The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom is probably one of the most iconic aircraft of all time. Originally developed for the U.S. Navy, the F-4 found it’s way to the Marine Corps and U.S. Air Force. This highly capable aircraft went on to become the most produced American supersonic aircraft in history. Due to its capabilities, the F-4 also served with the air forces in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

This book explores the FG.1, FGR.2, and F-4J(UK) in service with the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. The text is laid out in three chapters, each focusing on a specific variant. The introduction includes technical specifications for each variant and a list of British Phantom production numbers is a nice touch. Each chapter provides a thorough discussion of Phantom operations specific to each variant. Color photos and captions supplement the well written text. No line drawings are provided but the large amount of color photos offsets this. Chapter two has a special section dedicated to Falklands Phantoms, a thoughtful addition. An eight-page walk around section is provided with detail photos of landing gear, wheel wells, engine exhausts, ejection seats and various airframe details.Following the walk around photos, the reader is greeted with five pages of inspiring side profiles. The book concludes with a section on modeling, hence the series header, Real to Replica. Four kit builds are featured, two 1/72^nd scale (Italeri & Airfix) and two 1/48^th scale (Italeri & Hasegawa/Revell).Each builder gives impressions and improvements made to the various kits. No in progress photos are included but completed model photos allow the reader to see the finished product. Very useful in case you can’t decide which kit you want to build.

The F-4 Phantom is an icon of aviation and this book does a very good job of giving the reader a large amount of information in a concise format. A big thank you to Phoenix Scale Publications for the review sample.