RAF Phantom Pilot training - Released 1973

An RAF video, released in 1973, charting RAF pilot training from start, to flying the phantom.

[@sishorrock]

My Dad is the flight instructor at 19:15. Now 82 and as fit as a fiddle. Proud ☺️

[@odakyuodakyu6650]

you a 70s kid or an 80s kid?

[@gian7uc4]

❤

[@tba8241]

Well in Sir

[@gregsmith1070]

Brilliant

[@cmalberts]

Lucky to have a dad like that! How was his RAF career, and what did he do afterwards that kept him sharp and in shape?

[@lemon__j]

I was drunk last night and woke up and don't recall at all watching this, but the vid was open and halfway through. I'll watch it sober now.

[@mrsoikawa]

sounds like my KZbin watching practices lol

[@gohumberto]

Amazingly the Phantom is only about 6 feet shorter than a Lancaster Bomber and can carry 2 tonnes more payload. It's first flight was just 13 years after the end of WW2. Quite a technical achievement. Quite a progression.

[@louissanderson719]

What amazes me is how much an A4 sky hawk can carry compared to some of those WW2 bombers!

[@FallNorth]

The US have brought a converted single engine crop duster into service than can carry 6000 pounds of blowy uppy stuff, which is about as much as a fully bombed up B17 would carry. It's amazing when you think about it.

[@totomesch1940]

Roy Chadwick designed the Lancaster bomber and worked on the pre-lim designs of the jet powered Vulcan bomber....... Imagine that. That was the rate of progress within aviation...... What happened? Has it all gone 'Black'?.

[@andreasdavid2404]

Here in northern germany my first encounter with one of our f-4f's during a schools side trip was a phantom roaring down a small countryroad towards me, it was about 1976, and you heard..., nothing. At that moment this beast was over me and was screaming, howling, roaring and i felt that i was nearly blown off the road, she came in at treetop level. The next close encounter was in 1990 when i was in the navy at a landbased station in Aurich, east friesland near the north sea coast about 50 miles west of wilhelmshaven. The 71st german fighter wing (Richthofen Wing) was about 20 miles further away. At one evening in the summer, just right after sunset, i saw a slow and low flying phantom heading for Wittmund, the home of the JG 71. And suddenly "machte er seine Rücklichter an", "he turns his rear lights on", meaning, the pilot went on with the afterburner and roared away, great, great, great experience. I live in Bremerhaven near the the north sea coast and i saw more than often f4's doing their exercises over the city and the river Weser until they were phased out in 2013

[@totomesch1940]

The pilots used to use my Grandfather's farmhouse as a nav-aid on their nap-of-the-earth run-ins to Otterburn Ranges in th early 70's. As a small boy I used to stare in wonder at Phantoms, Jaguars, Lightenings, Buccaneers, Starfighters (German) and my all time favourite, the Vulcan, darkening the skies and then the howl as they passed overhead. Great days, great days.

[@callenclarke371]

My goodness! Groovy main theme! Wasn't expecting that.

[@chieftandriver703]

I remember the phantoms screaming over my head as I sat on a beach at Druridge Bay in Northumberland, fast and low as they headed inland. They were a common site over Northumberland where I grew up, Buccaneers and Jaguars as well as the occasional Lightning too. Happy memories

[@razorramon2786]

I remember go there and seeing the Buccaneer flying along with the F-111.

[@tonyburford421]

I remember lying on the beach in Kavos and a Greek F4 screaming past, best part of the holiday!!

[@davidhorsfield4462]

I worked on the OCU flightline during the seventies and went on to spend around 11 years of my 22 looking after the "Toom". Loved it

[@1tonyboat]

I served on 54 Sqn in the early 70`s as a armourer, seeing this video brought back so many memories,,,,even seeing `N` XV!!!

[@ditch46uk]

What a great video- thanks. My late Grandfather was an instructor at Cranwell on the Jet Provost. It's good to see the whole pilot training pathway.

[@johnnydiamondsmusic1673]

I used to supply the avionics for these in the 80s as a civi supplier including delivery of full nose radar systems from mounting in special to type container and delivery to flying stations. Just a part of the various jobs I did over 25 years.

[@user-qj9zu1ys5l]

An unfortunate side affect of flying the Phantom beyond the speed of sound was that when a pilot spoke you often heard their voice before they opened their mouth. The Biggin Hill Sergeant demonstrates this condition.

[@mullrump2]

😂

[@24934637]

This is one of the videos that the RAF provided for AIr Cadets to watch in the late 1980's......Produced before were born, and about aircraft so old that they would be out of service before we were old enough to join. Still an absolutely gorgeous aircraft though!

[@timwingham8952]

Wow. Thanks for posting this. And didn't those Phantoms look good in grey/green and roundels with white? Fantastic. Thanks again.

[@dasdguy7606]

Fascinating insight info flight training. Taking you from applicant to Cadet to primary then advanced training. From Cub to Phantom. Enjoyed your production. Thanks.

[@SRSR-pc8ti]

There were a couple of points where I half expected the Monty Python crew to drop by.

[@indyawichofficial1346]

Hillarious observation ! 🤣

[@FallNorth]

Wow I love the phantom but just clicking though this it's a total treasure trove of old RAF planes, totally unexpected. Provost, Hunter, even the Oscar EW-5894 Phallus! I remember in the air cadets waiting to be taken up and they put us in a room to watch a film about the Tornado, probably same team who made this down the line. The Tornado used to use I believe normal cassettes with data on them to load up missions like a ZX spectrum, wonder if the ground attack varian Phantom did?

[@makinganoise6028]

Interesting how they used the same music in Adult films of the time too.

[@Tim091]

The producer Arnold Miller was known mainly for adult films!

[@makinganoise6028]

@@Tim091 Back in the day, Britain had a flourishing Adult Film Industry, good old Arnold.

[@FragThePlanetIndustries]

Ah, the beloved thicc Phantom. An airframe aesthetic only a mother could love. Love these things tho, especially that mental Combat Tree tech they had in 'Nam. Mental they're still in service too (Greek air force still flies them as their CAS plane). Really tempted to get this upscaled and uploaded...

[@rjlchristie]

A classic post WW2 jet aircraft and one that is still awe inspiring to behold.

[@patthewoodboy]

I used to watch Phantoms running down the Teifi valley south of Tregaron , awesome

[@smokejaguar67]

It was this video that made me want to be an RAF fighter pilot back in the 70's. Turned out I was too thick for that so I ended up joining the army instead I have flown the chipmunk twice - I actually had 27 minuets with the control with the ATC. Lovely plane

[@yuglesstube]

Fancy cocktail parties in the army? Or was it beer and brawls? Amusing post.

[@Reforger777]

That was awesome ! The F4 is a beast!

[@rogerkay8603]

Interesting demographic there, loving the red/white/blue roundels on the big F4

[@maxflight777]

There was a Chris Kemp at Monarch ..circa 1993, lovely guy ! I’m curious about whether it’s the same man.

[@gazof-the-north1980]

I flew in the back of a Chipmunk as an air cadet in the early 90's. We were given sick bags and told - "if you are sick in the cockpit and dont use the bag - YOU clean it up!"

[@mrjockt]

They also told us that in the event of having to bail out they would push back the canopy, we then had to push it all the way to the rear, then the pilot would say “jump, jump, jump”, but reminded us that the third “jump” would be an echo because he would already be gone.

[@zonkedmusician1502]

I sadly missed the chance to have a go in the Chipmunk. Flew the Bulldog instead. Still absolutely loved it and I've never lost my love of flying.

[@Tim091]

Me too in the late 70's. Remember waddling out to the chippy with the man-sized parachute strapped to me! Not sure how we would have fared bailing out with no parachute training, but I suppose it would have been better than nothing!

[@mrjockt]

@@Tim091 Remember them telling us to try and aim for the trailing edge of the wing in order to avoid hitting the tailplane, that and where the rip-cord for the chute was were the total instructions.

[@BenLewis-ni1zb]

Jump jump Sir!

[@oliw3664]

Great piece of history. Really enjoyed this.

[@stuartanderson9053]

Patrick Allen voice over immediately bringing back Protect & Survive fear. Terrifying.

[@davebroadley6715]

My first memory of the Phantom was my bed vibrating across the transit block floor on my arrival at Coningsby, as two took off on QRA😂

[@benhill4092]

Groovy music baby!

[@TheFunkhouser]

I saw this when I was like 5 years old, and since then always wanted to be a fighter pilot.

[@joebloggs8422]

I remember when they had the air show at the old Speke airport, one of these went over on full afterburner 😍 the noise was incredible. Then the red arrows did their display flying the gnat

[@oNe-TwO-fReE]

Thank-You for this upload. Whenever I see the Phantom to me it looks so good. I have heard others say its an ugly aircraft but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. You should see what the missus looks like ...😆

[@MELLYBOY58]

Why do i keep thinking about Bristols ??✌️✌️🇬🇧🇬🇧

[@whitefields5595]

Its the music ....

[@Pathofplenty]

The words overdrive and infrared must have sounded sexy back then.

[@MrOshirinoana]

This isn't a training video, it is a recruitment video.

[@user-wz2qe2pv6r]

Patrigk Allen the sound of successful Britain after the war.

[@michaeljackson2838]

My favourite fighter aircraft

[@bastiaanstapelberg9018]

NF 5 vind ik zelf de mooiste jager maar deze heeft met zijn hangende vleugels ook wel wat

[@paulsuprono7225]

Phantom - flying brick !

[@donkovaleski6773]

Pigs In Space

[@dorsetdumpling5387]

Mean, moody, and magnificent...and I don’t mean the pilots!

[@mickhorsley3169]

I don't think 111 ever had a ground attack role? Pure AD.

[@edsutherland8266]

I have a feeling that they may have experimented with the EF.3 concept in the early 2000s. I know XI Squadron did, and the ALARM role is a form of ground attack, albeit a very specialised one.

[@notreallydavid]

As with all forces training films from decsdes past, I can't help wondering how things worked out for Chris. I hope it was well.

[@mikep2099]

I recall reading that he didn’t actually pass Phantom training and went on to become a Hercules pilot.

[@feenix8461]

@@mikep2099 Actually he had a very successful career. After earning his wings he went on to earn the whole sanitary towel, he was a bloody good pilot.

[@John-pn4rt]

The F4K and F4M how to take a perfectly good a/c put in more powerful engines... and make it slower than the original!

[@esr243]

Formidable !

[@ianbrett3276]

There's another documentary called Hands To Flying Stations you should watch from 1975 about flying from HMS Ark Royal, naval aviation is the true elite level of flying.

[@broadsworddannyboy1148]

I was at Mount Alice ' May -Sept 85' on West Falkkand ...F-4 came over one morning and inverted over Alice fllying the contour before sitting up all straight and proper and continue on its journey...not sure about safety height...cracking !!

[@lucmartin6611]

Exelent and interesting Chaps !

[@MyNamesJohnny14]

so cool man

[@Sailfire1]

Quite a beast, the phantom. I like the 60s porno musical overlay at the beginning, elements of The Sweeney, then taking you down with a chipmunk and provosts.

[@davehill584]

Phenomenal aircraft. Just read the specs!

[@robhavock9434]

As a kid, i remember seeing a Phantom fully loaded at Farmborough 74. The wings had a huge amount of attachments. I think the tornado replaced them as the Phantom did not have inbuilt weapons ? .

[@jpaulc441]

The attachments are usually called "hardpoints" where missiles, extra fuel tanks, rocket pods are attached. I'm not sure if there was a specific reason the Tornados replaced the Phantoms other than they were more advanced (Phantoms were 3rd generation jets, Tornados, 4th).

[@RoamingAdhocrat]

Farmborough is a Somerset village which I used to drive buses through ;)

[@ianmangham4570]

Farn

[@archstanton6310]

Awesome plane in its era .

[@stu176mmm]

12.14 .... RAF Valley a station on the edge of the mountains of Snowdonia ... have they moved it?

[@grahamthebaronhesketh.]

I have a Phantom F4. I fly it regularly in VR. It is very 1960's and on a par with the Lightning (english Electric) it lands far too fast and needs a parachute to stop.

[@rjlchristie]

Send all complaints to McDonnell Douglas, USA.

[@jmcw9632]

16:00 right Chris just what was that supposed to be? Wow i felt that like a red hot needle.

[@jamesjross]

12:45... not sure if I trust Chris

[@allgood6760]

Read: F4 Phantom A Pilot's Story by Robert Prest 👍

[@matthewturner3591]

John Barnard was a cameraman before becoming an F1 racecar designer? 😆

[@Dhendo7]

I just want to know what song they’re playing at the start… sounds so rad.

[@yuglesstube]

Cool simulator! Just like the LEM sim at NASA

[@deesolomon1957]

These F4 Phantoms also severed in the Falklands after 1982 . war .

[@xrobot8052]

Is that Orchid Road in Singapore?

[@kennethdrewary1094]

Used to see the Phantom in air shows, early 70s, they are ear splitting.

[@davidtozer802]

was that a clip of the mack loop ? any answers welcome ? 15.34 ?

[@zzodr]

Yep

[@ianmangham4570]

😮Hard to believe I'm old 😅

[@onetruekeeper]

If technology makes stealth obsolete then we could see a return of fighters like the F-4 Phantom.

[@weyman4317]

I wonder about TSR2?- what could have been Mr. Wilson?

[@CrazyRussianPilot]

👍👍👍👍

[@notreallydavid]

Colours were different then, kids.

[@ahmedhumayunrasheed2434]

17:14 - Flight Lieutenant briefing!

[@izzyhay1310]

Cool

[@schaeferschaefer2624]

3:05 it’d be easier to understand him if he spoke English

[@alfabethev2.074]

😃How fitting to drive a SAAB 99 in a film about flying( s a a b = Swedish aeroplane company)!

[@mrsoikawa]

I saw no mention of the importance of having a beautiful Shakespearian accent.

[@criostoirashtin11]

What did the Phanton replace?

[@speedbirdconcordeBOAB]

It probably replaced the English Electric Lightning in the UK.

[@jonofalltradesmasterofnone832]

It did in CXI squadron at wattisham my father left the RAF when this happened and went with the lightning to support the SAAF on avionics on the ferranti radar system.

[@speedbirdconcordeBOAB]

@@jonofalltradesmasterofnone832 Was your father there at the time of the Black Arrows? I think they were disbanded in 1960.

[@jonofalltradesmasterofnone832]

@@speedbirdconcordeBOAB my father was there from early 67 until 72 the black arrows had hunters until 1960 swapping out to F1a 56 squadron had a display team that was replaced by CXI squadron in 1965. I am sure my father would have worked on them as any display team at the time was operational first display second. I would ask him but he passed away 10 years ago after suffering with Alzheimer’s for the previous 8 years. He always spoke of the lightning with reverence even in his last years.

[@kukmica6422]

🥰👍

[@d.tim1989]

Did the UK buy F4’s off the US? I’m guessing we never used them in a war else I’d have already known.

[@highlands]

Yes we did. Technically they all came from the USA but only one type was identical to the ones in American service, specifically the F.3's which were former USN F-4J's. I remember being told that some of them arrived with non-standard patches that presumably were repairs to battle damage and they had to be rejected. I suppose if we're being picky, they were used in the Cold War, which was the purpose they were bought for. I sat in one as a kid in Cyprus about 1990.

[@yuglesstube]

I saw two flying low over Spain in 2000.

[@odakyuodakyu6650]

whos the narrator?

[@vinceeade6349]

Ahhh, takes me back to my seven years at Wattisham on twenty three and shifty fix squadrons. Shame they took the gas axe to em in the nineties.

[@hrkielman]

Damn, the guy has his eyes almost shut! Is he awake? Is he whatever ...?

[@leftypick4854]

Shaw AFB, SC. RF-4 sees. Loud and proud. 1974. Dumbo!

[@sukottora]

Chris went on to fly for Ryanair on the route between Manchester and Malaga. He spent much of his day ejecting drunken Mancunians who turned up to the lunchtime flight too drunk to fly and fending off attacks from overenthusiastic hen parties. He says he wishes he trained as a plumber instead because he would have had less shit to deal with.

[@trident1314]

Really? Would have thought he would have flown for a decent airline TBH

[@jimdavis8391]

Who's the narrator? Familiar...

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

Patrick Allen, as named in the opening credits.

[@wildphil64]

@@neiloflongbeck5705I thought it was Miles Cholmondley-Warner (Chumley Warner) 😮

[@65gtotrips]

Pretty interesting how they have the young cadet flying the ‘Chipmunk’ in full flight suit, helmet, and oxygen mask.

[@buy.to.let.britain]

it was known as the fannytom because you could get all the girls on the airbase if you flew one.

[@oscoe]

And lastly..we shall retire to the saloon bar and enjoy a number of real ales.

[@yuglesstube]

Sorry old chap. Scotch and pink gins are perfectly acceptable. Beer is for the ah...other services.

[@kippamip]

When Britain was great.

[@jimballantine4408]

Yr kidding?????? Ever heard of the TSR 2?

[@jimdavis8391]

Still is, that's why people come here. Let's keep it that way. Amen.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

1973 the year of the Cod War (which Iceland won), IRA bombings in London and elsewhere, industrial unrest over pay restrictions imposed by the Heath government to control inflation (inflation had reached 8.4%), an oil crisis caused by Heath's government supporting Israel, shares on the London Stock Exchange lost £4,000,000,000 in value in a single day. And worse still Sunderland won the FA Cup. Do hardly a Great Britain.

[@wildphil64]

Using American planes in spite of our own ex plane building companies that were second to none? We used to be far greater, I’m afraid

[@apexdesigns3136]

Sir Jimmy

[@eugenemurray2940]

Skyflash

[@markcooke5270]

1970's Porn music included

[@amancalledkev]

Good Lord! All these future migrant camps!

[@andrewdaley5480]

Sleeper cell camps. 🇬🇧

[@flybobbie1449]

Old JP doesn't spin fast.

[@johnned4848]

Whom was this shown to? The general public? Possible pilot trainees?

[@mrjockt]

Many of these sorts of short films were shown in the cinema in between features back in the early ‘70s.

[@johnned4848]

@@mrjockt thanks. In the states this seems like the kind of thing a television station would shove on if they happened to have unexpected gap in programming

[@mrjockt]

@@johnned4848 It was seeing these sorts of short films that ended up with me joining the RAF in the late seventies.

[@johnned4848]

@mrjockt wow very cool!

[@notreallydavid]

​@@mrjocktSo the films worked!

[@rjlchristie]

Not popular in Vietnam.

[@tomspeed2000]

All those nonsense tests , selecting process, candidate ability’s..start happening right after ww2, is not about just piloting but going wildly to any directions.. before ww2 any person can become almost anything what he interested or wanted.. many of those simply reachable job’s for everyone at past turns to the impossible and remain as a dream’s

[@RoamingAdhocrat]

"before WW2 any person can become almost anything he wanted"… if by "person" you mean "straight white man". I'm glad those days are behind us and some of those obstacles are demolished now!

[@wash_out]

Worth 2 million pounds. LOL

[@dryflyman7121]

Very interesting, thank you. He’ll be about mid seventies now, if still alive and hopefully enjoying a well deserved retirement. Wonder if he went on to Tornados eventually? Typical training film from the 70’s, dreadful quality and even worse music !

[@mikep2099]

I recall reading that he didn’t actually pass Phantom training and but went on to become a Hercules pilot.

[@cmalberts]

​@mikep2099 yes, Hercules pilot with 30 Sqn. I also heard he later moved to New Zealand and became and inspector for the Kiwi CAA.

[@fullycharged2268]

2 million quid it's so cheap😂😂

[@UncleBoratagain]

Reinstate those so egregiously and recently rejected from RAF training for no valid reason!

[@ianmangham4570]

Disgusting, unfortunately the country is lost 🇬🇧🙏