The restoration of 153879, the last F-4 Phantom II fighter to take off from a carrier

The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an excellent fighter that made its first flight on May 27, 1958, and still serves in some countries.

The Spanish F-4 Phantom II fighters, their tanker aircraft and the sad end of many of them
Spanish and US F-4 Phantom II fighters in the CASA hangars in Getafe in 1980

The United States Navy (USN) began using this fighter before the Air Force (USAF). The first F-4As were delivered to the USN in 1960, being upgraded to successive versions, until the F-4S variant was retired from service in 1987 (the Marines continued using it until 1992, while the USAF used the F-4G until 1996). After its operational life as a fighter was over, the USN used the F-4 as a remote-controlled aerial target (the QF-4 variant) until 2004.

The last F-4 takeoff from an aircraft carrier was by an F-4S of the USN squadron VF-151 Vigilantes on March 25, 1986. The aircraft in question was 153879, a fighter built as an F-4J and which began serving with the Marines' squadron VMFA-235 Death Angels with the serial DB-9.

After a brief service in the Marines, 153879 was transferred to the Navy's VF-194 Red Lightnings in 1976, and then assigned to VF-121 Pacemakers in 1978. In 1980 it was upgraded to the F-4S version, being assigned to VF-151 shortly before its last shipborne takeoff.

That historic final takeoff took place on the flight deck of the USS Midway CV-41, an aircraft carrier launched on September 10, 1945, a few days after the end of World War II, and which was the first of its class, serving in the USN until April 11, 1992.

In turn, the last landing of an F-4 on an aircraft carrier took place on October 18, 1986 on the USS Forrestal CV-59 by an F-4S of VF-202 Superheats, a Naval Reserve squadron.

After being retired from service, F-4S 153879 (construction number 2461) was transferred to the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida, then to the restoration workshops at the USS Midway Museum in San Diego, California, and finally to the USS Hornet Museum in Alameda, California. There, it has undergone a restoration process that began in 2020.

The photos you can see here were posted on the website and the USS Hornet Museum Facebook page. The first photo shows the bright livery that 153879 wore when it served in the Marines, at the beginning of its operational life in 1975, when it served with VMFA-235 Death Angels. The next two photos are from that historic last takeoff, in which 153879 wore the low-visibility livery that the aircraft of VF-151 Vigilantes had at that time.

The most striking original livery of VF-151 was chosen for the restoration. The squadron was founded on August 6, 1948 and still active, flying single-seat F/A-18E Super Hornet fighters.

On July 28, the USS Hornet Museum announced that the restoration process is now complete, showing these images of the aircraft now ready to be visited by the public in the hangars of the museum ship.

A few days ago, the USS Hornet Museum published an interesting video showing the restoration process and interviewing pilot Alan "Mullet" Colegrove and systems operator Gregg "Ichabod" Blankenship who carried out that final takeoff:

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Photos: USS Hornet Museum.