Raaf Phantom Aircrew, aircrew

G'day All,
I have just discovered the joys of the ADF site forum.
Anyway...I would like to put together a list of RAAF Pilots and Navigators who were
qualified on the F-4E in RAAF service.As most of you would know the F-4 was only
operated for a short time so I would imagine the list would'nt be to large.Anyhow
any ideas where I can obtain such info? Regards Mark

HI Mark,welcome aboard.
Don't forget that some RAAF pilots and navigators seved with USAF Phantom units on exchange duty, including Vietnam. One in particular I remember was then Wing Commander Lyal Klaffer. No doubt some of the team members will be able to steer you in the right direction.
Cheers,
Rod.

Thanks Rod,
I have a half a dozen crew names so far that i have seen in books
or even photos of aircrew with their nametags on their flightsuits!.I know Klaffer
was one of a few pilots on exchange with the USAF along with some performing
the FAC role...and of course highly regarded as our aircrew always are.Regards Mark.

I know an ex-Phantom Nav (although I haven't seen him for a while lately). If I see him again I'll remember to ask him

Thanks Dean,I'd appreciate any help.Regards mark

Mark do you have access to the book" Phantom, Hornet and Skyhawk in Australian service" by Stewart Wilson?? There are a few crews listed in there for various significant events etc.
Cheers,
Rod.

Thanks Rod, I do have the abovementioned book along with "Target Charlie" by
Steve Eather and "Mission Vietnam" by George Odgers both of which have some useful information.

This is what I know so far concerning RAAF F-4 Phantom aircrew....

Flt Lt J L Ellis (Pilot)
flew F-4C's and F-4D's with the 559th TFS / 12th TFW and 389th / 37th TFW USAF
during the Vietnam War.

Sqn Ldr Stuart C Fisher (Pilot)
perished in the loss of RAAF F-4E 69-7203 off Evans Head,NSW 16/06/71.

Wing Cdr Roy Frost (Pilot)

Wing Cdr Lyall Klaffer (Pilot)
flew RF-4C's with the 16th TRS / 460th TRW USAF during the Vietnam War (51 Ops)

Flt Lt Kevin Merrigan (Pilot)

Flt Lt Lindsay Naylor (Pilot)
flew F-4D's with the 389th TFS / 12th TFW USAF during the Vietnam War (140 Ops)

Wing Cdr Roy Phillips (Pilot)

Sqn Ldr Alan Reed (Pilot)
flew RF-4C's with the 12th TRS / 460th TRW USAF during the Vietnam War (100 Ops)

Sqn Ldr Hans Roser (Pilot)
flew F-4C's and F-4D's with 557th TFS / 12th TFW USAF during the Vietnam War
(165 Ops)

Sqn Ldr Dave N Rogers (Pilot)

Flt Lt R Sivyer (Pilot)

Sqn Ldr K G Smith (Pilot)

Sqn Ldr Ian Whisker (Pilot)
flew F-4D's with 480th TFS / 12th TFW during the Vietnam War (140 Ops)

Flt Lt E J B Bolger (Navigator)

Flt Lt L J Cavanagh (Navigator)
flew combat missions with 2 Sqn RAAF Canberra's during the Vietnam War.

Flt Lt Robert J Waring (Navigator)
flew combat missions with 2 Sqn RAAF Canberra's during the Vietnam War.
perished in the loss of RAAF F-4E 69-7203 off Evans Head,NSW 16/06/71.

If anyone has any additional information concerning RAAF Phantom flyers would be great......Regards mark

Hi Mark.
Looks like you've scanned the books pretty well, I came up with the same list of names, happy hunting.
Cheers,
Rod.

Keep in mind that not only did we have F-4 pilots for the 24 jets we had and the guys on exchange in Vietnam, we also had many a Mirage jock do a tour on exchange in the USA, Bruce Connell is one that comes to mind (flew F-4s in the US)

Changa

G'day Paul,
Thanks for the name.Can you give me any other info on Bruce Connell...ie Rank,the USAF Sqns/Wing he served with....

As you can see by my list of 13 Pilots and 3 Navigators Iam sure there must
be a lot more even with only 24 operational aircraft.Thanks again.

PS....I wonder if anyone will do a crew list of Aussie Pig Pilots and Nav's.I think
that is about the only thing missing from F-111.net !!!!!!!!!

Mark,
Here is a Nav for you.

FLGOFF Frank Burtt. He retired from the RAAF in 1996 as an Air Commodore and now lives in the Blue Mountains near Katoomba. I haven't seen him for many months. He flew the second "1st flight" of the of "7234" that was rebuilt by 3AD at Amberley. He told me that he and his pilot had orders to punch out if the aircraft even looked like flying "sideways" so FLGOFF Burtt sat in the seat clutching the ejection handles for the entire flight.

Just checked Stewart Wilson's book and on pg 61 there is a photo of KG Smith (listed already) and SQNLDR R.J. Montgomery (mustering unknown).

Here's a (hopefully) helpful hint for you, Mark. Contact Defence Public Relations and try and get a contact name for 1 and 6 SQN's and let them know what you are doing. I'm sure the Squadrons have a designated PR Officer and would keep in touch with many ex-phlyers (pun intended).

G'day Dean,
Thanks for the info and suggestions.
Regards Mark

Mark,
sorry for the slow reply, been busy. I'm not sure what unit Bruce Connell flew with in the states, but I do know he was an instructor on F-4's in the USA and also was involved in ferry flights to other countries,
his rank, I think he was a FLTLT when he went over but a SQNLDR when he came back to Mirages at 3sqn.

changa

G'day Paul,
Thanks for the info.....and late info is better than none.If only we all had more time!.

Regards Mark

Probably outside your scope of reference Mark, but the Navy had an ex Phantom Pilot. LCDR Peter Marshall was an ex RN Phantom phlyer who emigrated and flew A4s for the RAN in the 70/80s.

G'day gph,
Thanks for the info on LCDR Peter Marshall but yes it's not within the
scope of my list.
Anyway i appreciate the info....and i must say what an interesting career LCDR Marshall had flying RN F-4's and RAN A-4's.I bet he has some good yarns to tell!

Regards mark

Okay,

I've been doing a bit of digging on the Phantom jocks and navs.

you already have the six guys that flew F-4s in Nam
Lyle Klaffer, Alan Reed, Hans Roser, John Ellis, Ian Whisker and Lindsay Naylor. Of those guys Klaffer, Reed and Ellis came back from their exchange tours and flew the F-4 in RAAF service, Alan Reed actually obtained 1000hrs on F-4s whilst flying RAAF Phantoms. Roser, Whisker and Naylor went back to Mirages after their exchange tours.

Now as for the RAAF Phantoms, the first four F-4 pilots to do the training in the states were
FLGOFF Trev Noblet
FLGOFF John Ross
FLTLT Dave Rogers
SQNLDR Ken Smith

the first batch of Navs to go to the states for training were
FLTLT A. Lockett
FLGOFF L. Cavanagh
FLTLT Chris Lake
FLTLT A.D. Kirby
FLTLT L. Halvorson
SQNLDR Alan Green
FLTLT R. Waring
FLTLT F. Burtt
SQNLDR B. Hicks

Other pilots to fly the F-4 in RAAF service were
FLGOFF P. Salvair
FLTLT Brian Fooks
SQNLDR Roy Phillips
WGCDR Roy Frost
FLTLT Kev Merrigan

RAAF Navs
FLTLT B. Bolger
SQNLDR R. Montgomery

As has been pointed out a number of Mirage pilots flew F-4s on exchange with the USAF, Bruce Connell being just one that I know of
Another pilot I know flew F-4s was Marty Susans, now I haven't rang him to find out if that was on exchange or in RAAF F-4s, but he did fly F-111s later in his career so it could have been RAAF F-4s

They are all the names I could dig up (other than ones you already had), your best bet from here would be to contact either 1 & 6SQNs to go through their history sheets or get in touch with the RAAF History section in Canberra (David Nelmes) and go through the copies of the history sheets they have, note you will have to go to Canberra to view them.

Changa

This post has been edited by Paul Mason on Mar 20 2006, 07:11 AM

G'day Changa,
Thanks for the phantastic list of RAAF F-4 Pilots and Navs.I will
update my list and send it to ADF serials as soon as possible.Also thanks for the
tips on info as to whom and where i can get further details.
Once again thanks for your help.

Regards mark

Mark - you might contact the RAAF museum at Point Cook where they have an RAAF F-4 on display and some historical information. I have some old photos (B&W) of them at Amberley circa early 70's.

roy

Thanks Roy,I'll send a letter via snail mail.
regards mark

This is my latest list of RAAF Phantom aircrews,thanks to an e-mail I received
from Wg Cdr Alan Lockett MBE (ret) giving me some further info.

Flt Lt Graham Barker

Flt Lt E B J Bolger (N)

Flg Off Frank E Burtt (N)
Navigator on RAAF Canberra's with 2 Sqn during the Vietnam War.1 of the 9 initial RAAF Navs to train in the US.Navigator aboard 69-7234 on her first flight after re-build by 3AD.

Flt Lt L J Cavanagh (N)
1 of the initial 9 RAAF Navs to train in the US.

Flt Lt Pete Condon

Flt Lt Bruce Connell (P)
Also flew RAAF Mirages.

Flt Lt John L Ellis (P)
flew USAF F-4C's and F-4D's with the 559th TFS / 12th TFW and 389th TFS / 37th TFW during the Vietnam War.

Sqn Ldr Stuart C Fisher (P)
RAAF Test pilot.

Flt Lt Brian Fooks

Wing Cdr Roy Frost (P)

Flt Lt Jim Graham

Flt Lt Alan Green (N)

Flt Lt Peter Growder (N)
Navigator onboard F-111C A8-141/6 Sqn crashed into Hauracki Gulf near Auckland,New Zealand after fire 25/10/78.Pilot Dave Rogers (later Air Vice Marshall) and Navigator Peter Growder (later Air Commodore) ejected OK.

Sqn Ldr Alan Green (N)
1 of the initial 9 RAAF Navs to train in the US.

Flt Lt Lance Halvorson (N)
1 of the initial 9 RAAF Navs to train in the US.

Sqn Ldr B Hicks (N)
1 of the initial 9 RAAF Navs to train in the US.

Wg Cdr Vin Hill

Flt Lt John Kennedy

Flt Lt A D Kirby (N)
1 of the initial 9 RAAF Navs to train in the US.

Wing Cdr Lyall Klaffer (P)
flew RF-4C's with the 16th TRS / 460th TRW during the Vietnam War (51 Ops).

Flt Lt Chris Lake (N)
1 of the initial 9 RAAF Navs to train in the US.

Flt Lt Merv Lewis

Flt Lt Alan Lockett (N)
1 of the initial 9 RAAF Navs to train in the US.

Flt Lt Mick Lucas

Flt Lt Kevin Merrigan (P)

Sqn Ldr Robert J Montgomery (N)
Navigator on RAAF Canberra's with 2 Sqn during the Vietnam War.

Flt Lt Lindsay Naylor (P)
flew USAF F-4D's with the 389th TFS / 12th TFW during the Vietnam War (140 Ops).Also flew RAAF Mirages.

Flg Off Trev Noblet (P)
1 of the initial 4 RAAF Pilots to train in the US.

Wing Cdr Roy Phillips (P)

Sqn Ldr Alan Reed (P)
flew USAF RF-4C's with the 12th TRS/460th TRW during the Vietnam War (100 Ops). 1,000 hours flying RAAF F-4's.

Wg Cdr Mike Ridgeway

Flt Lt Bren Roberts

Sqn Ldr Dave N Rogers (P)
1 of the initial 4 RAAF Pilots to train in the US.Pilot onboard F-111C A8-141/6 Sqn crashed into Hauracki Gulf near Auckland,New Zealand after fire 25/10/78. Pilot of Dave Rogers (later Air Vice Marshall) and Navigator Peter Crowder (later Air Commodore) ejected OK.

Sqn Ldr Hans Roser (P)
flew USAF F-4C's and F-4D's with the 557th TFS / 12TFW and the 480th TFS / 37th TFW during the Vietnam War (165 Ops).Also flew RAAF Mirages.

Flg Off John Ross (P)
1 of the initial 4 RAAF Pilots to train in the US.

Flt Lt Noel Ryan

Flt Lt R Siviyer (Pilot)

Sqn Ldr Ken G Smith (P)
1 of the initial 4 RAAF Pilots to train in the US.

Flt Lt Clarrie Stjernqvist

Flt Lt Marty Susans (P).Also flew RAAF F-111s.

Flt Lt Robert J Waring (N)
Navigator on RAAF Canberra's with 2 Sqn during the Vietnam War.1 of the initial 9 RAAF Navs to train in the US.

Sqn Ldr Ian Whisker (P)
flew F-4D's with the 480th TFS / 12 th TFW during the Vietnam War (140 Ops).Also flew RAAF Mirages.

End

Mark,
That's a great list. What do you hope to do with it when it is complete?

Thanks Dean for the kind comments.I'll keep working on it and post amendments
here on ADF Serials site and on the RAAF F-4E Phantom site i have (refer to the ADF Serials Links page).Regards Mark

This post has been edited by mark on Mar 3 2007, 10:05 PM