[85vette]

An awesome fighter! I hated to hear about them being retired. I was stationed at Kadena AFB, Okinawa, and they were plentiful in the 70's. A buddy of mine credits the F4 with saving his (and his crew's) life. He was on a P-3 Orion (submarine hunter) off the coast of Vietnam and radar alerted them that a SAM had been launched on them. An alert, nearby F4 pilot picked up on it and went WOT between the P-3 and where the missile was coming from, drawing the missile (heatseeking) to his F4. Joe said the F4 just outran the SAM! Needless to say, Joe bought that pilot a case of whatever his favorite beverage was when they got back to the base.

I know they used quite a few as remote controlled drones, blowing them out of the air during missile test, the F4 being the recipient....seems an ungracious way of saying "thank you" for all their stellar years of service....but, this is the gov. we're talking about.

I went to St. Petersburg airport, (Florida) back in 1993 with a friend, airplane shopping. While we were there, we went to an avionics repair facility to check records on a plane he was looking at. Inside the hanger bay was a MIG 21 (I believe), fully restored, looking like new! I'm sure it cost a mint to do that! Made me wonder what else the MIG owner might have had in his collection?!