Wednesday, April 6, 2016

F-4 Composite Rudder Testing Aircraft

C22-438-6 Several photos of the F-4’s used in early composite rudder testing at St. Louis. Boron and Beryllium epoxy rudders were both tested.

The above photo shows “Old 122” (YRF-4C 62-12200) in “Agile Eagle” configuration with the Beryllium rudder installed during April 1967. Adding leading edge maneuvering slats to F-4’s was evaluated during flight tests known as Project Agile Eagle. And it should come as no surprise that multiple flight test configurations were run at the same time! McDonnell made 45 rudders which were installed on F-4 fighters for service evaluation.

Also included is a Flight International article from June 7, 1973 on Boron Composites. This lists which aircraft used/tested boron componets and a background on Boron development.

Credit: Ramp “122” photo from FFRC Photo Collection

Click here to view photos

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The overwhelming majority of files I tried to download were blocked. It seems to be getting worse. Perhaps it is time to dump file factory. They obviously are not doing their job for you. Such a shame when all we want to do is enjoy history and nostalgia.

JP Vieira said...

Hello I am researching several F-4 Phantom images. I am interested in the Agile Eagle aircraft : 61-12200. I am particularly interested in obtainign a larger image of the logos on the rudder (above the word beryllium) and on the air intakes; this last one I think it depicts an Eagle and the wording Agile Eagle (project?). The first one seems an USAF crest. can you provide more info, please? Thank you

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