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Submitted: July 13, 2012
Image Size: 224 KB
Resolution: 1001×664

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F-4G Phantom Wild Weaselby *Baron-Engel

Traditional Art / Drawings / Illustration / Technical

These are a couple drawings I did at a very slow BayCon some years ago. Nothing much was happening at the time and I had just started working on an idea for a Wild Weasel piece so I broke out my sketch book and started drawing. The only thing that sucked was that I did not have ruler so I had to improvise and use a cardboard insert in my con-bag for a straight edge. Also The book I had with me on the Wild Weasel did not have the best photos in the world so I got some details wrong. Oh well.

It takes a certain type of professionalism, courage, training, and craziness to play clay pigeon for SAM batteries but that is what Weasels do. Their objective is to get enemy air defense radars to turn on and attempt to lock on and shoot them down, but then they turn the tables and fire a missile that tracks the radar signal back to its source and destroys it. In theory that is the idea, in real life it is a lot more difficult.

Often in Vietnam the enemies SAM's had much greater range than Shrike or even later Standard missile that the F-4 carried. This meant that the Weasel often had to let the SAM battery get the first shot in. Then attempt to jam or dodge the incoming SAM so they could press home the attack and destroy the enemy site. Often the enemy would recognize a Weasel's attack pattern and shut its radar down right away. This would cause the Shrike or Standard to lose it bearings and wander off course. A missile wasted and there is still a grumpy SAM battery out there. This game of cat and mouse could go on for some time, and sometimes the Weasels could keep the enemies radars shut down just by their presence. This meant that other aircraft in a strike package did not have face the full brunt of the enemy's air defenses.

!SirDracoex Dec 19, 2012 Hobbyist Artist

Very nice sketch as well as detailed back story.

*Baron-Engel Dec 19, 2012 Professional Traditional Artist

The Weasels have always fascinated me from the moment I heard about what SEAD have to do in any air force.

~DingoPatagonico Dec 19, 2012 Hobbyist Traditional Artist

! x3

~anzul Jul 14, 2012 Hobbyist General Artist

cool story dude, i didnt know they could use radio tracking in that way...

~timmainsson Jul 13, 2012

I remember this plane well. It's hard to describe how comforting it was to have these birds overhead . It was like having your "big brother" going out to defend you.

~Ognimod Jul 13, 2012

Cannon fodder, made to not be regular cannon fodder, but ending up regular cannon fodder anyway.

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