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A few places to begin, from the aircraft’s story to the people who fly it.
Meet the aircraft
The Phantom began as a US Navy aircraft and was adopted by the US Air Force, Marine Corps and export customers. Large intakes, upward-angled outer wing panels and downward-angled tailplanes distinguish its airframe.
Aircraft background
Wikipedia contributors · Read more ↗Moving from the Hunter into a two-person working cockpit
Bolton’s move from the Hunter to the Phantom meant learning an aircraft with a very different size and reputation. The initial impression of a large, powerful machine gradually gave way to understanding what it did well. The second crew member and the radar became central parts of that experience. His work also changed when he moved from RAF ground-attack flying to the Royal Navy’s fleet-defence role.
Hush-Kit interview · July 2017. British Phantom service, including Royal Navy FG.1 flying with 892 Squadron from late 1973.
Hush-Kit · Read more ↗The Phantom helped drive changes to the core flight model
Austin Meyer’s February 2022 development account describes revising both X-Plane’s aerodynamic model and the F-4 aircraft definition with feedback from a former Phantom instructor. It specifically discusses changing the earlier artificial-stability arrangement while retaining damping.
McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II · Laminar Research · X-Plane 12
Laminar Research Developer · Read more ↗Into the cockpit
YouTube Military Aviation History · 22 min ·
Inside The Cockpit: F-4 Phantom II FGR.2
A museum cockpit tour of the British FGR.2 Phantom variant.
Real aircraft · British F-4 FGR.2
Watch on YouTube ↗Preview images are served by AirframeDB. Videos open on YouTube only when you choose to watch.
Meet McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II
The Phantom began as a US Navy aircraft and was adopted by the US Air Force, Marine Corps and export customers. Large intakes, upward-angled outer wing panels and downward-angled tailplanes distinguish its airframe.
Interceptor, strike and reconnaissance versions carried different engines, radar and cockpit equipment. National upgrades added further differences during the type's long service.
McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II
McDonnell Douglas → · Explore the family →
McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II
Wikipedia contributors · McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II ↗Laminar Research · X-Plane 12 →Laminar Research · X-Plane 11 →Aircraft type designators
Use the code for the model you are flying. The linked authority lists the applicable aircraft.
History & design
The Phantom’s U.S. Air Force farewell includes its civilian instructors
Harkins’s interview places the final U.S. Air Force QF-4 flights at Holloman on 21 December 2016. His nine years as a civilian instructor illustrate the human contribution behind the aircraft’s late target-support career.
Avgeekery · Meet the last U.S. Air Force F-4 pilot ↗Interview published nine days after the farewell
Development milestones
First flight: 27 May 1958 ( 1958-05-27 )
Wikipedia contributors · McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II ↗McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II · family/variant named by the source · Wikipedia revision 1373929760
Pilot accounts
Moving from the Hunter into a two-person working cockpit
Bolton’s move from the Hunter to the Phantom meant learning an aircraft with a very different size and reputation. The initial impression of a large, powerful machine gradually gave way to understanding what it did well. The second crew member and the radar became central parts of that experience.
His work also changed when he moved from RAF ground-attack flying to the Royal Navy’s fleet-defence role. Shipboard preparation and practice brought their own audience and pressures, with other people watching how the crew performed. In his recollection, learning the Phantom was therefore more than mastering another set of controls. It involved a working partnership in the cockpit and adapting familiar flying skills to a different service environment.
Hush-Kit interview · July 2017. British Phantom service, including Royal Navy FG.1 flying with 892 Squadron from late 1973.
Read the full account · Hush-Kit ↗Forty-five minutes of smiling at the end of a second career
Harkins had not expected to spend the later part of his career flying a fighter designed in the 1950s. Working as a civilian instructor gave him nine years and more than a thousand hours in the Phantom. By the farewell flights at Holloman, it had become a substantial second chapter in his flying life.
He remembered smiling so much during the final forty-five-minute flight that his cheeks hurt. The farewell appearances also brought conversations with veterans, families and old friends who wanted to see the aircraft again. Harkins compared his part in those events to driving the bus for the real star.
Avgeekery interview · December 2016. Civilian QF-4 instructor recalling the final U.S. Air Force Phantom flights at Holloman on 21 December; not the last F-4 flight worldwide.
Read the full account · Avgeekery ↗Choosing the front seat and learning from returning crews
Rubus had initially hoped for an F-105 assignment, but the available choices led him towards the Phantom. The opportunity to train for its front seat appealed to him, even when others warned that a new second lieutenant might find himself assigned to the rear cockpit instead. Looking back, he regarded the decision as a good one.
At George Air Force Base, instructors who had already served in Southeast Asia helped prepare him for the environment he would enter. Arriving at Ubon brought the classroom and conversion work into a different setting, with learning and staying alive closely connected in his recollection.
Dartmouth Vietnam Project oral-history transcript · January 2016. F-4 training at George AFB before a first Ubon tour from February 1969 to December 1970.
Read the full account · Dartmouth Vietnam Project ↗In your simulator
Systems, equipment and documentation for each developer’s aircraft.
Compare simulator versions →X-Plane 12McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II
Laminar Research · Released
McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II
Laminar Research · Released
X-Plane 11McDonnell Douglas F-4
Laminar Research · Released
McDonnell Douglas F-4
Laminar Research · Released
MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024F-4E, F-4J and FGR2 Phantom
DC Designs · Released
F-4E, F-4J and FGR2 Phantom
DC Designs · Released
Aircraft specifications
Published figures for the named real-aircraft variant. Simulator equipment and performance can differ.
| Specification | Published value |
|---|---|
| Length | 63 ft 0 in (19.2 m) |
| Wingspan | 38 ft 5 in (11.7 m) |
| Height | 16 ft 5 in (5 m) |
| Wing area | 530 sq ft (49.2 m² ) |
| Empty weight | 30,328 lb (13,757 kg) |
| Gross weight | 41,500 lb (18,824 kg) |
| Max takeoff weight | 61,795 lb (28,030 kg) |
| Powerplant | 2 × General Electric J79-GE-17A after-burning turbojet engines, 11,905 lbf (52.96 kN) thrust each dry, 17,845 lbf (79.38 kN) with afterburner |
| Maximum speed | 1,280 kn (1,470 mph, 2,370 km/h) at 40,000 ft (12,000 m) |
| Maximum speed | Mach 2.23 |
| Cruise speed | 510 kn (580 mph, 940 km/h) |
| Service ceiling | 60,000 ft (18,000 m) |
| Rate of climb | 41,300 ft/min (210 m/s) |
Manuals & resources
Find your next read
Choose a topic for a short introduction and a link to the original source. Simulator references identify the developer and edition they cover.
Simulator documentation
The Phantom helped drive changes to the core flight modelMcDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II · Laminar Research · X-Plane 12
Austin Meyer’s February 2022 development account describes revising both X-Plane’s aerodynamic model and the F-4 aircraft definition with feedback from a former Phantom instructor. It specifically discusses changing the earlier artificial-stability arrangement while retaining damping.
X-Plane 12 development report; attributed design history, not present runtime qualification
Laminar Research Developer · Read the source ↗Transonic pitch behaviour was part of that development workMcDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II · Laminar Research · X-Plane 12
The same report discusses changes to the simulated centre of pressure and the resulting pitch response through the transonic region. The developer describes these priorities for the X-Plane 12 version; no independent fidelity assessment is supplied.
Laminar Research Developer · February 2022; earlier simulator editions are not assigned these changes
Laminar Research Developer · Read the source ↗Pilot account
Moving from the Hunter into a two-person working cockpitHush-Kit interview · July 2017. British Phantom service, including Royal Navy FG.1 flying with 892 Squadron from late 1973.
Bolton’s move from the Hunter to the Phantom meant learning an aircraft with a very different size and reputation. The initial impression of a large, powerful machine gradually gave way to understanding what it did well. The second crew member and the radar became central parts of that experience. His work also changed when he moved from RAF ground-attack flying to the Royal Navy’s fleet-defence role.
Chris Bolton
Hush-Kit · Read the source ↗Forty-five minutes of smiling at the end of a second careerAvgeekery interview · December 2016. Civilian QF-4 instructor recalling the final U.S. Air Force Phantom flights at Holloman on 21 December; not the last F-4 flight worldwide.
Harkins had not expected to spend the later part of his career flying a fighter designed in the 1950s. Working as a civilian instructor gave him nine years and more than a thousand hours in the Phantom. By the farewell flights at Holloman, it had become a substantial second chapter in his flying life. He remembered smiling so much during the final forty-five-minute flight that his cheeks hurt.
Jim “WAM” Harkins
Avgeekery · Read the source ↗Read the original documentation from the people who created it. Manuals open on their publisher’s website.
Manual
X-Plane 12 Desktop ManualLaminar Research X-Plane aircraft and avionics manualsLaminar Research X-Plane 11 Desktop ManualLaminar ResearchAircraft background
McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom IIWikipedia contributors · Research background · Wikipedia revision 1373929760 · retrieved 2026-09-12Developer documentation
X-Plane 12 flight model update: supersonic transition, delta wings and mass propertiesLaminar Research Developer · Austin Meyer · February 2022 DC Designs F-4E, F-4J and FGR2 PhantomDC Designs / Just Flight · Product listing captured 28 September 2026; MSFS 2020 and 2024Type designator
ICAO Doc 8643 — aircraft type designatorsInternational Civil Aviation Organization · Public search data retrieved 2026-09-14; authority update 2026-09-03Built-in force-feedback profiles
Read the documentary basis, editable starting settings and remaining questions for the aircraft you fly. Each explanation refers to the exact profile revision shown.
Catalogue programme-20261022-v1 · 2 profile choices
DC Designs F-4E / F-4J / FGR2 Phantom
DC Designs · Free and Pro · Revision 2 · Inherited starting point
MSFS 2020 · MSFS 2024
DC Designs F-4E / F-4J / FGR2 Phantom: Hydraulic control assistance motivates artificial stick centering.
McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II
Free and Pro · Revision 1 · Partial review
X-Plane 12 · X-Plane 11
McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II: Hydraulic control assistance motivates artificial stick centering.
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