F-4F of the Portuguese Air Force

[DogfighterZen]

"With the end of the war in Africa in 1974, it became evident that the Portuguese Air Force urgently needed to be renewed, as the aircraft at its disposal were not only worn out by the war effort but obsolete in the European context. fighter aviation, the PoAF needed a modern fighter jet capable of meeting the country's air defense needs, mission performed at the time by the old F-86F Saber with the "Falcons" Squadron 201 BA5 in Monte Real.
 The failure of the PoAF was already evident at the time of the colonial war, but the war effort had not generated any real solution. Few F-86s were operational (in 1975, 12 aircraft were referenced in flight conditions), and NATO-level Air Force plans indicated their replacement by the end of 1976 with at least 16 fighter-bomber aircraft.
 To compliment the Saber, the PoAF also acquired the Fiat G.91 R / 4 in Germany to be used in Africa but at the end of the war they returned to Portugal. While very useful in guerrilla combat operations, the Fiat was also a completely outdated aircraft for European theater, which needed to be replaced quickly.
Shortly before the April 1974 revolution, which led to the regime's change, the previous government tried to acquire new combat aircraft in France and made several contacts for the purchase of Mirage aircraft. The famous French fighter plane had been seriously considered by the Air Force and the sale of the plane was even authorized by French Prime Minister Pierre Messmer, but the French proposal did not please the Portuguese government because of the restrictions that France placed on parking aircraft in Guinea and Cape Verde.
In addition to the French hypothesis, an offer by a German company to buy F-5E aircraft had also emerged, but due to the arms embargo against Portugal, the proposal would be withdrawn and as such, the PoAF relied essentially on US support to modernize its combat strength, because only with the counterparts of the use of the Lajes air base in the Azores would it be possible to obtain funds for such plans.
The first contacts at this level were made since June 1974, between then-Air Force chief of staff, General Diogo Neto, and Colonel Wilkerson, head of the Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG), based at the American Embassy in Lisbon. On the morning of June 5, Diogo Neto meets Wilkerson in his office and talks about his plans for the PoAF. At combat aviation level, the Air Force's goal was to have two squadrons, one equipped with the F-5E Tiger II and one with the F-4E Phantom.
In addition, the PoAF also wanted the Northrop T-38A Talon to replace the T-33 in the training function and the T-41 Mescalero to replace the old Chipmunk. Surprised by the magnitude of the request, Wilkerson promises to take the Portuguese plans to the US Administration, noting that the arms embargo was still in force at the time against Portugal and that such modernization intentions would be very difficult for the Americans to fulfill.
In his reply, Diogo Neto points out that aircraft to be purchased should only be used on the European continent and that the Air Force intends to initiate a phasing out of all former colonies.
It also addresses the question of how Portugal would pay for these aircraft, a problem that, in the view of General Diogo Neto, should be resolved within the framework of negotiations on the Lajes base agreement, something that was obviously beyond MAAG's scope. which is clearly stated by Colonel Wilkerson. In its comment to the State Department on this meeting, the US Embassy in Lisbon considers Portuguese concerns to modernize the Air Force genuine, which led to the subsequent lifting of the existing arms embargo that which had been preventing the deal from being made.
On 15 November 1979, the latest agreements were signed at a meeting held in Lisbon between senior officials of the governments and air forces of both countries, beginning the process of the PoAF combat aviation renewal.
Although the US government has agreed on the basis of the request made by the PoAF, following a more detailed study of the financial capabilities as well as the PoAF's needs and obligations to NATO, the US government proposes to purchase the F-4F, which was a simplified and lighter version of the F-4E used by the USAF.
Obviously cheaper by excluding more complex avionics systems, it would be the economically best option for use in mainland Portugal's air defense since this version would only have a slight decrease in fighter capacity compared to the previous variant.
With the reluctant agreement of the PoAF generals, who wanted to have long-range air combat capability and were thus denied this desire, the first 6 F-4Fs arrived in Portugal on February 5, 1981, after the transatlantic flight made by the Portuguese pilots who had been chosen for conversion and training in the F-4 at Holloman's American base in New Mexico, where they trained alongside Luftwaffe pilots, who had also acquired the F-4F for their air defense in 1973. .
The remaining 10 aircraft were delivered over a year and a half to then complete the total of 16 intended aircraft. In 1986, the PoAF decided to modernize the Phantoms with the ICE program, which consisted of the installation of modern long-range air combat systems and would finally please the PoAF's generals with the ability to employ the AIM-120B missile.
The F-4s would have been serving at PoAF for 25 years until, with the growing lack of spare parts and constantly increasing Portuguese debt to the IMF, it became too expensive to keep these fighters in service and on the 10th April 2006, the "Mammoth" (as known in the PoAF because of its huge size compared to the F-86 Saber and equally huge fuel consumption) made its last flight with the colors of the Portuguese flag when flying over the BA5 after a noisy farewell passage through the Tagus estuary and Lisbon with the engines in full afterburner. This farewell pass would also be marked by reports of some panic attacks among tourists strolling along the river, leading some to feel frightened enough to seek refuge in the waters of the Tagus. "

[Gondor]

That's very nicly done 

Which kit did you use?

Gondor

[comrade harps]

That is very nice 

[DogfighterZen]

That's very nicly done 

Which kit did you use?

Gondor

Thank you, Gondor!  It's the Revell 1/72 F-4F, this box:



The kit builds up very easily and the detail is great. I think it's one of the best in 1/72, although i've only built the Italeri F-4S more than 30 years ago so i don't have much to refere to in comparison.
One thing i don't like is the blue plastic but i think that's my mental block by being used to grey kits. Tamiya glue worked well as with any other plastic so it's all good.
The only real issue with the parts is the fit of the canopies, which seems to be a tradition in Revell's 1/72 kits... Not too bad but still, could be much better.
Other than that, really nice kit, i may end up buying another one to convert into an E variant but for that, i'll need a pair of slotted stabilators, the rest is easy to scratch up as it's only a couple of sensors and antennas, IIRC.

That is very nice 

Glad you like it, Comrade! 

[zenrat]

Nice one DFZ 

[chrisonord]

That's very nice  Zen, 
Chris

[DogfighterZen]

Nice one DFZ 

That's very nice  Zen, 
Chris

Thank you very much, gentlemen! 
Although i had to screw it up a bit in the end because i picked up the model after spraying the Tamiya matte coat from the rattle can... it seems that it's "hotter" than the XF-86 and reactivated the paint all the way to the plastic and when i picked it up, it was still drying so i left 2 big fingerprints on the top fuselage right aft of the cockpit...
Anyway, glad you guys like it! 

[Dizzyfugu]

Very nice, and looks very natural! 

Reminds me that I want to do a Portuguese Mirage III or V some day...

[Captain Canada]

Hopefully they could swim, and hopefully the water was clean !

Excellent build. Looks right in those colours and markings ! Lovely paint work and weathering..
Cheers !

[PR19_Kit]

That looks REALLY good in the PoAF scheme. 

And I can just imagine them roaring down the Tagus in full burner, I was there once and it'd be an awesome site for an air display!

How much is involved in turning an F into an E? They look the same airframe to me.

[DogfighterZen]

Thank you for the generous words, gentlemen! Glad you like it! 

Very nice, and looks very natural! 

Reminds me that I want to do a Portuguese Mirage III or V some day...

It does have a natural look with these markings and it should've been a real one but Portugal didn't have the funds to buy and operate such a beast back in the eighties...
I've seen at least one Mirage IIIEPL built but in a simple olive drab on top and light grey on the bottom but i believe that if the PoAF had bought those, the scheme would probably be the same as the Argentinian Mirage IIIE wore, which is pretty much the same as the SEA camo.
I have the PJ productions' early mold of the IIIE that i bought with the same idea in mind, seeing that it was almost bought by the PoAF before the colonial wars ended.
Still, not sure if i'll do it exactly like the EPL was supposed to be... the kit has a lot of options so i'll probably end up going with a few different details.

Hopefully they could swim, and hopefully the water was clean !

Excellent build. Looks right in those colours and markings ! Lovely paint work and weathering..
Cheers !

No tourists were harmed during the farewell pass over Lisbon... they just had to change their clothes, mostly underwear... Now, about the water being clean, i guess that it wasn't s as polluted as it has been in the past because there was a big change in the sewage treatment industry around 20/25 years ago with the building of modern sewage treatment facilities around the country.
The weathering was left lighter than what i originally intended on doing but i don't have the experience or the right materials for that... and i also rushed it a bit (hence the picking up the model when the matte coat was still drying) because i wanted to take it to the recent Beja model show and time was short... Taught me a lesson, though, never rush finishing a model, especially because of a show. I build for me, not for the public or prizes so i hate myself for doing it and ruining the end result...

That looks REALLY good in the PoAF scheme. 

And I can just imagine them roaring down the Tagus in full burner, I was there once and it'd be an awesome site for an air display!

How much is involved in turning an F into an E? They look the same airframe to me.

Sure is a nice place for a air display but my hometown Portimão, in the south would even be better for that cause there's not as much fog or low cloud cover as there is in the Lisbon city area. And we've had Red Bull air races held there exactly because of that. The south of Portugal always gets more sun and clear skies then the rest of the country.
It's easy to convert an F into an E and vice versa, all you need is a pair of slotted stabilators and a few small sensors and antennas. I was thinking about it when i started this kit but i had to rework the idea because i didn't have the stabs... and besides that, being simpler, the F would be a cheaper aircraft so it would be a better option seeing that the PoAF didn't have the funds needed for all the stuff they initially wanted to buy so, IMO, the F suited the story perfectly.

[NARSES2]

That really does look good 

As an aside the January issue of SAM has an article and photos on the Portuguese AF's continued use of the venerable DH Chipmunk.

[DogfighterZen]

That really does look good 

As an aside the January issue of SAM has an article and photos on the Portuguese AF's continued use of the venerable DH Chipmunk.

Glad you like it, Chris, thanks! 
That is true, they've been using the Chipmunk for such a long time... 1951 was when they bought the first 10 and started building another 66 here in Portugal... that has to be one of the oldest airplanes in active service, right?

[TheChronicOne]

Holy crap!!!!! That is tremendous!!!       already nommed or I would have. 

[Old Wombat]

First pass on the title I saw F4F & thought "Wildcat? What's DfZ doing building an early WW2 prop plane?"

Then I saw the "-" & went "O-oh!"

Great build & suitably grotty for a Phantom! Muscle car of the skies!