F-4D - USAF - 1972

The F-4D serial 66-7463/OY is the highest scoring US combat aircraft since the Korean War, totalling 6 air kills from 5 different crews. Ace pilot Steve Ritchie together with Chuck DeBellevue (WSO) downed 2 MiG-21s on the 10th May and 28th August 1972 respectively. The further 4 air victories were: one MiG-21 on the 1st March 1972 with j. Kittinger and L. Hogdon, one MiG-21 on 16th April 1972 with F. Olmsted and S. Maas, one MiG-19 on the 8th May 1972 with B. Crews and K. Jones and one MiG-21 on the 15th October 1972 with I. McCoy and F. Brown. The 66-7463/OY was one of the very few F-4Ds to have the secret APX-80 "Combat Tree" system. These machines with the "Combat Tree" were in high demand and saw extensive action during the 1972-1973 period of the Vietnam War, therefore with signifficantly higher chances to encounter and engage enemy aircraft.

Steve Ritchie with his WSO, Chuck DeBellevue. Note the kill marks having a different pattern in almost every other photograph, since the area was repainted several times.
Only 4 kill marks are seen here on the F-4D OY/66-7463, while a fifth might be either missing or hidden by the head of a gound crew member. The fourth kill mark from this aircraft was actually the very first one of Steve Ritchie, while the fifth kill mark applied on this F-4 was also for Steve Ritchie the fifth and his last. The rest of his three other air victories were achieved on different F-4s, while the first three of the red stars marked on this aircraft were achieved by different crews. Pure coincidence, that Ritchie's fifth air victory coincided with the fifth one of this apeticular aircraft.

This project actually started at the end of November 2022.

The exhaust is here painted in the exact same manner as all of my other F-4 Phantoms. I detailed the steps in thr album for my F-4B.
The thin masking stripes are the Aizu 0.4mm.

The overall work including masking was about less than 3 hours (not counting the drying and curing times of paint and varnish).
I actually really enjoy working on these F-4 Phantom exhausts.

Otherwise, the exhaust tubes from the kit are more than sufficient, I see no need of any resin aftermarket set.

The more shading, the better.
I used thin layers of Alclad Steel for the shading of the plates around the horizontal stabilizer.

Hot Metal Blue and Hot Metal Violet from Alclad also for the horizontal stabilizer added on top of the Aluminium (Xtreme Metal) base layer. The darker areas are thin layers of Steel from Alclad.

I think the exhaust tubes might need some small bright spots of "pale gold" to reproduce some of the really bright shades.

And finally finished!

Thank you all for watching and reading the article!

The fifth air kill was achieved by S. Ritchie and C. Bellevue on the 28th August 1972, with Ritchie becoming an ace. The fifth star was painted immediately after the event in the pattern visible here, but the five stars were repainted in a different pattern at least once more until mid-October 1972. A bright green contour was later added to the canopy frame, vertical tail tip and nose landing gear door.
A sixth air victory for this machine was achieved later on the 15 October 1972 by a different air crew (I. McCoy and F. Brown), making this jet the highest scoring US combat aircraft since the Korean War.

Here, a total of four AIM-9J Sidewinders are installed, as ocasionally used in the mid-1972.

F-4Ds equipped with the "Combat Tree" system have had a large red warning sign on the air intakes beneath the cockpit, which was also the case of the 66-7463 at some point.
After Steve Ritchie reached his fifth air victory, the ground crew chief Reginald Taylor removed the red label for the "Combat Tree" and added instead the names of the air crew and his own name with large white letters beneath the cockpit. The 66-7463 was on purpose exemplarily well maintained in order to increase Ritchie's chances of becoming an ace. Once this was achieved, the 66-7463 became a well photographed symbol, a moral boost and a propaganda machine, therefore the big white letters ensured a good visibility for S.Ritchie, C. DeBellevue and for the hard work of the ground crew (R. Taylor).

For the cockpit, beside the Eduard PE-set, only some small cables were added for the area ahead of the WSO's insturment panel.

The Finemolds decals are terribly thick and with very bad adhesion, one of the worst I have ever worked with. From the Finemolds decal set, I only used the five red stars and the white names beneath the cockpit. It took here several tries to catch the right lightning, in order not to make the large decal thickness obvious. The matt varnish also helped a lot.

Most of the decals I used originated from the Print Scale set, which has its own issues, such as incorrently researched labels and insuficient in number or incomplete. Also, all the red text stencils from the Print Scale decal sheet were somehow printed misaligned and where unusuable. But at least there are no problems with film thickness or massive silvering with the Print Scale set, which for me are two big K.O. criteria for a model.

Good decals will make your model shine. Mediocre ones will kill it. I'm really glad this one was not a failure.

The arrangement of the canopy mirrors for the F-4Ds and F-4Es is a matter of research of the individual machines, since this arrangment did vary. The 66-7463 had indeed two outside mirrors at the rear canopy. These are unfortunately not included in the kit, but Finemolds is kind enough to offer them in a separate set for extra $$$.

This very matt varnish attracts dust particles like a magnet.

A few very small stencils are still missing from the spine, but I can live with that for now.

And the work on the exhaust mostly paid off, I personally like it, but it could have been even more detailed and weathered. I guess when a project takes too long, fatigue and loss of mojo sets in.

I prefered no exaggerated wheatering in this area this time.

The resin wheels are miles better than what the kit is offering, in my opinion. Otherwise, thr landing gear is very well detailed from the kit itself.

The "Tripple Nickel" group is known to have carried their ECM pods under the wing pylons, instead of the forward AIM-7 Sparrow wells.
One AN/ALQ-87 and one AN/ALQ-101 were not an uncommon sight for the typical MiG CAPs of 1972.

The tip of the vertical tail was painted in a brighter green at a later point after August 1972, together with the horizontal canopy frames and nose landing gear door.

The free-hand airbrush painting doesn't give here a hard-line of the camouflage, but I am not sure how visible was this hard contour in reality.

Here, the AN/ALQ-87 pod is carried under the wing pylons together with AIM-9J missiles.

I combined at least four sets of decals for this kit, since some were either incomplete, or badly printed/aligned, or technically wrong or just silvering very badly (the Finemolds ones) even after many treatments with the common decal solutions.

And overview. The very matte varnish von AK (Ultra Matt Varnish, AKI-183) unfortunately slightly altered the green shades.

And together with a MiG-21PFM from the same period of time, known to have been flown by VPAF ace Nguyen Tien Sam. On the 12 October 1972, Ngyuen Tien Sam was shot down (and survived) by one F-4 flown by J. Madden and L. Pettit (as WSO). L Pettit has previosuly flown as WSO with Steve Ritchie, where they as crew shot down a MiG-21 on the 31st May 1972, while flying in another F-4D (65-0801/OC). This was Ritchie's second victory.

(Link to article for Nguyen Tien Sam: MiG-21PFM - Vietnam - 1972 | Album by Redicus (1:72))

And together with a MiG-21PFM from the same period of time, known to have been flown by VPAF ace Nguyen Tien Sam. On the 12 October 1972, Ngyuen Tien Sam was shot down (and survived) by one F-4 flown by J. Madden and L. Pettit (as WSO). L Pettit has previosuly flown as WSO with Steve Ritchie, where they as crew shot down a MiG-21 on the 31st May 1972, while flying in the F-4D 65-0801/OC . This was Ritchie's second victory.

(Link to article for Nguyen Tien Sam: MiG-21PFM - Vietnam - 1972 | Album by Redicus (1:72))

And together with a MiG-21PFM from the same period of time, known to have been flown by VPAF ace Nguyen Tien Sam. On the 12 October 1972, Ngyuen Tien Sam was shot down (and survived) by one F-4 flown by J. Madden and L. Pettit (as WSO). L Pettit has previosuly flown as WSO with Steve Ritchie, where they as crew shot down a MiG-21 on the 31st May 1972, while flying in the F-4D 65-0801/OC . This was Ritchie's second victory.

(Link to article for Nguyen Tien Sam: MiG-21PFM - Vietnam - 1972 | Album by Redicus (1:72))

Here together with the MiG-19S (actually the Chinese copy, the Shenyang J-6) number "6011", as flown by Pham Hung Son. On the 10th of May 1972, both Pham Hung Son and Steve Ritchie achieved one air victory each in these two machines. This nevertheless occured in different encounters and different locations.

(Link to article for Pham Hung Son: MiG-19S (Shenyang J-6) - Vietnam - 1972 | Album by Redicus (1:72))

S. Ritchie and C. Bellevue seen here on the 29th August 1972 in a photosesion for the press, the day after the USAF had finally gotten their first ace of the Vietnam War.

S. Ritchie with the newly repainted pattern of 5 Stars.

The F-4D 66-7463 with the repainted 5 stars as seen before 15 October 1972.

The F-4D 66-7463 with a 6th stars added after 15 October 1972.

-Antoine-
Very nice Phantom, and I'd like to say, as usual!
Just great!
Very good article as well. Obviously you don't need any feedback from me any more on that aspect.
I'll just add that Combat Tree took some time to be accepted by the crews, pilots mostly, who didn't understand very well the whole affair... The big advantage they had was the opportunity to engage a target in real BVR without the need to go for a visual ID before. And for exemple, this opportunity was lost for 7463 on 16th april 72, when Fred Olmsted decided to go for a visual ID as Stu Maas was telling him to shoot at a Tree contact. They did get their kill in the end, but they've been really very lucky, as they gave the MiGs pilots a clear opportunity to shoot them down. I tell the whole story in a big article scheduled to be publish in the next issue of Aerojournal, early in december.

17 November 2023, 07:36

Alberto
It looks fantastic, great job!!

17 November 2023, 08:07

Clement
Great work! Man, there's a lot of stencils on that airframe!

17 November 2023, 09:38

Jan Peters
Excellent job allround 👍🏻👍🏻

17 November 2023, 09:45

Oleg Bogolei
great job!

17 November 2023, 16:43

Marius
Thank you Neuling, Antoine, Alberto, Clement, Jan and Oleg for your comments and thank you all for taking the time to have a look in the album.
I have uploaded a few more pictures aside aircraft of "the other side".

@Antoine: thank you for your addition. Indeed, this happened more often with several crews, not just in this particular case you mentioned. While the 66-7463 was lucky in this case, I remember reading about at least one other such situation where the crew was not that lucky in the end, but I need to recheck literature.

@Clement: I actually left out a couple of small ones from the spine 🙂. I have since then managed to sleep well enough.

18 November 2023, 09:38

Oleg Smilyk
A stunning Phantom, Marius,superbly crafted and painted, this makes for an outstanding collection of Vietnam War era pieces.

18 November 2023, 17:23

Cuajete
I agree with Oleg. Fantastic result.
Congrats!

6 January, 20:37

Marius
Thank you Oleg and Cuajete! Yes, a Vietnam-era collection is slowly building up, with an F-4E following as well.

7 January, 09:14

Album info

Capt. Steve Ritchie is the only USAF pilot ace of the Vietnam War, downing five VPAF MiG-21s during Operation Linebacker in 1972.

The F-4Ds were introduced towards the end of operation Rolling Thunder and enjoyed great success throughout the renewed fighting in 1971-73. The F-4Ds had better bombing capabilities and a lead-computing sight, both missing in the F-4C. The F-4Ds even managed to get 27 air kills against VPAF MiGs, compared to the 23 achieved by the newer and more radically redesigned F-4E. The experience of Rolling Thunder had shown that missiles were in many circumstances an uncertain means of scoring an air kill. Visual identification (VID) of a target was usually needed before engagement, partly due to unreliable Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) equipment that exposed USAF aircraft to the risk of "blue to blue". This denied the longer range radar guided AIM-7 Sparrow the advantage of beyond visual range (BVR) engagement. Often, the AIM-7 was launched from too close range for the guidance and fusing system to properly work. During the entire Vietnam War, 612 AIM-7s were launched by F-4 Phantoms with a total of only 56 confirmed air kills, therefore with a 9% success rate. On the other hand, the AIM-9 was similarily launched 454 times resulting in 81 confirmed air kills, with therefore double the success rate (18%). Nevertheless, this does not reflect a better technological statis of the IR missiles, but rather an issue in how air-tp-air missiles were employed.

Numerous F-4 Phantom pilots consistently complained about missed air kill opportunities due to the lack of guns in engagements against VPAF aircraft. Although external gun pods such as the SUU-16/A and SUU-23/A were available since 1967 and did contribute to 10 air kills (out of a total of 60 air victories of USAF F-4s during the 1965-68 period), they added signifficant drag with large speed penalties and much higher fuel consumption. With the introduction of the F-4E in October 1967, the built-in M61A-1 cannon with an advanced aiming system became available. Nevertheless, the integrated cannon was most certaintly not decisive, contributing to only 6 downed VPAF aircraft from a total of 49 VPAF machines downed by USAF F-4s in the 1972-73 period.

During his first combat tour of the Vietnam War in 1968, future ace pilot Steve Richie was assigned to the 480th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 366th Tactical Fighter Wing at Da Nang Air Base (South Vietnam), where he completed close to 200 combat missions. The first phase of air combat of the Vietnam War (1965-1968) revealed a surprsingly low performance of US F-4 air crews against the overwhelmed VPAF. Among the numerous shortcomings (detailed in a previous article: F-4B - US Navy - 1972 | Album by Redicus (1:72)) was the lack of training for air combat. This issues had been addressed by the creation of the Fighter Weapons School ("Top Gun") at Nellis AFB, NV. Steve Ritchie completed the freshly founded Fighter Weapons School in 1969 and became one of the youngest instructors in the history of the school.

Steve Ritchie volunteered for a second combat tour in January 1972 and was assigned to the 432nd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing at Udorn, Thailand, as part of the famous 555th ("Triple Nickel") Tactical Fighter Squadron. An advantage that the Triple Nickel pilots had over other US aircrews was that eight of their F-4D Phantoms had the top secret APX-80 electronic set installed, known by its code-name "Combat Tree".

The "Combat Tree" programme started in 1968 and was initiated by the covert aquisition of Soviet SRO-2 IFF transponders from Arab MiGs shot down by Israel during the Six Day War of 1967 (sich as MiG-17F - Syria - 1967 | Album by Redicus (1:72) or MiG-17PF - Egypt - 1967 | Album by Redicus (1:72) ). Instead of activating the radar scanner in the nose of the Phantom, the weapon systems officer (WSO) in the rear cockpit would use "Combat Tree" to look around the sky for the IFF transponders integrated in the enemy MiGs of the VPAF. These IFF transponders were designed to prevent friendly-fire incidents, relaying a code to the radars built into SAM and GCI search radar computers. Combat Tree would "challenge" or "interrogate" each transponder it came across, "asking" in return whether or not the encountered aircraft was allied or otherwise. As soon as Combat Tree evaluated the automatic response from the VPAF transponders (completely unbeknownst to the VPAF pilots), it would accurately display its range and azimuth (but not altitude) on a screen in the rear cockpit of the F-4. Otherwise, using the Phantom's regular radar would have likely tipped off enemy fighters that they were being "painted" or tracked by other aircraft in the sky, thus losing the element of surprise that the Phantom crews would have previously had. IFF detections, identifications and geolocations could be made at a range of over 95km, signifficantly beyond the 30km detection range of the F-4D radar.

Not only did this make MiG interceptions by Phantoms "stealthier", it also allowed F-4 pilots to engage VPAF aircraft at greater distances, beyond visual range (BVR). The new BVR engagements in combination with the "Combat Tree" and the radar-guided AIM-7 Sparrow missiles have lead to a sharp increase in the attrition rates of VPAF aircraft. The new tactic allowed for a better use of the AIM-7 within the launch and tracking envelope, this time against a mostly non-maneouvering target, therefore no longer in the heat and chaos of a dog-fight. Previously, BVR missile launches were barely possible due to strict rules of engagement of the USAF and USN over Vietnam, requiring visual identification first. Only very few F-4Ds received the "Combat tree" upgrade, while all F-4Es subsequently had this upgrade installed. The F-4D serial 66-7463/OY is one of the few F-4Ds to receive the "Combat Tree" and it would later become the highest scoring US combat aircraft since the Korean War.

On the 8th of May 1972, President Nixon announced the restart of operations over North Vietnam, with operation "Linebacker I" commencing 24 hours later. Nevertheless, MiG engagements recommenced the very day Nixon delivered his statement, with one MiG-19 shot down by B. Crews and K. Jones while flying the F-4D 66-7463/OY. This was the third air kill scored with this aircraft after two previous MiG-21s scored by j. Kittinger and L. Hogdon on the 1st of March 1972 and by F. Olmsted and S. Maas on the 16th of April 1972.

On the 10th of May 1972, a large attacking force of 120 USAF aircraft was launched, including 68 F-4 Phantoms with different roles. Both Steve Ritchie and Robert Lodge were flying F-4Ds equipped with the "Combat Tree" that day, with Ritchie and Bellevue being in the 66-7463/OY. During an encounter with four VPAF MiGs, Lodge downed one MiG-21 with a long distance BVR launch of an AIM-7E-2 Sparrow while flying at Mach 1.4 (!), this being his third air victory. A second MiG was downed in a similar manner by another crew flying in formation, while Steve Ritchie downed the third MiG (his very first, a MiG-21) with one AIM-7 from 2000m. While Lodge was chasing the last MiG and being seconds away from his fourth air victory, the Phantom group was ambushed by further four MiG-19s of the VPAF. The large 30mm shells of the MiG-19 hit Lodge's F-4 causing an engine to explode with a large resulting fire spreading to the cockpit. Lodge told his WSO (R. Locher) to eject, while he himself went down with his F-4 still strapped in the cockpit. As he previously told his squadron collegues, Lodge would rather go down with his aircraft than eject over North Vietnam. Due to his high technical and tactical knowledge (he was a graduate of the "Top Gun") and due to his knowledge of the "Combat Tree", being taken POW was unbearable for Robert Lodge. In an unlucky twist, the previously victorious MiG-19 flown by Nguyen Manh Tung ran out of fuel on approach to home base. The faulty landing resulted in his aircraft flipping over, killing him in a fire. Also that day, a further F-4 Phantom group was ambushed by MiG-19s, where the MiG-19 serial 6011 flown by Pham Hung Son (MiG-19S (Shenyang J-6) - Vietnam - 1972 | Album by Redicus (1:72)) downed an F-4E.

From the events of 10 May, Lodge's WSO, R. Locher, escaped ejection uninjured. He narrowly evaded capture in North Vietnam 23 days while eating forest fruits until he was retrieved by a major and unprecedented textbook rescue operation. Interestingly, Locher's distress call was first heard by a flight where Steve Ritchie was on.

Steve Ritchie scored a second victory on the May 31st while teaming up with H. Pettit as WSO and flying in a different machine, the F-4D 65-0801/OC. They were flying a MIGCAP mission while posing as "chaffers" to lure clueless MiGs in thinking they are an easy target. The "chaffers" were F-4 flights that dropped chaff to form a 15-minute airborne "corridors" of metal foil strips in order to confuse and degrade enemy AAA and SAM radars. This was done in preparation for B-52 raids by dropping MK 129 chaff bombs while flying straight and level at low speed. The "chaffers" were therefore very vulnerable to MiG attacks. VPAF ground controllers, deceived by the call signs, transmissions and flying characteristics, dispatched 2 MiG-21s in the direction of the fake "chaffers". Ritchie hit one MiG-21 in an close-range engagement with his fourth and last AIM-7, after the first three missiles missed or malfunctioned.

The third and fourth air victories of Steve Ritchie came on July 8th 1972 while flying with Chuck Bellevue in the F-4E 67-0362. They enaged two MiG-21s which were vectored towards an EC-121. The first AIM-7 was launched in boresight mode from behind against one clueless MiG-21, while the second MiG-21 was downed by another AIM-7 which surprisingly guided well while launched at the limits of the missile's envelope while in a 5g turn. This was the third one for Bellevue, but the fourth for Ritchie, with pressure building up from higher levels to make him the first USAF F-4 ace.

Interestingly, the F-4E 67-0362 flown by Ritchie and Bellevue that day became one of the 34 "Nickel Grass" F-4Es hastily supplied to Israel during the October 1973 War (check this article for more information F-4E - Israel - 1973 | Album by Redicus (1:72)).

The fifth mark came with the ace status on the August 28th. Ritchie hit a MiG-21 with a fourth AIM-7, while flying with Bellevue on the now famous F-4D 66-7463. Ritchie's fifth kill was also the fifth kill of the F-4D 66-7463. The previous (fourth) kill mark painted on the 66-7463 was Ritchie's first victory from the 10th of May 1972.

It took 7 years of aerial combat in Vietnam to produce the first USAF ace, which was a reflection of rather rare MiG encounters. Crews at the Udorn AFB had the felling the Air Force was desparate to create an ace, enhacing by various means Ritchie's chances to score his fifth victory.

All of the aircraft he shot down were MiG-21s, and all were shot down by the often criticized and limited AIM-7 Sparrow radar-guided air-to-air missile. Ritchie became the United States Air Force's first and only pilot ace of the Vietnam War

The story of the F-4D 66-7463 went on, with one further MiG-21 being shot down on this machine on the 15th October 1972 by the crew of I. McCoy and F. Brown. This was the sixth kill of this aircraft, becoming the highest scoring US combat aircraft since the Korean War.

S. Ritchie retired from active service in 1974.

References:
Peter E. Davies, "USAF F-4 Phantom II MiG Killers 1965-1968", Osprey Publishing
Peter E. Davies, "USAF F-4 Phantom II MiG Killers 1972-1973", Osprey Publishing
Peter E. Davies, Brad Elward, "US Navy F-4 Phantom II MiG Killers 1965-1970", Osprey Publishing
Peter E. Davies, Brad Elward, "US Navy F-4 Phantom II MiG Killers 1972-1973", Osprey Publishing
Istvan Toperczer, "MiG-17/19 Aces of the Vietnam War", Osprey Publishing
Istvan Toperczer, "MiG-21 Aces of the Vietnam War", Osprey Publishing