.Turner 1970, p. 76 The changes to the aircraft led to the two variants being given their own separate US series letters, the Fleet Air Arm version being designated as the F-4K and the RAF version as the F-4M.
The RN was happy with the Phantom as its Sea Vixen replacement, given that the type had been operational in the fleet air defence role with the USN since 1961. USN Phantoms had also successfully undertaken touch-and-go landings on and ,Thornborough and Davies 1994, p. 260,Hobbs 2014, p. 280 with Victorious able to successfully launch and recover USN Phantoms from the carrier during her 1966 Far East deployment. The RAF was less enthusiastic, as the Phantom was not optimised for the close air support role and had been selected as its Hunter replacement more as a way of decreasing the per-unit cost of the overall UK order.McLelland 2016, p. 368
Initially, there was an intention to purchase up to 400 aircraft for the RN and the RAF, but the development cost for the changes to accommodate the new engines and other equipment meant that the per-unit price eventually ended up more than twice the price of an F-4J. The estimate of the total cost of the project was £300 million in 1966. By the time the last aircraft had been delivered, the total cost was £500 million, £200 million of which was spent on the elements of the aircraft produced in the UK. Due to government policy, the budget for Phantom procurement was fixed. This meant these costs could not be evened out by a large production run, and only 170 aircraft were procured.
Operational history
Prototypes At first, the British Government ordered a total of four prototypes, designated as YF-4K and YF-4M, with two of each built. The first UK Phantom, a YF-4K, initially flew on 27 June 1966 at the McDonnell plant in St. Louis. This aircraft primarily tested the Spey turbofan engines and, as such, was not fitted with a full set of UK equipment. After this, the second YF-4K made its maiden flight on 31 August 1966. The following year, the two YF-4M prototypes also flew for the first time, with all four aircraft primarily used as part of McDonnell's testing programme.Turner 1970, p. 77 In addition to the four prototypes, a pair of pre-production F-4K aircraft were also produced, which were initially used for fit check trials of the various systems to be fitted. The first was used for catapult/arrestor and deck landing trials, and the second was primarily for testing the radar and missile systems. All six test aircraft remained with McDonnell until they were delivered to the UK in 1969 and 1970 for continued test work by the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE), Ministry of Defence Procurement Executive, Rolls-Royce, and BAC, later British Aerospace.
F-4K Phantom FG.1
Royal Navy
On 1 July 1964, the Phantom was ordered for the Fleet Air Arm, to serve as the RN's primary fleet air defence aircraft, with a secondary strike capability. It was intended that these aircraft would operate from four aircraft carriers: and – both of which would be rebuilt to enable the operation of the aircraftCaygill 2005, p. 44 – plus at least two planned ships of a proposed new carrier design, CVA-01.
+Comparison of UK fleet carriersBlackman 1967, pp. 283–287Gardiner 1983, p. 147CarrierDisplacementLengthBeamSize of air groupHMS Queen Elizabeth(proposed)Up to 5039413330 The requirements for the intended force of four aircraft carriers meant that five Fleet Air Arm squadrons of Phantoms would be needed. Following the change of government in October 1964, and the 1966 Defence White Paper, the new carriers were cancelled, and a gradual rundown of fixed-wing aviation in the RN was begun. This led to a reduction in the total order from 140 to 48, with options for another seven. The intention was to form a pair of front-line squadrons, each of twelve aircraft, to operate from the two remaining, heavily modernised fleet carriers. The remaining 24 aircraft would form a training unit, and provide a reserve pool in the event of aircraft losses.
The RN received its first F-4K Phantoms, which were given the British designation FG.1, in April 1968.Winchester 2010, p. 73. These were assigned to 700P Naval Air Squadron (700P NAS), which was to serve as the Intensive Flying Trials Unit (IFTU). After this, on completion of the successful flight trials, 767 Naval Air Squadron was commissioned in January 1969 as the Fleet Air Arm's operational conversion unit, followed at the end of March 1969 by 892 Naval Air Squadron, which was commissioned as the RN's first operational Phantom unit.Hobbs 1992, p. 38. During 892 NAS's initial work-up, three of its aircraft were entered into the Daily Mail Trans-Atlantic Air Race, a competition to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first trans-Atlantic flight. One aircraft, crewed by Lt Commander Brian Davies and Lt Commander Pete Goddard, set a record of four hours and 46 minutes for the west to east crossing between Floyd Bennett Field in New York City and Wisley Airfield outside London, a record that stood for five years.Davies 2016, p. 52
As the Fleet Air Arm was receiving its first aircraft, the A&AEE had three FG.1s delivered to its 'C' Squadron for flight deck trials aboard Eagle. Two sets of trials were successfully carried out; the first, in March 1969, comprised approaches and touch-and-go landings, with the second, held the following June, involving full catapult launch and arrested recovery. As a result of the reheat from the Spey turbofans, the ship's jet blast deflectors (JBD) were not used; instead a steel plate was fixed to the deck to absorb the heat of the engines building to launch, and fire hoses were used after each launch, to prevent them from melting.