On May 10, 1972, Lieutenant Randy Cunningham and Lieutenant William Driscoll aimed to become the first American fighter ace pilots of the Vietnam War.
They had already taken down four enemy aircraft while piloting their exceptional McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II. Their fifth target was a solitary North Vietnamese MiG-17, but little did they know they were going against the infamous Colonel Tomb, a legendary ace pilot well-known in the North and South.
Cunningham recalled: (QUOTE) “I could see a Gomer leather helmet, Gomer goggles, Gomer scarf…and his intent Gomer expression… I began to feel numb. My stomach grabbed at me in knots. [As we zoomed some 8,000 feet straight up,] [there was no fear in this guy’s eyes].”
There was much dread in the air, but both pilots knew their long-range fighter was fast and powerful enough to prevail, and it was the perfect opportunity to earn their coveted title…
—
Join Dark Skies as we explore the world of aviation with cinematic short documentaries featuring the biggest and fastest airplanes ever built, top-secret military projects, and classified missions with hidden untold true stories. Including US, German, and Soviet warplanes, along with aircraft developments that took place during World War I, World War 2, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the Gulf War, and special operations mission in between.
As images and footage of actual events are not always available, Dark Skies sometimes utilizes similar historical images and footage for dramatic effect and soundtracks for emotional impact. We do our best to keep it as visually accurate as possible.
All content on Dark Skies is researched, produced, and presented in historical context for educational purposes. We are history enthusiasts and are not always experts in some areas, so please don’t hesitate to reach out to us with corrections, additional information, or new ideas.
source
also 9:36 , the ejection footage is from an A10, not F4
Can you do series on private aviation?
41,000 fps? Holy shit that’s FAST!!!!
The title has no bearing on the story.
Climbing 41k ft per second?
As a youth, I played soccer at a complex near the city airport. The National Guard unit stationed there flew the F-4 Phantom II. When one of those suckers took off, you couldn't hear yourself think. It was so crazy loud we just had to stop the soccer game in progress until it left the area.
could add Cunningham was one of the first successes of the Top gun school , and I thought they got guns ,after pilots aquired target out of visual ,but how could they fire ?,had a few words for the bright boys behind desks saying guns are obsolete , pretty sure they haven't repeated that wee fauxpas .
41000ft per SECOND?!! It was a spacecraft apparently. Haha! We all make mistakes. Per minute I believe. Great plane, great video.
Yes, to David just below, 41'000 feet per second is over Mach 7, a touch beyond the F4's capability. Imagine the turbine's rotational speed at Mach 7.7!
Cunnigham taded on his fame becoming a politiician then he and his son became dirty politicians.
I saw these for many years, thundering over our neighborhoods in the Rhein valleys. MDD Phantoms, mainly German F4F and USAF F4E models, and older Lockheed Starfighters, aka F104G, frequently went supersonic while under 1000 feet in Germany, rattling and even blowing out quite a few windows in the 60s and 70s. The bangs were quite spectacular and shook us to the bone, before they were restricted from flying low and fast. I remember watching these training flights as a kid, doing dog fights with afterburners, which looked like sparkling lights popping up and down in the skies. This is how I know what some manoeuvres look like from different distances, and I just laugh at people yelling about "UFOs", because they are so clueless about aircraft and how they look in different sky conditions.
This channel is ridded with silly mistakes. Should be more reasonable since these are meant to be factual videos.🎉
Col. Toomb was a variation of Soviet pilots that fought for the NVA
I love how this bird looks. So beautiful. But ofc, russian designs are better. 😀
This aircraft came into service almost 80 years ago. Today it is just scrap metal and a waste of money. Like most military equipment. What a waste.
And so I watched 11:19 minutes for seeing the "enemy that ended the F-4's superiority" and saw other things. What should be done about misleading titles?
I was stationed at Seymour Johnson AFB NC 1981-1987 as an Aircraft Armament Systems Specialist loading and unloading various munitions on the F4E assigned to the 336 AGS 4 TFW. The Phantom II was challenging to troubleshoot weapons issues on some Vietnam 70's models. I transferred to the USAF reserves right before the Wing began aquiring F15E aircraft that some maintenance personnel coined Super Phantoms. My time spent at Shady J sent me TDY to Ramstein AB GE. Nellis AFB NV, Patrick AFB FL and Eglin AFB FL. Great memories to Keep em Flying!
The f15 is the greatest fighter ever made. Did the f4 shoot down a satelite? No! Is the f4 undefeated? No! Does the f4 have guns? No! Is the f4 still in service? No! Flying just to be shot down in practice doesnt count!
I was done with this channel and all of its "Dark" relatives a year ago, due to all the egregious factual errors. I only clicked this by accident. Having done so, however, I decided to see if anything had changed. Nope; this channel never fails to disappoint. I can't imagine doing all the work to create a video, just to carelessly misinform, or deliberately lie to or annoy people. I just can't understand that mindset.
Clickbait!!!
A great video on a historic aircraft.
After the Vietnam war, when inquired by US officials, the Vietnamese officials answer was, "Colonel who?"
I saw phantoms flying in Spain at low level…Year 2000. Very impressive.
Hier Darcho Jandreoski Pegasus Galaktica 7 – Goze i Mara i Toshko i Kiro Jandreoski bea dojdeni niz W. BRD za RAF Udarna Sila za Attentati dojdeni od 1972 godina neznajte vie
41000 ft/sec ?😂
Id have a F4 and F14 in my front yard if I could!
They fought for Rothchild not for the people of America