The elephant walk and the thunderous low passes of Turkish F-4E Phantom II fighters

The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II fighter is already an old glory of aviation that is still active in some air forces.

The Hellenic Air Force celebrates 50 years of its Phantom II fighters with an excellent video
The Spanish phantoms of Torrejón: the two Phantom II aircraft preserved by the 12th Wing

Japan retired its Phantoms from service in 2020, and South Korea followed suit a few months ago, so there are now only F-4s in service in Greece, Iran and Turkey. Last weekend, the Turkish Air Force celebrated the 50th anniversary of its F-4Es with two events open to spotters (photographers specializing in aircraft). Four of its 19 F-4Es made low passes in a valley in the northwest of the country, which is known as the "Turkish Mach Loop", in reference to the valley in Wales where many low-flying military aircraft can be seen.

Furthermore, Eskişehir Air Base (where the last Turkish unit equipped with F-4Es, 111 Filo "Panterler") is located, was the scene of an "elephant walk" with part of the Turkish Phantom fleet, a spectacle that is going to be increasingly difficult to see. The Turkish Air Force has published two videos about this anniversary. Above we can see the first one, published on November 17 and showing several pilots of these aircraft, and below we can see the second one, with the two events mentioned above:

For this anniversary, one of the Turkish F-4Rs, 77-0303, has been decorated with black paint and a large national flag, as well as the image of Kemal Atatürk, the first president of the Republic of Turkey, on the wing.

As a curiosity, on the bottom of this plane carried the Spook, the unofficial mascot of the Phantom II since 1958, a work by artist Anthony "Tony" Wong, of McDonnell Aircraft.

British spotter Dafydd Phillips has posted two excellent videos of these events. In the first we can see the Phantom IIs making their thunderous low passes in the "Turkish Mach Loop":

Phillips' second video shows the elephant walk at Eskişehir Air Base:

Finally, you can see here several photos of these events published by the Turkish Air Force. As you can see, and just like it happened in the 1980s with the USAF F-4Es, the Turkish F-4Es carry the decoration known as the "Hill Gray scheme", inspired by the one popularized by the F-16. Prior to that, Turkish F-4Es flew in a three-colour camouflage similar to that used by the US Phantom II in the Vietnam War.