The RF-4C is a multisensor, long-range aircraft capable of all-weather day and night reconnaissance in a high or low threat environment.
The RF-4C (Model 98DF) was the unarmed photographic reconnaissance version of the USAF's F-4C. The armament and radar of the fighter version was removed and replaced with equipment specialized for photographic reconnaissance. Perhaps the most readily-noticeable difference between the F-4C and the RF-4C was the presence of a new, longer, and more pointed nose in which the fire control radar of the fighter was replaced by cameras, mapping radar, and infrared imaging equipment for the reconnaissance role.
The RF-4C can carry a variety of cameras in three different stations in its nose section. It can take photos at both high and low altitude, day or night.
Multiple optical and infrared systems make the RF-4C one of the most versatile reconnaissance aircraft in the world. All of its reconnaissance systems are operated primarily from the rear seat. The optical cameras are used generally for day, low-altitude photography, but also produce high-quality imagery at higher altitudes. These cameras can generate forward-looking and side-looking oblique photography, vertical and mapping photography, and horizon-to-horizon panoramic photography.
Initially, the RF-4C carried no weapons, and the underfuselage Sparrow missile slots of the F-4C were omitted. However, in an emergency the RF-4C could carry a nuclear weapon on the centerline position, but this was rarely done in practice. Aircraft from the European-based 10th TRW were eventually fitted with AJB-7 low-altitude bombing system system equipment just in case the delivery of nuclear weapons ever became necessary. In later years, RF-4Cs were armed with AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles carried on the inner underwing pylon for self-defense.
In the early 1960s, the USAF recognized the need for more tactical reconnaissance aircraft to reinforce the RF-101s then in service. The Air Force chose a modification of the F-4C fighter. The RF-4C development program began in 1962, and the first production aircraft made its initial flight on May 18, 1964. A total of 499 RF-4Cs were eventually accepted by the Air Force.
The first production RF-4Cs went in September 1964 to the 33rd TRTS, a training unit based at Shaw AFB in South Carolina. The first operational unit to receive the RF-4C was the 16th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron of the 363rd TRW at Shaw AFB, achieving initial combat-readiness in August of 1965. Even then, early RF-4Cs continued to fly without their full sets of operational equipment, and many of the components that they did carry were still unqualified.
The aircraft's specifications and design are similar to the F-4 Phantom II. Two crew members sit in tandem on ejection seats under individual rear-hinged canopies. The plane's cantilever wings are swept back 45 degrees. Its tricycle landing gear hydraulically retracts into the wings and fuselage.
GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS
Span: 38 ft. 5 in.
Length: 62 ft. 10 in.
Height: 16 ft. 6 in.
Armament: None. Some later equipped with 4 sidewinder missiles
Engines: Two General Electric J-79-GE-15s of 17,000 lbs. thrust each with afterburner
Crew: Two
Cost: $2,260,000
PERFORMANCE
Maximum speed: 1,384 mph
Cruising speed: 575 mph
Range: 1,632 miles without aerial refueling
Service Ceiling: 55,200 ft.
The following outfits flew the RF-4C:
10th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing
26th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing
( was deactivated in April 1991 and its
RF-4C's were relagated to storage )
66th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing
75th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing
363rd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing
432nd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing
460th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing
As part of the 460th TRW, the 16th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron was deployed to Southeast Asia to Tan Sun Nhut in South Vietnam in October of 1965 to provide photographic reconnaissance of the growing conflict in South Vietnam. The second RF-4C squadron in action in Southeast Asia was the 15th TRS, which entered combat in February of 1967.
The RF-4C flew day and night missions over South Vietnam and Laos until 1972. The aircraft posted an impressive record during the most intense years of the war. Heavy ground fire resulted in numerous losses, but considering the total number of missions flown, the loss rate was relatively low.
Since then RF-4Cs have been involved in reconnaissance missions around the world, including the Desert Shield/Desert Storm operation in Iraq in 1990-1991. The last of 503 production RF-4C was delivered in December of 1973. The RF-4C had been in production for over ten years, longer than any Phantom variant except the F-4E.
Primary Text
by
Joe Baugher
The RF-4C was the first version of the Phantom to reach the squadrons of the Air National Guard. The first ANG unit to receive the RF-4C was the 106th TRS of the 117th TRW of the Alabama ANG, which received its RF-4Cs in February of 1971, replacing that unit's RF-84F Thunderflashes.
Most RF-4 pictures
by
Michel Klaver - The Grim Reaper
plus miscellaneous pics
by
Carl Ozyer
Pictures below by V. Cushing
