A special aircraft
Built as a high-altitude interceptor, the F-4 (F4H) Phantom II quickly demonstrated that it was a special aircraft, establishing over a dozen world speed, altitude, and time-to-climb records. What made it stand out was its lack of an internal cannon, instead depending on radar-guided missiles for attack and requiring a Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) to manage its sophisticated sensors and weapons systems.
The maiden flight of the F-4 took place on May 27, 1958, and entered service in 1961.
The twelfth aircraft off the line (BuNo 145311) was officially devoted to Aircraft and Engine Performance. In practice, this meant the World Speed Record program.
Project Top Flight
Spurred by the results of the second stage of NPE (Navy Preliminary Evaluation) in July 1959, the Navy naturally wanted to put the F4H-1’s spectacular performance in the record books.
The first attempt at a world altitude record, Project Top Flight, ended in tragedy when the prototype, on its 295th flight, lost an engine access door during a high-altitude zoom climb above Mach 2, with the resulting fire destroying the aircraft and claiming the life of company test pilot Gerald Huelsbeck, who was trapped in the cockpit by overwhelming G-forces.
What Peter E. Davies describes in his book ‘Gray Ghosts, U.S. Navy, and Marine Corps F-4 Phantoms‘ is how the second prototype (BuNo 142260) was equipped with water injection and flown by CDR Lawrence E. Flint in twelve ballistic zoom climbs from 50,000ft at maximum power between October and December 1959. The aircraft underwent extensive modifications, having its radar and non-essential equipment removed, including the rear seat, while engine rpm, fuel flow rates, and afterburner nozzle settings were tweaked to maximize thrust. CDR Flint reached speeds up to Mach 2.41 just before reaching Edwards AFB airspace and pulling up for the 3.5g, fifty-degree zoom climb to be measured.
What was necessary to prevent overheating was cutting the fuel flow near each vertical climb’s peak, as the afterburners would “blow out” from lack of oxygen above 65,000 ft.
In the pure, unpolluted atmosphere, darkness was so intense that when Flint’s shadow fell on the instrument panel, he could not see the dials at all.
F-4 New Absolute Altitude record
At the top of the zoom, the engines were shut off, speed dropped back to around 45 mph, and the aircraft entered a dive to 45,000 ft for an engine re-light and pull-out to controlled flight.
When the aircraft landed, much of its orange paint had been stripped off by the heat generated on Flint’s low-altitude run-in. The outer windscreen panels were also distorted by the heat.
On one flight, CDR Flint was unable to shut off the right engine as he neared the apex of his climb until it had exceeded 120 percent rpm and the TOT had gone off the scale. Luckily it held together, and on post-flight inspection, it was found that up to half an inch had melted off the outer end of each turbine blade.
The highest altitude reached during the Project was 98,557 ft on Dec. 6, 1959, though this new record was broken by a USAF F-104C before the end of the year.
What these remarkable flights demonstrated to potential adversaries was clear proof of the new aircraft’s capabilities as a high-altitude interceptor.
Larry Flint, who had commanded VF-11 Red Rippers in the Korean War, had been a test pilot since 1944, and he went on to become Chief Test Conductor for the Apollo space program and manager of the F-14 Tomcat Aircrew Training Program for the USN and Iranian Air Force.
Gray Ghosts, U.S. Navy and Marine Corps F-4 Phantoms is published by Schiffer Publishing and is available to order here.
Photo by U.S. Navy
