In 1963, as Soviet Tu-95 bombers pushed NATO response times to mere minutes, Britain faced a critical defense gap. Budget constraints left the Royal Navy without a modern fighter capable of intercepting threats at supersonic speeds. Facing being outdone by the Soviets, a desperate Britain did the unthinkable: they turned to a foreign warplane for a solution.
The American McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II caught their eye. A Vietnam veteran boasting Mach 2.2 speed, cutting-edge avionics, and staggering 18,000-pound payload capacity. But for the nation that had produced the Spitfire and Harrier, simply adopting the Phantom wasn’t enough – they aimed to perfect it.
The F-4K Phantom FG.1 was born, a distinctly British interpretation of American muscle. At its core roared all-new Rolls-Royce Spey Turbofans with 30% more thrust. But this power came at a price. During trials aboard HMS Ark Royal, a pilot spooled up his engine for takeoff, unleashing exhaust 150 degrees Celsius hotter than expected. Steel warped, paint bubbled, and to the shock of all present, the flight deck of Britain’s mightiest carrier began to melt…
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There's a big energy and temperature difference between warping steel and actually melting it. The latter would take much more heat to accomplish.
So the caption of this video should be The Fighter That WARPED An Aircraft Carrier DECK
(but of course that sounds less intriguing than melt).
ANOTHER INFORMATIVE AND EXCELLENT VIDEO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The use of afterburners must have been an issue on U.S. carriers even with the U.S. variant of the F-4, let alone the more powerful F-18. Anything close (let alone touching) two 20 foot long supersonic flame fronts will be scorched Heck, even the STOVL F-35B, which does not use afterburners on takeoff, requires deck modifications to handle the heat from the downwards directed jet wash.
P.S. Thumbs up for an interesting article. One request though …. please turn down the volume on the music. It's loud enough to be a distraction.
Has Britain ever not been desperate when it came to funding defense capabilities? You seriously could put 1964 with 2024 and Nothing has changed in the British defense industry. They are still underfunded, clueless and rely on America to come save them in any war scenario.
The sad thing was had Britain just bought US F-4 with J79. They would have saved a lot of money and could have bought more numbers or funded F-111K. But once again British Pride killed this and their military.
From other comments about performance at altitude being less with the British engines; makes me giggle. Just the opposite of what the Merlin did for the Mustang
Yes it was and they changed the p 51 as well
melting a deck isnt melting an entire aircraft carrier. civilians arent experts on military shit they READ
Man, she was a gorgeous aircraft.
British dominance and air power? They weren’t even smart enough to use it in the only conflict they ever had. The falklands
So they basically took what was already a beast and turned it into a monster lol that's epic
The entire fuselage from the air intakes all the way to the tail section of the plane was widened, not just parts of it!
Back in the day we used the F4 on the Lexington (CVT-16) which had a wooden deck. She would smolder a bit after heavy flight ops.
Top speed and high altitude performance was pretty much irrelevant for the Phantom, but the Spey engined Phantoms were superior in almost all other aspects. I am not even discussing the leading edge slats installed from 1972 onwards (S/E and F models), wich restricted CLEAN Phantoms to Mach 1.6-1.8 anyways.
The British would have done better with the Phantom had they not have been preoccupied with lining their limey pockets
And all this fuss for only 24 F-4Ks ever delivered to the FAA for carrier operations
. The other 24 F-4Ks went straight to the RAF wich actually did not require any of these modifications and could have bought standard F-4Ds or Es for a 3rd of the price 
Wait, the British used to have angled decks and catapults, what happened to make them go backwards with the QE carriers?
Argentine here: 1- It was fortunate for us that the Royal Navy did not have the Phantoms in 1982, not only would they be a greater threat to our fighter planes, since with their greater range they would also have intercepted our tankers.
2- I understand that the Phantoms that went to Mount Pleasant were ex-US Marines and therefore with j-79 engines, please correct me if I am wrong on the latter.
More cliches, very strange vocal patterns
I forgot how cool they looked! It shows what a false economy cost reductions can be. I wonder how the cost of a new fighter would have compared to the phantom + aircraft carrier upgrades. Plus I wonder if it would have been cheaper to have kept the big carriers, phantoms and buccaneers and not had to fight the Falklands war??? (assuming it would have been enough to dissuade Argentina from invading in the first place). What was it they used to use as an awacs/ radar jamming plane??? Fairey Gannet??
10:02 That's a Buccaneer.
your video may be interesting, but because of mid roll ads, I con not continue to watch.
Does anybody know, what's the background music? Shazam can't cope with it….