McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II

Turkey


One of the most prominent Phantom users is the Türk Hava Kuvvetleri ([Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] or THK), which operates about 233 F-4s.

Under the Peace Diamond I program 40 F-4Es were ordered, with deliveries starting in August 1974, although completion of
the order was delayed by an arms embargo following the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]. These aircraft equipped 161 Filo (Squadron) at 6 Ana Jet Us (Jet-aircraft air Base, also called JAB).

After re-equipping with [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] these Phantoms were sent to 7 JAB for 171 and 172 Filo.

Filo 173 at the same base was the Operational Conversion Unit.

Peace Diamond III was an additional phase of the plan to reinforce the THK, always striving to keep a balance with the Greek [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], because even though both are NATO countries, Greece and Turkey are historical enemies and there have been air clashes over the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] between them.

Filo 111, 112, 113, all based on JAB 1, Eskisheir, were the new Phantom units. The 111th and 112th Filo received 32 F-4Es replacing their aging [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

The 113 Filo replaced their even older [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] with eight RF-4Es.

With this last batch of F-4s and plans to acquire [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], the THK was quickly being modernized. Before these aircraft arrived the THK had operated fighters such as the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], plus the economical [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].


With 80 Phantoms on order, the strength of the THK was increased to new levels.

Other fighters, seen as supplemental to the F-4E, were purchased as well. These included 40 [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], the improved Starfighter, with the same missiles and engines as used on the Phantoms.

These equipped Filo 142 and 172.

Compared to the F-4s they were considerably less expensive and were used as interceptors.

The Turkish F-4 fleet was enhanced with 15 ex-USAF aircraft delivered in 1981 to Filo 173 and finally, another 15 delivered in 1984 to replace fleet losses.

Peace Diamond IV was another program to reinforce the THK and was carried out between June and October 1987.

Under this program 40 F-4Es were delivered to 131 and 132 Filo, 3 JAB, Konya.

Before that, this wing was only a training unit equipped with the last Turkish F-100s.

After the conversion it became an operational formation.
^{[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]}
Turkey assisted in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] without entering the fighting directly, by opening their airbases to the Coalition air forces and hosted Belgian [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], German [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and Italian [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

As a reward for their help another 40 ex-USAF Phantoms were delivered to 112 and 172 Filo, beginning on 25 March 1991.

At that time, the USAF was phasing-out large quantities of older aircraft, reducing their strength by over 1,000 F-4C/D/Es.

But even if old, these aircraft were desirable to countries like Turkey who already had F-4 fleets.

The U.S. did not have enough RF-4s to sell to meet international demands, so when the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] phased out their remaining 88 RF-4Es during 1992–93, 32 were delivered to the THK in 1992–94.

All of these went to 113 Filo, [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]. Later, when 173 Filo passed their F-4Es to 172 Filo, they equipped with RF-4Es.

By the end of that reorganization, Filo 171 became a ground attack unit, 172 interception and 173 reconnaissance.

That delivery completed the THK F-4 fleet.[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]

Operational Use

Many of the Turkish Phantoms are used as ground attack aircraft, a role they fit well due to the systems installed, especially the ex-USAF aircraft.

The first Phantoms delivered to the THK had Vietnam-colours and TISEO equipment, consisting of one camera with zoom for enemy aircraft visual identification outside of normal optical range.

The F-4s acquired from USAF stocks were ex-110 TFS and 141 TFS (Both [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] squadrons) and arrived painted in "Egyptian one" camouflage, an air-superiority paint scheme consisting of two different shades of blue, despite being best-suited for ground attack.

The last batch delivered had AVQ-23A Pave Spike laser designation pods.

RF-4 E

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir cette image]

Upgrades

Buying a more sophisticated supersonic fighter, like the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] or [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], was too expensive and instead, the THK decided to upgrade its Phantom fleet with improvements to avionics and structure, but not to the engines.

In August 1995, after a hotly contested competition with [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] (F-4 ICE), [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] was awarded a [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]600M contract to upgrade 54 F-4Es to Phantom 2000s.

The first 26 aircraft were rebuilt in Israel, and the other 28 in Turkey.


Structure

Small strakes above the air intakes to improve agility, new attachment fittings, engine mountings, stronger wing fold ribs, updated canopy sill bar, 12 mi (20 km) of wiring replaced (reducing weight by 1,653 lb/750 kg) as well as most hydraulic and pneumatic lines and hoses, and fuel tank reinforcements.