Aspen Avionics is donating an Evolution Pro 1000 Primary Flight Display to the Collings Foundation for installation in the last airworthy F-4 Phantom in the United States.
Since 1999, the Phantom has been operated, along with other Viet Nam-era aircraft by the Collings Foundation. It is one of the most important military aircraft in the history of the United States. This F-4 Phantom was retired by the United States Air Force in 1996 after nearly 40 years of service and retirement threatened to end the chance for people to see an aircraft in flight that contributed to the country’s history.
Because of Aspen’s modular and flexible design, coupled with its open architecture philosophy, the Evolution Pro PFD can replace failing mechanical instrumentation in a variety of aircraft – including the F-4 Phantom.
“Aspen Avionics takes enormous pride in helping organizations like the Collings Foundation to preserve rare, historical aircraft,” said Perri Coyne, director of marketing operations. “Aspen Avionics has always been an advocate of keeping historic aircraft relevant and flying safely to help preserve the memory of their great past so we can share its history for future aviators. Examples of this include equipping AT-6 Texans for both the AeroShell Aerobatic Team and Geico SkyTypers with Aspen primary and multi-function displays,” said Coyne.
“The Collings Foundation is thrilled to receive the support from Aspen Avionics with the donation of a new Evolution Pro 1000 PFD to go in the only flying F-4 Phantom in the United States. This avionics upgrade will be integral to the continued operation of this iconic jet. The legacies of our veterans and history of the Viet Nam war are represented through the operation of the legendary F-4 Phantom. There is no better way to honor these veterans than though the spectacular sight of an F-4 streaking across the sky. Aspen Avionics is playing an important role in helping us keep the last Phantom flying for generations to come,” said Rob Collings, executive director of the Collings Foundation.
Correct, the Air Force F-4 drones are done as of Dec 2016. The Collings Phantom is currently the only flyable F-4 in the US. For the record it has smokeless (well, nearly smokeless) J-79 engines. The Collings F-4 had operational original equipment flight displays for the first 18 years they operated the a/c…not too shabby and speaks to their desire to keep the Phantom as historically accurate as possible. The HSI/ADI replacement will be the first major instrument upgrade to their F-4D.
Remember when they did this with P-47, P-51, P-38 and all the other great aircraft. These people will never learn!
I saw the same pair of F-4s in Panama Beach last summer. They still smoke like crazy. The drones out of Elgin Air Base are painted a lovely color of fluorescent orange. Camouflage or orange those huge fighters Flying by are still an impressive site.
Sorry it is Tyndall not Elgin.
Hmmm, seems to me I saw 2 USAF F4’s put on quite a show at last year’s Oshkosh event. Seems the USAF has many of these used as drones around Tyndall AFB near Panama City FL. These drones can apparently also be flown by mere mortal human pilots as needed. This was as of July 2016 – but,,, maybe something has changed since then ??
The last of the QF-4 drones has supposedly been used up and they are now using early model QF-16’s pulled from the boneyard. Check out this news article for further information:
https://www.airforcetimes.com/story/military/2015/05/30/qf4-targeting-drone-last-flight/28015077/