Saw an F-4 shot down today

[MikeD]

On White Sands Missile Range. QF-4 taken down by an AMRAAM from an F/A-22. Interesting to watch.

[aviategw]

Heartbreaking...Not cool. I love the Phantom. A good jet that could still kick the ass of most of the other fighters it would go up against.

BTW,

I grew up in El Paso.

Aviation tie in: Have you ever eaten at the airport location of Griggs mexican restaurant? Greeaaat Margaritas, but several of the shuttle crews have passed through and left pictures on the walls. There are also pics from when the shuttle landed at WSMR. Next time you have to go commercial out of KELP, it would be worth it to get there early enough to make the trip to Griggs.

[MikeD]

[ QUOTE ]
Heartbreaking...Not cool. I love the Phantom. A good jet that could still kick the ass of most of the other fighters it would go up against.

BTW,

I grew up in El Paso.

Aviation tie in: Have you ever eaten at the airport location of Griggs mexican restaurant? Greeaaat Margaritas, but several of the shuttle crews have passed through and left pictures on the walls. There are also pics from when the shuttle landed at WSMR. Next time you have to go commercial out of KELP, it would be worth it to get there early enough to make the trip to Griggs.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'll have to check it out since I get to ELP often...one of the airports on my "cool" list because of the myriad of aircraft they have there. Best places I've been to there are the Cattleman's steakhouse east of town on I-10, and the Cattle Baron right next to the GA side of ELP.

[aviategw]

Should you have an evening to kill, seek out Cattleman's on Alabama street. It's a steak house set up on the east side of the Franklin Mountains. There are a row of windows that look out over Biggs and ELP. At night, it's cool to watch the beacons and incoming/outgoing traffic.

Great steaks, with all the trimmings, plus the best grilled green chiles in the world.

Man, it's dinner time and I'm suddenly starved.

Memory:
It was ##### hot to watch the BUFFS coming and going from Biggs as a little kid.


G

[MikeD]

[ QUOTE ]
Should you have an evening to kill, seek out Cattleman's on Alabama street. It's a steak house set up on the east side of the Franklin Mountains. There are a row of windows that look out over Biggs and ELP. At night, it's cool to watch the beacons and incoming/outgoing traffic.

Great steaks, with all the trimmings, plus the best grilled green chiles in the world.

Man, it's dinner time and I'm suddenly starved.

Memory:
It was ##### hot to watch the BUFFS coming and going from Biggs as a little kid.


G

[/ QUOTE ]

Cool. Will have to check it out. Biggs is pretty quiet now, save for the helo traffic and occasional C-5. It's a convenient divert base for us, though. Also fun to make the HI-ILS 22 into ELP; you overshoot the arc to final, you're conveniently aligned with Biggs RW 21.

[aviategw]

Correction, the restaurant is called The Great American Land and Cattle Company.

http://www.grtamerican.com/


Pricey, but WELL worth it.

Sounds like you are at Holloman. Last time I was at Holloman, they crushed my skull in the 'fuge. I did the Funky Chicken!!!!

[flyover]

[ QUOTE ]
On White Sands Missile Range. QF-4 taken down by an AMRAAM from an F/A-22. Interesting to watch.

[/ QUOTE ]

Any idea how many of these airframes they have left? BTW at least they go down helping the cause, not cut up in a scrap yard.

[MikeD]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
On White Sands Missile Range. QF-4 taken down by an AMRAAM from an F/A-22. Interesting to watch.

[/ QUOTE ]

Any idea how many of these airframes they have left? BTW at least they go down helping the cause, not cut up in a scrap yard.

[/ QUOTE ]

There's about 25 or so of them at Holloman, and another 30 or so at Tyndall AFB, Fl. A contract has just gone out to pull another 24 out of the boneyard at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson for conversion to drone status. It is sad to see some of them, especially ones with faded air-air kill markings from Vietnam.

[Kristie]

so they shoot them down on purpose to test other weapons? if i understood it correctly?

pilotless or piloted?

[MikeD]

[ QUOTE ]
so they shoot them down on purpose to test other weapons? if i understood it correctly?

pilotless or piloted?

[/ QUOTE ]

They can be flown with either a pilot onboard or no pilot. The pilot is usually there when the flight systems are being tested and the plane is being flown from the ground for the first time. He sits there and waits to take over if anything happens. Still, the plane can be flown normally. Pilotless, the plane is usually flown from the ground radar van; and it's usually flown this way on missions where it's gonna get destroyed, normally during air-to-air or ground-to-air missile tests.

Look, no pilot!

http://www.af.mil/news/airman/0104/qf-4_xxl.jpg

[Kristie]

ohhh those planes! those are the old warbirds - why they getting rid of those?

[MikeD]

[ QUOTE ]
ohhh those planes! those are the old warbirds - why they getting rid of those?

[/ QUOTE ]

They're mostly out of service. USAF only has one squadron left of these planes flying front-line missions, and those guys are here at Holloman as a training unit. The F-4s are just old and outdated, though in their time (the 1960s through the 1980s), they were a top-notch fighter-bomber.

It's interesting seeing them just prior to taking off. They have an explosives crew rigging the onboard destruction mechanisms that are designed to be detonated in the event that contact is lost with one of the unmanned QF-4s while inflight. In that event, the drone can be remotely destroyed.

[Kristie]

they're at least keeping some for air museums right?

[MikeD]

Yup, there's a good few at air museums. Not enough though, IMO.

[CaliforniaSurfer]

There's an F-4 just off beautiful Highway 99 as you pass by Mefford Field (KTLR).

Ahhh, I miss the central valley.

Surf

[Timbuff10]

[ QUOTE ]
Yup, there's a good few at air museums. Not enough though, IMO.

[/ QUOTE ]

Here is the best one I've ever seen!!

Mike, are these things scheduled at all, any way the public could get a view of this kind of stuff?

[C650CPT]

[ QUOTE ]
Best places I've been to there are the Cattleman's steakhouse east of town on I-10

[/ QUOTE ]

Amen to that Brother!

Gonna be there next week ... probably one of my last "good" meals for a while. Also got the early heads up on Griggs, will check that one out also.

Jim

[pilot602]

Kristie there is/was one down here at FFZ over at CAF and on Nov. 7 at the FFZ/CAF fly-in they'll definaely have it on display! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]