One of the most famous and easily recognized fighter aircraft of the post-WWII era was the McDonnell F-4 Phantom II. This aircraft was developed as a private venture by the aircraft company but was soon ordered by the USN as a carrier-based attack aircraft. Its first flight took place on May 27, 1958 and it entered active service in December 1960. It wasn’t long after the F-4B appeared that a fly-off was set up with USAF front-line fighters. It was no contest, the F-4 performed so well that the USAF ordered their own variant, the F-4C. As time went on, the F-4 evolved into well over a dozen variants.

VF-111 “Sundowners” re-equipped with the F-4B Phantom II in early 1971. In November 1971 VF-111 returned to the Gulf of Tonkin onboard the USS Coral Sea where they spent 148 days. 29 F-4s were loaned to the USAF when they were planning to acquire the Phantom as their primary fighter. These aircraft had USAF tail numbers and FJ-170, FJ-171 etc. on the fuselage. One of these 29 was VF-111 NL200 151000 CAG given tail number 62-12184 FJ-184 and when the USAF acquired their F-4Cs these 29 aircraft were returned to the USN