A Tragic Farewell...| Loungtastic
The F-4 has been retired from combat service in the United States since 1996 and a few of them survived in museums as well as making appearances in air shows. Over 300 F-4 Phantoms were converted into drones known as "QF-4s" to be used as target practice for modern fighters. The use of F-4 Phantoms as target practice caused a public outcry, but those within the QF-4 Program justified their use for providing a realistic air-to-air combat scenario for pilots.
A retirement ceremony for the F-4 was intended to be private but due to the massive interest they opened their doors to the public. Colonel Ron "Elvis" King has been the face of the QF-4 program was present to lead these fighters into the sky one last time for its devoted fans.
"Four Phantoms took to the skies and individually beat up the field before forming a four-ship "Phinale", followed by a fighter break for landing. They received a traditional fire hose salute from the locally based emergency vehicles sending a plume of water into the air as the retiring fighters taxied slowly by, their drag 'chutes still fluttering."
Many of the attendees came up afterward to bear their signatures on the F-4 Phantom, the jet that means so much to them. After 53 years the F-4 Phantom ends its service in the bittersweet ceremony flying through an overcast sky. The Phantom "Phinale" ceremony can be viewed in this clip.
Pretty Touching Story....
This is one of those exciting times you find out about something new and then realize it's not actually new. It just never came up, so now we're going to do that for you. Along with National Geographic, Harrison Ford (who is an aviator by the way) narrated on of the most heartfelt aviation documentaries we've ever seen. It might actually be the only one of its kind. The shots in this film were captured in 18 countries and across 7 continents. The premise is simple: people simply take flying for granted. We've been doing so for only 100 years or so as a species, yet, we've become so accustomed to it that we literally don't appreciated it anymore. We're (many of us) are actually annoyed by it to be honest, just because we need to wait an extra 30 minutes or pay 20 bucks more for luggage. When did we stop considering the fact that you can get from the East to the West coast in 7 hours or less by FLYING THROUGH THE AIR? This documentary tackles that exact question and does a great job at invigorating that wonder of flight some of us lost. Just take a look at the trailer below and you'll probably want to watch the whole thing. It's stunning.
.jpg "Chuck Yeager weighs in: F-22 / F-35!")
