OK, I am not a Phantom Phreak, but I am a Phantom Phan. I have only built about 20 F-4s in the last 10 years. I also drove about 80 miles from home to Springfield, IL, to watch a couple of F-4Ds take off.

The chapters are:

• In the Beginning
• To Battle
• CAS, McCutcheon and Control
• The Toughest Years
• Golden Hawk Eyes
• Appendices

Also included are 30 color side view profiles of USMC combat Phantom IIs.

I found this book to be a wealth of information about the Marines’ deployments to Vietnam from 1966 to 1973. The chapters cover a unit’s deployment and a history which hits the high points of operations.

Not only are the aircraft well covered, but each mission calls out the names of the pilot and RIO, with super detail about whatever happened that is considered interesting. With most units flying 500+ missions per month, it’d be extremely difficult, not to mention tedious, to recount every one, but the interesting ones are there.

Note the cover illustration. It has to be one of the more interesting “there I was” stories, as the F-4 is coming off the target with one of the napalm canisters on fire and still attached to the wing. The wing caught fire, they ejected, and were picked up off the coast, 25 miles from Da Nang.

And this book is just filled with interesting facts, neat stories, and little tidbits about the F-4 as a warplane. Like the one where one Phantom fired all 4 of the AIM-7 Sparrows as a salvo, which surprised both of the crew members as they hadn’t set any switches or pushed any buttons. Probably just an electrical problem?

OVERALL EVALUATION: Highly recommended. There’s a lot of info in the profiles and photographs which will allow you to build a combat Marine F-4. And I just love all of the stories.

Thanks to Osprey Publishing and IPMS USA for the chance to review this book.