SimHQ.com - Air Combat Zone - Feature: The Circle of Life

Could the same be true of an aircraft, a military jet interceptor from the Vietnam era? Perhaps a United States Air Force F-4C Phantom II, S/N 63-7637? Certainly there are stranger occurrences in the annals of military aviation, but we found that for this aircraft life was indeed a circle.

But I'm ahead of myself.

On July 12, 2005, SimHQ published my interview with Ben Gimbert, entitled Reborn on the Fourth of July. If you haven't read it yet, I encourage you to take a few moments of your time because it will aid in your understanding of what is to follow.

However, to sum up briefly, Ben Gimbert was able to fulfill a childhood dream while rescuing Phantom 63-7637 from a scrap yard in Tucson Arizona.

He did a remarkable job of transforming what was a stripped out cockpit into a beautiful restoration that he now uses as a part of his photography business. Speaking for myself, I would love to sit in the front seat, and let my imagination run for a while. You see, I had that same childhood dream.

But although we knew certain aspects of 63-7637's operational history, mostly towards the end, and the part where she sat as a scrap yard gate guard, the rest of her flight operational history was a mystery.

As I noted in the Article Feedback Forum, we did some research to find that operational history, but without luck. Ben and I then made inquiries to the Air Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. They have responded, and I'm happy to be able to share the history of Phantom 63-7637 with you now.

F-4C, s/n 63-7637, manufactured by McDonnell Aircraft, St. Louis MO and gained by the USAF on 29 Oct 1964.

Interesting. But what I saw next made me blink:

Nov 1964 To 4450th Combat Crew Training Wing (Tactical Air Command), Davis-Monthan AFB AZ.

DMAFB? The same place where she was retired and subsequently partially dismantled, and left to her gate guard duties? The same city I live in? What were the odds? Like I said, there certainly are stranger stories in military aviation, but for this aircraft, under these circumstances, most unusual.

I read on and saw that she had flown out of Japan, with deployments to Korea, was stationed at RAF Bentwaters, Torrejon AB Spain with deployment to Aviano AB, Italy, then to New Orleans, and her last official post, Fort Smith Arkansas.

And yet, I wanted to know more. And here's where you all come in.

On behalf of Ben Gimbert and myself, I'd like to ask for the assistance of SimHQ members in researching more of the details of this aircraft's life span. Not just where she flew and when, but what types of missions did she fly and who flew her. What operational highlights did she see? Was she involved in any intercepts and with what results? We're looking for a pilot's log of sorts and any information that can be gathered would be a very worthwhile addition to Ben's restoration project.

Perhaps you could consider this a homework assignment and a bit of a challenge as well.

Who can find the most information about this aircraft? The Internet is an amazing resource as we all know, and you guys are quite adept at mining those resources. Or perhaps some of you know people who were at the bases at about the same time as listed in her history and might recall a few of the tail numbers. You decide what avenues to sleuth and how to proceed.

I know we've got some really bright and good researchers out there and we're asking for your help. If discovering the operational highlight history of Phantom 63-7637 sounds like something you'd be interested in, we'd sure love to hear from you.

Send me an email, 20mm@simhq.com and let me know what you find out. We'll do a follow up article, depending on the results and share the information with all our readers.

We've already found out some unusual and interesting parts of the story. Who knows what else there may be, what stories this old warbird would tell if only she were able?

Perhaps, with a little help from her friends...

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