January 9, 2012
The Battle of Key West
The U.S. Marines Corps recieved its first McDonnell F-4 Phantoms in 1962. In addition to the pilot, the F-4 had a Radar Intercept Officer (RIO), which of course led to a lot of front seat/back seat banter. According to Jon Lake and David Donald, authors of McDonnell F-4 Phantom: Spirit in the Skies, the droopy-tailed fighter saw action near Key West in the early 1960s:
The Marines were just too late to see action in the [October 1962] Cuban [missile] crisis, but the “Gray Ghosts” [VMF-531] did make it to Key West, where they flew scrambles against Mexican airliners, lost lightplanes and even the odd Cuban MiG-17. After Cuban MiGs strafed a fishing boat 50 miles southwest of Key West, Marine Phantoms were scrambled to investigate. Their crews soon discovered that the MiG-17 enjoyed a very short turn radius. As one of the MiGs closed onto the tail of his aircraft, one laconic RIO [radar intercept officer] was heard to remark, “You’d better do some of that pilot sh-t, ’cause we’re losing!”
Check out our February/March 2012 issue for more on the F-4—and nine other aircraft—in “100 Years of Marine Aviation: A Salute to 10 Aircraft That Carried the Few and the Proud Into History.”
A USMC McDonnell F-4 Phantom II on base, probably in Vietnam. Squadron VMFA-232. Photograph by Richard Rash, courtesy NASM.
I’ll never forget growing up on bases hosting F-4s during the late 1960s thru the early 1980s. My dad was 25 year Air Force and I always had a chance to see, hear, and smell those most awesome fighter bombers. In fact, the service doesn’t seem the same without those smoke-belching dragons anymore. I miss them.
Comment by Stan Sikorski — July 14, 2012 @ 7:41 pm