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Home | Update | Latest Issue | Gallery | FR Profile | Datafiles | FR 12/96 THE PHANTOMS OF THE DESERT by Patrick Hoeveler Two gray Phantoms are taxiing with open canopies to the runway. At the same time a Lockheed F-117A stealth fighter is taking off, attracting the looks even of the personnel stationed at Holloman Air Force Base. The aged Phantom might look like a relict from another time. Still, the fighter has lost none of its popularity among the pilots and weapon systems officers who fly it. The Luftwaffe's (German Air Force) Phantom training in the USA has become a tradition also. After 18 years of training German Phantom crews at George AFB, California, the F-4 moved to Holloman in May of 1992. Although with the Luftwaffe's Tactical Training Command there is a training center for the Tornado fighter-bombers being set-up in Holloman, the Phantom training is still the responsibility of the US Air Force. The 20th Fighter Squadron "Silver Lobos" is the last US unit that conducts Phantom training. Six of its 20 aircraft belong to Germany, and, despite German flags on the tails, have painted American national emblems and markings on the fuselage. These aircraft are flown by both, American and German aircrews. The German F-4s at Holloman have an average of 4000 flight hours, such being the youngest Phantoms. The 20th Fighter Squadron is tasked with the weapon systems training and weapon instructors training. The USAF is responsible for the program. The Luftwaffe is contributing with a Phantom squadron commander in the German Tactical Training Command, as well as, two pilots and two weapon system officers (WSO) in the instructor staff. The remaining instructors are Americans. The basic training of German Phantom pilots and WSOs lasts five months. Approximately 20 aircrew members are trained per year. The weapons instructor courses last six month and six crews participate in each course. The priority of this course is based on air-to-air combat. Still, 20 percent of the training is dedicated to air-to-ground tasks. At the end of the training, the classes deploy to Nellis AFB to employ the acquired knowledge at the modern shooting ranges. The German candidates that go through the weapons instructor course often stay for another two years at Holloman to be an instructor. At the end of this year, the 20 F-4Es will be replaced by updated and improved F-4Fs from Germany, which will keep their German markings. The responsibility for the training will initially stay with the USAF, until on July 1 the German F-4 training squadron is integrated into the Tactical Training Command. Also, the number of German instructors will be increased. The first lot of six improved F-4Fs will be ferried to Holloman on January 17, 1997. In the fall of this year, American instructors spent two weeks at the German Fighter Wing 72 in Rheine to prepare for the change of aircraft and to get to know the new fighters. The old F-4Es at Holloman will be stripped by their smokeless engines, as well as, the tape recorders for radar and HUD data, which will then be installed in the new F-4F fighters. Lockheed Martin will continue to be responsible for the maintenance of the aircraft. Most of the F-4Es will probably be going to Davis Monthan. Some will find a new home overseas: Six American F-4Es were ferried to Egypt at the end of the year. The story of the legendary Phantom is not closed yet. However, there will be no more American F-4s after 1997, except of some drones. The last F-4Gs, Wild Weasel, from Nellis and Boise were taken out of service in spring of this year, such closing a chapter in the history of aviation. Only the gigantic storage for surplus aircraft at Davis Monthan AFB, Arizona, with thousands of mothballed Phantoms will tell of the Rhino's era with the US Air Force, US Navy, and US Marine Corps. From page 56 of FLUG REVUE 12/96 Home | Update | Latest Issue | Gallery | FR Profile | Datafiles | FR 12/96 Copyright 1996 by Motor-Presse Stuttgart. All rights reserved. Last updated November 19, 1996