Sheet:

Superscale 72-111: F-4B/J Phantom II

Units: VF-51/96/114

Price

$3.50 when new.

Reviewer:

David Traill

There has been quite a bit written on the F-4 Phantom, so I will refer to any one of those histories and get straight to the subjects of this sheet.  One note to remember is that there are no national markings supplied with the sheet, so some will have to come from your spares box.  CAG birds have often been much more colorful than the other planes in their squadrons, and these examples happily continue that trend.

The first Phantom shown is an F-4J of VF-114 assigned to the USS Kitty Hawk.  The unit shot down five MiGs during Vietnam, including three in the F-4Bs that preceded their more advanced F-4Js such as this one.  VF-114 took two cruises with the F-4J to Vietnam, followed by two further cruises before converting to the F-14A in 1975.  The unit disestablished in 1993. 

Our second example is one of the most colorful Phantoms that ever flew for the Navy.  F-4B NL-100 was the Commander of Carrier Air Wing (CAW) 15's bird on the USS Coral Sea for VF-51.  The Screaming Eagles ended their association with the Phantom in 1978, and disestablished in 1995 flying F-14As.

The final example on this sheet covers the CAG for the USS America's "Fighting Falcons," VF-96, NG-100.  VF-96 garnered a great deal more fame in later cruises aboard the USS Constellation when CAG bird "Showtime 100" was flown into history by the Navy's only aces of Vietnam, Lt. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, and his RIO, Lt. j.g. Willie Driscoll.  VF-96 only took one cruise aboard the America, from April to December 1970.  Modelers looking to model Showtime 100 will need additional decals to be an accurate representation of its more famous markings.

http://navysite.de/cvn/cv63deploy.htm

http://www.topedge.com/alley/squadron/pac/vf114his.htm

http://navysite.de/cvn/cv66deploy.htm

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