Sunday, November 16, 2014

McDonnell F-4 Spin Chute Mystery

Spin F-4 Pat Rogers  worked on a F-4 spin aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base in the late 1960’s.

Let’s let Pat tell the story of this photo: “This photo is dated 21 March 1969. As you can see, the ground crew support was a combination AF Military, AF civilians and MAC personnel. Major Jerry Gentry was the pilot and Burt Rutan was the back seat FTE. On the final flight when the recovery chute was deployed, it departed the A/C, and the crew punched out. The aircraft continued in a flat spin into the desert just north/east of  Edwards AFB. It was a bad day for Flight Test ! “ 

Pat is the guy in the yellow shirt standing next to a fellow MAC employee wearing a white shirt and tie.

The aircraft appears to be an F-4E; but, we don’t know the serial number. Anyone have any more information or photos of this aircraft? Or any F-4 spin chute aircraft such as McDonne11 F4H-1F (F-4A-1-MC) number 7 (BuNo143392), the first spin aircraft.

I have detailed the F-4E spin aircraft here.

3 comments:

Bill Spidle said...

Looks like F-4E 66-0287 (2280) that was bailed to MDD at this time.

Aviation Archives said...

I believe that you are correct. I am investigating further. Thanks!

F Phour said...

Hello Ron
I Think I Might Have The Video of This Phantom Getting into a Flat Spin and Crashing in Desert ,It Was a F-4E Probably Block 31 ( Recognized it by It's Iconic Shorter Gun Muzzle ) and it had a Spin Chute as well , I Just Think The F-4 In That Video is This F-4 If you Like i can send them to you Via Email
By The Way
I'm Mostly Active In Instagram I Would Love to Know If You have IG Page So We can Follow ,You Are a very Respected Man to Me And I Always Feel Like Everything I Know About Phantoms Is Thanks To You and Your Valuable Info .

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