← F-4 Phantom II McDonnell Douglas · Variant 3 of 7

McDonnell RF-4B / RF-4C / RF-4E Phantom II

The unarmed camera Phantom — a longer nose full of cameras and sensors · First flight 1963 · In service 1964

The reconnaissance Phantom replaced the radar and missiles with a longer nose housing cameras, a small AN/APQ-99 mapping radar and, later, infrared and side-looking radar sensors. The YRF-4C prototype flew in August 1963 and the first production RF-4C on 18 May 1964. 503 RF-4Cs were built, 499 of them accepted by the US Air Force, which flew its first combat reconnaissance sorties with the type over Vietnam in October 1965.

The US Marine Corps bought 46 RF-4Bs, a Navy-style version with folding wings and an arrester hook, first flown on 12 March 1965; modernised under Project SURE from 1975, they flew from carriers and land bases until 1990. The RF-4C became the USAF's last manned tactical reconnaissance aircraft and served into the 1990s with the Air National Guard.

The RF-4E was the export version, based on the F-4E airframe; 149 were built for customers including West Germany, Japan, Greece, Turkey, Israel and Iran. Japan's 501st Squadron retired its RF-4E/RF-4EJ fleet on 9 March 2020, and Greece retired its RF-4Es on 5 May 2017.