RAF F-4K Phantom Silhouette Metal Wall Art, Airplane Silhouette Wall Decor, Metal Aircraft Wall Art, Aviation Wall Decor, Plane

RAF F-4K Phantom Silhouette Metal Wall Art, Airplane Silhouette Wall Decor, Metal Aircraft Wall Art, Aviation Wall Decor, Plane

If you love planes and want to show it off, you'll love our custom aircraft metal wall art. You can choose any aircraft you like, whether it's a vintage biplane or a modern jet fighter, and we'll create a stunning silhouette for you. Just tell us the aircraft type, year and send us a photo if you have one. We'll cut it out of 2 mm thick steel, polish it and paint it in your preferred color. You'll get a unique piece of art that will make your hangar, office or room look awesome.

Our aircraft wall art is perfect for any avgeek who wants to add some flair to their space. It's also a great gift idea for anyone who loves flying or admiring metal birds. Our art pieces are made with high-quality materials and craftsmanship, and they look amazing on any wall. Order yours today and get ready to impress your friends and fellow aviation enthusiasts.

The United Kingdom (UK) operated the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II as one of its principal combat aircraft from 1968 to 1992. The UK was the first export customer for the F-4 Phantom, which was ordered in the context of political and economic difficulties around British designs for the roles that it eventually undertook. The Phantom was procured to serve in both the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA) and the Royal Air Force (RAF) in several roles including air defence, close air support, low-level strike and tactical reconnaissance.

Although assembled in the United States, the UK's early Phantoms were a special batch built separately with a significant amount of British technology as a means of easing the pressure on the domestic aerospace industry in the wake of major project cancellations.[1] Two variants were initially built for the UK: the F-4K variant was designed from the outset as an air defence interceptor to be operated by the FAA from the Royal Navy's aircraft carriers, and the F-4M version was procured for the RAF to serve in the tactical strike and reconnaissance roles. In the mid-1980s, a third Phantom variant was obtained when fifteen second-hand F-4J aircraft were purchased to augment the UK's air defences following the Falklands War.

The Phantom entered service with both the FAA and the RAF in 1969. In FAA service, while primarily intended for fleet air defence, it had a secondary strike role. In the RAF it was soon replaced in its initial tasks by other aircraft designed specifically for strike, close air support and reconnaissance, and instead was moved to the air defence mission. By the mid-1970s, the Phantom had become the UK's principal interceptor, a role in which it continued until the early 1990s.

Background
In the late 1950s, the British Government began the process of replacing its early second-generation jet combat aircraft in service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Fleet Air Arm (FAA). At the time, the British aerospace industry was still the major provider of aircraft to the British Armed Forces, and designs from several companies were in service. The 1957 Defence White Paper precipitated a significant change in the industry, as the Government compelled major aerospace manufacturers to amalgamate using new aircraft contracts as an incentive. As a result, two large groups emerged; the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC), formed by the amalgamation of English Electric, Vickers-Armstrongs, Bristol, and Hunting; and Hawker Siddeley Aviation, which came from the merger of Hawker Siddeley with Folland, de Havilland, and Blackburn.[2]

At this time, the RAF wished to replace the English Electric Canberra light bomber in the long-range interdictor role, and the Hawker Hunter in the close air support role, while the Royal Navy (RN) sought an aircraft to assume the fleet air defence role from the de Havilland Sea Vixen. BAC, through its English Electric subsidiary, had begun developing a new high-performance strike aircraft, the TSR-2,[3] which was intended for long-range, low-level strike missions with conventional and tactical nuclear weapons, as well as tactical reconnaissance. Hawker Siddeley was also developing the P.1154, a proposed supersonic version of its P.1127 V/STOL demonstrator, that could be marketed to both the RAF and RN to fulfil several roles, including close air support, air superiority, and fleet air defence.[4]

Plan views of two jet aeroplanes
Planforms for the single-seat RAF and two-seat RN variants of the P.1154.
During the early 1960s, aircraft development became increasingly expensive, resulting in major projects often becoming mired in political and economic concerns. The TSR-2 project experienced increasing cost overruns,[5] and the P.1154 was subject to the ongoing inter-service rivalry between the RN and RAF.[6] This led to two wildly differing specifications being submitted for the P.1154 that were impossible to fulfil with a single airframe.[6]

In February 1964, the RN withdrew from the P.1154 project, and moved to procure a new fleet air defence interceptor.[7] It eventually selected the McDonnell F-4 Phantom[i] then in service with the United States Navy (USN) as its primary air defence aircraft, intended to be operated from both existing and planned aircraft carriers.[9] This better suited the RN, as the Phantom had two engines (providing redundancy in the event of an engine failure), was cheaper than the P.1154, and was available immediately.[10] In October the same year, the general election brought the Labour Party back into power. The new government undertook a defence review, which led to the publication in February 1966 of a white paper that cancelled several projects, including both the P.1154 and the TSR-2. As a consequence, the government had to find alternatives to replace the Canberra and Hunter for the RAF. To replace the Canberra in the long-range role (which was intended for the TSR-2), the F-111 was selected, with plans for a redesigned variant; the roles undertaken by the Hunter (for which P.1154 was to be procured) would be undertaken by a further purchase of F-4 Phantoms.[11]

The RN was happy with the Phantom as its Sea Vixen replacement, given that the type had been operational in the fleet air defence role with the USN since 1961. USN Phantoms had also successfully undertaken touch-and-go landings on HMS Hermes and HMS Victorious.[12][13][14] During her 1966 Far East deployment, Victorious was able to successfully launch and recover USN Phantoms from the carrier USS Ranger.[15] The RAF was less enthusiastic, as the Phantom was not optimised for the close air support role, and had been selected as its Hunter replacement more as a way of decreasing the per-unit cost of the overall UK order.[16]

Partly as a means of maintaining employment in the British aerospace industry, agreement was reached that major portions of the UK's Phantoms would be built domestically.[1] Hawker Siddeley Aviation was appointed as McDonnell's primary UK partner in January 1965, to be responsible for repair, maintenance, design and modification work on Phantoms for the RAF and RN at Brough Aerodrome.[17] Further work was delegated to BAC, at its Warton facility, and to Short Brothers in Belfast.[18]

A jet aeroplane with undercarriage down.
A pre-production F-4K (XT597) of the A&AEE
The F-4J variant, which was then the primary version in service with the USN, was the basis for the UK aircraft, subject to major redesign. The most significant change was the use of the larger and more powerful Rolls-Royce Spey turbofan in place of the General Electric J79 turbojet to allow operations from the RN's smaller carriers.[19] To accommodate the larger engines, BAC redesigned and built the entire rear fuselage section.[18] The Westinghouse AN/AWG-10 radar carried by the F-4J was to be procured and built under licence by Ferranti.[20] Approximately half of the structure and equipment of the UK's Phantoms was produced by British manufacturers; all the components were then shipped to St Louis for assembly by McDonnell.[18] The changes to the aircraft led to the two variants being given their own separate series letters, the FAA version being designated as the F-4K and the RAF version as the F-4M.[21]

Initially, there was an intention to procure up to 400 aircraft for the RN and the RAF, but the development cost for the changes to accommodate the new engines meant that the per-unit price eventually ended up three times the price of an F-4J. Due to government policy, the budget for the Phantom procurement was fixed, therefore these costs could not be evened out by a large production run and only 170 were ordered.[22]

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