The F-4 was designed in 1958 as a company venture by McDonnell Douglas to meet future needs and it turned into the greatest post World War II fighter ever built. Considered by some the fastest, most versatile and effective aircraft ever built. The F-4 was initially designed as an attack bomber without internal weapons. The Phantom carried a greater bomb load than a B-29, yet was an effective fighter shooting down 106 out of 137 Migs destroyed in the Vietnam War. Israel has used F-4's in all of its major confrontations, at one time shooting down over 70 Syrian aircraft without a Phantom lost. The F-4E was flown by the US Air Force Demonstration team The Thunderbirds from 1969 through the mid 1970's. F-4E's were also flown as aircraft known as Wild Weasels and were active in the Persian Gulf War.
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