Two unarmed crews braved missiles to map Saddam Hussein's oil manifolds in RF-4s
By Miriam Adler ·
Pilots flew below a wall of smoke and through anti-aircraft artillery over Kuwait to locate targets that Allied fighter-bombers destroyed within twenty-four hours.
Late in the afternoon of January 27, 1991, two aircraft from the 192nd Reconnaissance Squadron of the Nevada Air National Guard took off from Sheik Isa Air Base in Bahrain. They were RF-4 Phantoms, flying without fighter escorts and, more crucially, without weapons. Their destination was a 40 kilometer strip of coastline adjacent to Kuwait City, a region the FAS program description records as being "heavily defended."
Their objective was to photograph open oil manifolds that Saddam Hussein had ordered to drain crude oil into the Persian Gulf. To do this, the crews had to rely entirely on the speed of their aircraft and their own skill. They were tasked with entering enemy territory alone and unarmed, a precarious position for any pilot, but one specifically mandated by the nature of the RF-4.
January 27, 1991
As the flight arrived over the target area, the crews encountered a wall of smoke from burning oil wells. The planned high-altitude run was impossible; the smoke acted as a shroud, rendering the sensors useless from a safe height. To obtain usable imagery, the flight leader made the decision to drop below the smoke cover, approaching the target parallel to the coast.
It was at this lower altitude that the vulnerability of the unarmed Phantoms became acute. The FAS records state that as the aircraft approached the objective, they were fired upon by surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft artillery. Because of the low visibility, the crews had to make a second pass to ensure the coverage was adequate. They survived the gauntlet and obtained clear photographs, which were forwarded to U.S. Central Command that same night.
Within twenty-four hours, the imagery these pilots risked their lives to collect was used by Allied fighter-bombers to attack the oil manifolds. The cycle of reconnaissance is a cold one: the unarmed eye finds the target so that the armed hand can destroy it.
Document imagery from irp.fas.org From the files: irp.fas.org
Rotating Mounts and Ejected Film
The technical specifications of the RF-4 highlight a persistent tension between the desire for precision and the reality of field failure. The FAS program description notes that the Marine Corps RF-4B featured three separate camera bays in the nose—Stations 1, 2, and 3. Unlike the Air Force variants, the RF-4B cameras were on rotating mounts, allowing them to be aimed at targets off the flight path. This offered a flexibility that the more rigid RF-4C lacked.
In the nose of the RF-4B, Station 1 carried a forward oblique or vertical KS-87 camera; Station 2 carried a KA-87 low-altitude camera; and Station 3 typically held a KA-55A high-altitude panoramic camera, though it could be swapped for the larger KS-91 or KS-127A. The system allowed for film to be developed in flight, with cassettes ejected at low altitude to facilitate rapid processing.
However, the Air Force's RF-4C—of which 503 production units were delivered between 1964 and 1973—faced a different reality. While it also utilized a variety of cameras, including the HIAC-1 LOROP in a centerline-mounted pod, the FAS records note that its ejectable film cassette system "subsequently proved impractical in field use."
Document imagery from irp.fas.org From the files: irp.fas.org
A 40 Kilometer Strip
Beyond the U.S. fleet, the RF-4's legacy extended to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF), which received 154 F-4EJ Phantoms. Fourteen of these were built as unarmed reconnaissance versions (RF-4EJ), virtually identical to the USAF RF-4C but lacking certain radar homing and warning suites. Later, the JASDF converted more units to the RF-4EJ Kai standard, replacing the AN/APQ-99 radar with an AN/APQ-172 unit capable of digital image processing.
These aircraft could carry sensor pods such as the TACER electronic reconnaissance pod or the TAC pod, which carried KS-135A and KS-95B cameras. Even as the technology shifted toward the digital datalinks of the RF-16, the aging Phantoms remained the primary tools for high-risk visual intelligence.
The timing of the fleet's retirement often left a gap in capability. The Marine Corps RF-4B aircraft were retired in August 1990, just as the Gulf War began—a decision the FAS record notes was "subsequently judged ill-timed by many."
For the Air Force, the transition was slower. The RF-4C remained in service with the Alabama Air National Guard during the Gulf War, continuing to fly the missions that required a pilot to fly unarmed into the teeth of an air defense network. The last RF-4C left service in 1994.