This 1959 McDonnell Douglas F4H-1F Phantom is the only flyable plane of its kind outside of military service. While the Phantom requires a little bit of TLC to get it flyable, it can now be yours for a cool $3.25 million.
The F-4 Phantom was one of the first multi-service combat jets. Adopted by the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Marine Corps, it was a large, twin-engine fighter utilized for both air-to-air and air-to-ground combat. It was, in many ways, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter of its time, exported to American allies like Japan, Turkey, Israel, Germany, the United Kingdom, and many others.
The F-4 participated in numerous conflicts, including the Vietnam War, the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Iran-Iraq War, and the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
The F-4H-1F Phantom was an early model of the F-4—later designated F-4A—and this particular jet, Navy Bureau of Aeronautics #145310, was built in 1959. It was only the 11th Phantom jet ever built, with 5,184 more F-4s of various types to follow. Like many early production aircraft, BuNo 145310 never went to the fleet, and was instead diverted to the Navy’s test program.
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BuNo 145310 first came to notoriety in 1961, when it was fitted with new ejector racks that allowed the jet to carry 22 Mk. 83 500-pound bombs. That was 2.5 times more bombs than a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber carried into battle just 16 years prior. After a demonstration bombing mission at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the U.S. Air Force decided to buy its own F-4s.
In 1961, the Navy kicked off Operation Sageburner, which was meant to celebrate the 50th anniversary of naval aviation by setting a new low-altitude speed record. The first attempt, on May 18, 1961, ended in disaster when F-4H1-F BuNo 145316 suffered a pitch control damper failure.
Read more: Popular Mechanics
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