Airforces Monthly - February 2017

PHINAL PH A
USAF QF-4 RETIREMENT
Old meets the new - one of the US
Air Force’s last QF-4Es flies alongside
a new QF-16 on December 20.
Jim Haseltine
WHILE THE
USAF retired
the F-4 from combat
service in 1996, it selected the type to
replace the Convair QF-106 Delta Dart in the
Full-Scale Aerial Target (FSAT) role in 1997.
The FSAT mission saw the Phantom – as the
QF-4 – used as an unmanned target drone by
the 82nd Aerial Target Squadron (ATRS), part
of the 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group (WEG).
Based at Tyndall AFB, Florida, the
82nd maintains a detachment, known
as Det 1 82nd ATRS, at Holloman to
support US and allied missile testing
over the White Sands Missile Range.
Since 1997, Det 1 has flown 145 unmanned
sorties – with 70 QF-4s being destroyed –
along with hundreds of manned missions
supporting test projects. The final QF-4
mission, a manned flight on December 16
in support of a Japan Ground Self-Defense
Force HAWK surface-to-air missile test, took
place over
Fort Bliss, Texas.
The retirement
ceremony saw four of Det
1’s QF-4Es launched for a ‘phinal
phlight’ over Holloman, which included
a supersonic run over the base followed
by formation and single-ship passes. On
landing, each aircraft passed through a
celebratory water-arch created by two fire
trucks before parking and shutdown.
Speaking at the event, 53rd WEG
commander Col Lance ‘Blade’ Wilkins said
of the Phantom: “It’s terrible, because it’s so
rugged and resilient. It’s a very hard airplane
to kill. It’s phenomenal because it’s rugged
and
resilient,
and can take a
little bit of everything.”
Col Wilkins also described the
ways in which the QF-4’s ‘pick-up truck’
ability to carry any missile, sensor or exotic
electronics pod directly led to improvements
in the lethality and survivability of American
fourth- and fifth-generation fighters.
94 FEBRUARY 2017 #347
www.airforcesmonthly.com