1:72 McDonnell QF-4B Navy Drone Phantoms

Targets from Point Mugu and their striking coats

When the US Navy retired the first production Phantoms, some of them did not end up as scrap. They went through conversion into remotely piloted targets designated QF-4B and lived out their days in guided missile trials over the Pacific. They flew without a pilot, were controlled from a ground station, and their task was to let themselves be shot down, or at least to test how accurately the missile guided.

So that the operators could recognize them reliably in the sky and on radar screens, they were given conspicuous warning areas. Those are exactly what makes target Phantoms a rewarding model: against the usual naval gray and white combination it is a completely different look.

• Altogether six subjects on one printed sheet
• Five machines converted into unmanned targets
• One piloted aircraft of a test squadron
• Establishments on the California coast and a development center on the east coast
• The naval serial number is given for every subject

The machines come from the first production batches, so the model needs the early form of the airframe with the smaller radar cover and without the later leading edge modifications. The targets also carried the installation of control and telemetry equipment, whose external signs are worth looking up in photographs.

The contrast within the sheet is interesting too: a piloted aircraft of a test squadron from the same base shows how the same type looked in ordinary service, so a pair can be built that tells the whole story of these Phantoms side by side.