#304 JULY 2013 42 www.airforcesmonthly.

com
F-4F PHAREWELL
Pharewell
After 40 years of service the German Air Force (Luftwaffe)
is about to retire the last of its McDonnell Douglas F-4F
Phantom IIs Gary Parsons reports from Wittmundhafen
Air Base in Germany
F-4F
The F-4F 'Heritage Flight'
Four F-4Fs have been fnished in paint schemes
to represent the decades of operations since
the type entered service in 1973.
F-4F 37+01 the very frst F-4F to be rolled out
of the McDonnell Douglas factory at St Louis
has notched up nearly 7,400 hours in its long
career. Selected to carry the Phinal Pharewell
colour scheme of blue and gold, Col Roubal
will pilot it for the last time on June 29, weather
permitting. There are plans for this aircraft to
be preserved near the gate at the airfeld.
38+10 Wears the Norm 72 camoufage of
the early 1970s and large serial on the fuselage
sides. The scheme was a traditional green and
grey pattern, refecting the types air-to-ground
role during its frst 20 years or so. One of the
later aircraft, this airframe has only 6,900
hours to its credit.
38+33 With a mere 6,500 hours, the young-
ster of the remaining feet wears the Norm 81
grey colour scheme better suited to the types
air-to-air taskings.
37+22 the most recent paint scheme is
the all-grey Norm 90 scheme worn by
this airframe, one of the more elderly with
nearly 7,100 hours on the clock. The scheme
changed very little over the last 20 years and
was well-suited to the F-4Fs all air-to-air
taskings from the ICE upgrade to the
present day.
Right: The size of the mighty
Phantom is illustrated in this
image of F-4F 38+10 during its
post-ight service after landing
at Wittmundhafen on May 8.
Key Gary Parsons
#304 JULY 2013 43 www.airforcesdaily.com
Requirement
The Luftwaffe operated two variants of the McDon-
nell Douglas F-4 fighter-bomber 88
RF-4E reconnaissance and 175
F-4F air-to-air versions. The
RF-4E replaced the Lockheed
RF-104G from 1970 and the F-4F
superseded the F-104G and Fiat
G91R in air defence and ground
attack roles a few years later. The
first F-4F, 37+01, made its initial flight
a t the factory in St Louis, Missouri on March 18,
1973 and the first aircraft to land in Germany were
37+03 and 37+04, touching down at Wittmund-
hafen on August 31 that year. JG 71 became the first
unit to operate the F-4F, which would eventually
equip another three wings JG 74 Mlders, Jagd-
bombergeschwader (Fighter-bomber Wing) (JbG)
36 Westfalen and JbG 35. The last F-4F, 38+75, was
delivered on April 26, 1976.
Upgrades
The F-4F was essentially a lightened F-4E, weighing
in at 3,300lb (1,500kg) less through the elimina-

I
TS A sad feeling, admitted
Colonel Gerhard Roubal,
the commander of Jagdges-
chwader (Fighter Wing) 71
(JG 71) Richthofen. At the
end of June the Phantom
will be gone forever
[from the Luftwaffe] and
thats why we took the opportunity to
create this heritage flight of the different
camouflage patterns of the 1970s, 80s, 90s and
the official farewell design. Col Roubal has lived
with Phantoms for much of his service career he
has 2,500 hours on the F-4F since he first piloted the
type in 1987. Behind us are four differently-painted
F-4Fs, each commemorating a decade in which
the Phantom has protected German skies. They
will be the last four F-4Fs to fly at the end of June
when the base hosts an open house, expected to
attract around 130,000 visitors to
pay homage to the fighter that
has been a regular sight over
Friesland for 40 years.
#304 JULY 2013 44 www.airforcesmonthly.com
F-4F PHAREWELL
tion of several air-to-ground systems and a fuel tank,
but as a result was a better performer and more
suited to air defence. A first upgrade was instigated
in 1975 under the Peace Rhino programme where
the aircraft received an all-weather capability with
a LRU-1 digital weapons display replacing the old
analogue screen, an upgraded radar and associated
defensive aids. All aircraft were modified by 1984.
A much bigger programme began in 1991 called
the Improved Combat Efficiency (ICE) upgrade,
which consisted of replacing the radar with the
AN/APQ-65 designed for the F/A-18C Hornet and
updating the avionics, enabling the F-4F to carry the
AIM-120 advanced medium-range air-to-air missile
(AMRAAM), giving the aircraft a beyond-visu-
al-range (BVR) capability. Col Roubal confirmed the
F-4F is still a match for many fighters: We still have
a good weapon system, from the 20mm cannon
to the Sidewinder and AMRAAM. We have a very
capable radar developed from the F-18, so, except
for a datalink, we are up-to-date. We have a rear
warning radar, ECM [electronic countermeasures]
pod, everything you would want. If we had to go to
war today, we could. We are well suited to the tasks
of air policing and quick reaction alert [QRA]. An
advantage is our two-man crew.
By 1996 113 F-4Fs had been upgraded and
equipped the two remaining fighter wings at
Neuburg and Wittmundhafen, plus the training
unit at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico,
USA. At that time JG 71 consisted of two squadrons,
or staffeln, numbered 711 and 712.
By then all the RF-4Es had been withdrawn from
service and passed to Turkey and Greece. The
completion of the introduction of Tornado into
Luftwaffe and German Navy service meant the F-4F
lost its ground-attack role in the early 1990s, JbG 36
becoming JG 72 and JbG 35 JG 73. The latter units
lost their F-4Fs in March 2002 in anticipation of
receiving Eurofighters, followed by JG 74 at Neuburg
in June 2008, leaving just JG 71 at Wittmundhafen
to manage the remainder of the fleet. Col Roubal
enthused: Our peak time for flying the F-4F was in
2009 when we flew about 8,600 hours we had 50
jets available it was heaven for us!
Above: Wearing the Norm 72 camouage pattern of
green and grey, F-4F 38+10 depicts the colours of the
aircraft when it was introduced into service in 1973.
Key Gary Parsons
Below: Col Gerhard Roubal, the commanding of cer of
JG 71. The unit will reduce to Group status in October
and be designated Tactical Air Force Group Richthofen.
Key Gary Parsons
#304 JULY 2013 45 www.airforcesdaily.com
Phinal days
Since 2009 the fleet has gradually
reduced as airframes reach the end of their
operating lives, with just ten aircraft left by
the end of May. I have eight pilots and ten jets to
take us through to the end of June, continued Col
Roubal. If we want to take a three-ship to the air,
we have to manage it carefully, since I have four
pilots on QRA [Quick Reaction Alert] each day two
on immediate standby and two in reserve. We are
maintaining QRA until the end of June to the very
last moment and on July 1 we make the switch to
the Eurofighter.
Eurofighter (the Luftwaffe hasnt adopted the
name Typhoon) is already at Wittmundhafen
and the first have been noted carrying the red
R of Manfred von Richthofen, the First World
Top: F-4F 38+28 was painted to celebrate 45 years of Phantom operations from Jever and Wittmund. Florian Friz
Above: F-4F 37+01 is expected to be placed on display at the entrance to the aireld at Wittmundhafen. Key Gary Parsons
Left: Two of the last dozen F-4Fs remaining in February on patrol over Friesland in northern Germany. Frank Crbas
Below: The subtle green and brown of the Norm 81 camouage scheme of the 1980s on 38+33. Key Gary Parsons
Our peak time for
flying the F-4F was in 2009
when we flew about 8,600
hours we had 50 jets available
it was heaven for us!
#304 JULY 2013 46 www.airforcesmonthly.com
F-4F PHAREWELL
War ace from whom the wing takes its name. We
are in the process of building up the Eurofighter
QRA capability, explained Col Roubal. The first
Eurofighter arrived on April 8 and since then we have
had two testing flying procedures and checking the
new infrastructure and maintenance facilities. In
May we increased to eight aircraft and have been
stress-testing the systems before going live on July
1. From then we will have four Eurofighters assigned
to the base for the next year doing QRA only its a
case of crawl, walk, run!
Although new facilities have being constructed for
Eurofighter, it will be a temporary home while the
existing F-4F QRA site is completely rebuilt between
2016 and 2018 to become a swing-role Eurofighter
support complex an interim solution that allowed
unhindered F-4F operations until the end of June while
the Eurofighter facility was brought up to operational
capability. The future of the base had been questioned
when the retirement date for the F-4F was announced,
but Col Roubal said that its airspace advantage had
been its saving: This is the best positioned airfield
in Germany for exercises, he said. We have the east
of Friesland, the German Bight and airspace from
Schleswig-Holstein to England when you include
Dutch airspace. It is unique in Europe.
In the new Luftwaffe structure there will be three
Eurofighter wings, but spread over four bases for
operational purposes. Col Roubal explained: In the
new structure JG 71 is losing its status as a wing. We
will go down to Group status, so we are losing a wing
commander a colonel whose rank will reduce to
lieutenant colonel. This Group will be subordinate
to the Tactical Fighter Wing [TFW] 31 Boelcke based
at Nrvenich. We will be autonomous in our tasking,
but the aircraft will carry TFW 31 marks on the tail
with the Richthofen R under the canopy. We are still
more than a squadron we will operate one flying
staffel, one technical squadron, one administration
squadron and one logistics squadron. So function-
ally, its still a wing, but a little bit smaller than before.
The only thing missing is a second flying staffel. We
will have 20 aircraft instead of 29, so its not a big
difference. From October 1, the unit will officially be
known as Taktische Luftwaffengruppe (Tactical Air
Force Group) Richthofen.
When we get to 20 Eurofighters we will have 4,000
flying hours allocated we expect to reach that in
2018, added Col Roubal. This year it will be just two
to three hundred hours. For the next couple of years
we will concentrate on QRA and the air-to-air role,
but will move to swing-role in the future.
However, my [flying] days are over Im leaving at
the end of June. The blue Phantom [37+01] is my
aircraft Im determined to do the very last flight at
the open house day! Then I will go to a desk job
in Berlin working for the Chief of the Air Staff.
The three colourful F-4Fs of the heritage ight
together at Wittmundhafen. Key Gary Parsons
Above: The very rst F-4F, 37+01, wears this Phantom Pharewell paint scheme for the event planned at the end of
June at Wittmundhafen. Col Roubal will y the aircraft during the formation displays on June 29. Key Gary Parsons
Left: I sign out! says Spook in German. Mike Kerr
Below: Euroghter 30+83 is one of the ghters currently working up for QRA at Wittmundhafen and wears the red
R of Richthofen under the canopy. Mike Kerr
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