While researching some history related to the Gunfighter callsign (some of which might show up here eventually), my favorite search engine served up this fascinating story.
 |
| Chico The Gunfighter by Wade Meyers |
The F-4E was the first Phantom variant to carry an internal 20mm cannon. The mental picture of a Phantom rolling out and laying into a target with Three! 20mm cannons like a jet-age successor to the P-47 flips my cool meter all the way to 11.
It doesn’t hurt that while I missed the golden age of the F-4 in U.S. military service, there were still plenty of them flying around during my impressionable youth.
I remember seeing a few flights of F-4G Wild Weasels flying out of (now long-closed) March Air Force Base back in the early ‘90s, and while I definitely love watching teen series fighters in flight, to say nothing of the pure witchcraft that is the F-22 Raptor flight demo, the Rhino will always be my definition of “Bad-ass American Jet Fighter.”
 |
|
| I had this poster on my bedroom wall. Try to convince me that F-15s, F-16s, F-22s, or F-35s would look better. |