1/72 scale IAF F-4E Phantom II By Richard "RJ" Tucker **Pic 01** History: After the '67 war, Israel found itself in a war of attrition with Egypt. The Israeli Air Force (IAF) desperately needed to modernize with the F-4 Phantom and replace its loses. Meanwhile, the US election in 1968 brought the Nixon administration and a broader foreign policy outlook. The US, now, saw the Mid-East as other area of cold-war confrontation and agreed to provide the F-4. On September 5th 1969, the first four Phantoms landed in Israel, and the 'Ahat' ('One') Squadron was formed. For the first time since the B-17, the IAF had a truly strategic aircraft. On the F-4's first mission, two F-4s took-off and headed west over the Mediterranean; north of Cairo, they turned south. The F-4s accelerated and broke the sound barrier over Cairo. The pair of Phantoms served notice the IAF was raising the stakes in the war of attrition. The F-4 shot down the new MiG-21s in droves even the ones flown by Russian advisors and pounded targets previously out of range of the IAF. The F-4 provided the qualitative advantage, and the attrition strategy slowly ground to a halt as the Arabs and Soviets pondered the Phantom problem. Much to shock of the IAF and the chagrin of the US, they solved it! On October 6th 1973, the high holy day of Yom Kippur, a combined assault by Syria and Egypt caught Israel by surprise. The IAF lashed out; Mirages and F-4s shot down the intruders in record numbers. F-4s shot down over 100 aircraft during the course of the war. A repeat of '67 was in the cards; alas, the enemy you expect is rarely the one you get! The F-4s took off to blunt the Arab offensive and confronted the Soviet supplied SA-6 "gainful" surface to air missile. This hy-bird rocket ramjet missile surprised the IAF and took a terrible toll on the F-4s and A-4s. Tactics to counter the SA-6 brought the aircraft right into the teeth of supporting AAA fire. The IAF could not sustain the losses. The US stripped active USAF squadrons of Phantoms and sent them Israel. In a stunning reversal of roles, army tanks cleared a path through the air-defenses for the IAF. They even captured a few. On the Golan Heights, mountains provided some cover for the aircraft, so the IAF supported the Israeli armored forces that pushed the Syrians off the Golan. In the Sinai, the army pushed the Egyptians back to the canal and encircled the Egyptian 3rd Army. The war was over for all practical purposes. The super-powers brokered a cease-fire. Israel and the US started a crash program to counter the SA-6 and exploit the captured missiles. A victorious but shaken Israel survived. **Pics 3 & 4** The kit: This is the Hasegawa 1/72 scale F-4EJ kit. Hasegawa uses common trees for their family of Phantom kits. Therefore, you can make just about any hard wing (no slats) phantom from this kit. The parts breakdown is four pieces for the fuselage and an odd intake arrangement that fits to the wing bottom. This ensures some serious filling and sanding. Of course, no stores for the Hasegawa kit except drop tanks...sigh. To arm the kit, you'll need multiple weapons kits. For a 1/72 scale model, there are a bunch of parts, and Hasegawa's forte, loads of detail. For example, the ejection seats are each 5 parts. When you're done, there are lots of parts for the spares box. **Pic 2** The Model: This model represents a F-4E of the "Ahet" Squadron during the Oct '73 Yom Kippur War. References for the IAF during this time frame are THIN! Blurred and grainy photographs with the unit numbers and insignia rubbed out! From what I could ascertain, the IAF F-4s were all hard-wing during the war. The long muzzle was replacing the short one when hostilities started; so there was mix on the fleet. All the Phantoms still had English stencils, but they were stating to fade. The aircraft were well maintained, so weathering was kept to minimum except for the bottom where the oil leaks were hard reach. The F-4s would be equipped with the AIM-9 as the US rushed critical stocks to Israel. To complete this model I used: Hasegawa 1/72 scale F-4EJ kit Hasegawa 1/72 weapons set III for the AIM-7 and AIM-9E Mk-82s from the Fujimi A-6E kit 1 MERs and 2TERs from the Fujimi A-4KU kit Cutting Edge 72-004 decal sheet "IAF F-4&RF-4" SSI decal sheet 72-220 Israeli badges and markings SSI decal sheet 72-164 Phantom data Scale-Master 1/72 sheet SM-39 US missile markings It's finished with Model Master enamels applied with a Badger 200 and Aztek 470 airbrush. The panel lines are lighted and in places restored with a hard lead pencil. Weathering is pastel chalk. Refs: Here's what I found; hope it helps! Hi-Decal sheet 48-007 instructions and drawings D&S F-4 Phantom II Vol 2, Bert Kinzey, Aero Publishers, Inc. Failbrook CA, 1982 Air Forces Monthly Special "Phantom" Key Publishing Ldt. (date not listed) Israeli Fighter Aces- The Definitive History by Peter B. Mersky, Specialty Press Publishers, 1997 IAF web site; http://www.iaf.org.il And a special thanks to Kurt Plummer! His help and info got me on the right track! Thanks again. Happy Modeling! RJ **Pic 5, 6 & 7**