During the Vietnam War, the biggest danger to us attack aircraft was not North Vietnam's MiGs, but their extensive surface to air missiles (SAMs). Destroying these sites was one of the most dangerous missions of the air campaign. Not only did the attacking planes have to get the site to lock onto them, but they had to get fairly close in order for the missiles to lock on to the radar sites so they could be destroyed.

This basically developed into a hunter-killer routine where one plane would get the SAM site to lock onto them and even fire a missile, while the other would lock on to the SAM's radar emissions so that an anti-radiation missile could be fired.

There were several USAF aircraft developed specifically for the SAM suppression role starting with F-100s, moving onto F-4Cs and finally the F-105G, with the latter bearing the brunt of the job during Vietnam. As a fairly large percentage of F-105s had been lost during the conflict, it was decided to use the F-4E as the basis for the post war role. In order to have some commonality fiscal year 1969 airframes were used for this purpose. One can spot the F-4G from among other versions of the F-4 by the large undernose antenna replacing the gun and an equally large fairing on the top of the fin. Once removed from service, the F-4G was widely used for drone conversion.

Based on their retooled F-4E kit, this one has all engraved panel lines. There are several additional sprues to take care of the new nose and the HARM and Shrike missiles along with their pylons. You also get the F-15 style centerline tank.

The cockpit is more than adequate for most and includes a pair of crew members along with the proper F-4G rear instrument panel. For those not using the crew, it would be a good idea to locate some resin ejection seats as the kit ones are fairly lacking in detail. I should also mention that one will have to paint the instrument panels and side consoles as this kit was developed in the days before Hasegawa include decals in their 1/48 kits.

Intakes are typically shallow, but most won't care about that. The wings are the Agile Eagle versions with the slats. Separate speed brakes are provided and the landing gear are well done. The clear pieces come in several sections so you can display the canopies open and you are provided a cockpit boarding ladder. During construction you will need to remove some features not required for this version, but those are easy to do. You are provided Sparrow missiles along with twin Sidewiders for each side, but most will not use these and stick with the Shrike and HARM missiles.

Instructions are standard Hasegawa fare with Gunze paint references. Two options are provided. One is the Hill Grey II plane on the box art. It is the 563 TFS boss bird. This unit was the first of the George Weasel squadrons to disband. The other is in Euro I with the 23rd TFS based at Spangdalhm. This one has a low viz shark mouth. The large decal sheet includes stencils, wing walk areas and markings for the missiles. If you want to do something else, there are aftermarket decals.

Spiros Pendedekas

April 2022

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