F-4 Phantom

On the facing page is a photograph of a remarkable aircraft, the 5,000th McDonnall Douglas F-4 Phantom II, and along its fuselage are the flags of eleven of the twelve nations that fly F-4s. For any modern fighter to reach these milestones, in an age when each of a ńghtcr's missiles can cost as much as a Second World War combat aircraft, is quite amazing. Yet the Phantom is an aircraft that almost never was.