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It's All About The Cameras
Station #1, Station #2, Station #3
By Marc "Devil Dog Of The Web" Iseli / Updated Dec. 2025
When the RF-4B finally waddled off the assembly line, it came with a party trick the Air Force’s RF-4C could only dream about: you could actually spin the nose camera mounts while airborne, instead of having to crawl under the jet and wrench them around like some kind of medieval squire. Early RF-4Cs made you do the grunt work on the ground, but eventually even the Zoomies figured out that was dumb and fixed it. The RF-4B also gets bragging rights as the only Navy/Marine Phantom with normal side consoles in the back seat, so your GIB didn’t have to play Twister just to flip a switch. Both jets got the same AAPQ-99 radar up front and those flashy cartridge ejectors on the tail, just in case you wanted to impress the ramp rats.

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Photos of RF-4B, declassified camera images.

Camera Station #1
Station #1 used a KS-87 in a rotatable mount that took either 45 degree forward-firing or 90 degree vertical shots. It could be equipped with either a 3" or 6" focal length lens

Camera Station #2
KA-56 Panoramic or KS-87 Frame or KS-72 Frame Camera
Station #2 normally carried a KA-56 LAP camera, although there were options of : A) Removing the KA-56 camera, installing a rotating mount for a single KS-87 camera, with up to an 18" focal length lens or B) Removing the KA-56 and installing a trimetrogon array fixed mount that would hold up to three KS-87 cameras; one facing left 45 degrees, one pointed vertically at 90 degrees, and one facing right at 45 degrees. This array normally used 6" focal length lenses, but could handle a 12" or 18" focal length lens The trimetrogon array was the "old fashion way" of obtaining panoramic coverage. or C) Leaving the KA-56 in place (inoperable) and using a single fixed left-looking or right looking KS-87 camera. Focal lengths available in this configuration were 3", 6", 12" or 18".

Camera Station #3
KA-55 Panoramic or KS-87 Frame or Ka-82 Panoramic Cameras
Station #3 normally carried a KS-55 High-Altitude Panoramic camera in a gyro stabilized mount using a fixed 18" equivalent lens. Due to cloud cover, very few HiPans were taken so either a single KS-87 vertical or two KS-87 camera split-vertical option was used. The split-vertical array was pointed inward with a 15 degree overlap of coverage, which is 'normal' for constructing photo mosaics. The single vertical camera could use 3", 6", 12", or 18" focal lengths, while the two camera, split-vertical option used 6" focal length lenses.

Alright, you glorious Rat Phixers and Phlyers, if we ever survived a TAD, a Det, or a BOHICA, who haven't, and you didn’t think I was the biggest gaff off in the squadron. Got a sea story, or some grainy photos your ex didn’t set on fire, and they’re only slightly illegal? Send ‘em by email, snail mail, or safety wire it to a carrier pigeon. I collect ‘em all, just nothing that would incriminate me.
80svmfp3@gmail.com

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