F-4B Phantom VF-111 Sundowners USS Coral Sea US Navy 1/48 Pro Built Model

HISTORY OF THIS AIRCRAFT

VF-111

Fighter Squadron 111 (VF-111), also known as the Sundowners, was the designation held by two U.S. Navy fighter squadrons from 1942 to 1995. The first squadron, initially designated VF-11, served as an active Pacific Fleet Fighter Squadron until its disestablishment in 1959. At that time, another squadron then assumed the designation until its disestablishment in 1995. In November 2006, VFC-13 Detachment Key West was redesignated as VFC-111, taking on the 'Sundowner' insignia and callsign.

In 1971, VF-111 joined CVW-15 and transitioned to the F-4B Phantom II. On 6 March 1972, while flying from the USS Coral Sea (CVA-43), VF-111 crew LT Garry Weigand and LTJG Bill Freckleton engaged and shot down a MiG-17 near Quang Lang Airfield in North Vietnam. Their aircraft, F-4B, NL 201, BuNo 153019, was restored to the original paint scheme by the current Sundowner squadron and is displayed on a pedestal just inside the main gate at NAS Key West, Florida. The squadron later transitioned to the F-4N version of the Phantom, but was scheduled to turn these in for the F-4J. In 1975 both VF-111 and VF-51 received six F-4Js but, due to operational considerations regarding their next deployment, the two units reverted back to the "N" model. In late 1976 through early 1977, VF-111 made an Atlantic and Mediterranean deployment, a rare event for a Pacific Fleet squadron, with CVW-15 aboard USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CV-42) for that carrier's final cruise.
REAL IMAGES OF F-4B PHANTOM

On Coral Sea Aircraft Carrier



A VF-111 F-4B Phantom II from the USS Coral Sea during the Vietnam War, 1971.


REAL F-4B PHANTOM NUMBER 200TH


F-4B 1/48 KIT FROM ACADEMY


MORE IMAGES OF PRO BUILT MODEL F-4B PHANTOM 1/48