RF-4C serial
68-0572/ZZ from
the 15th Tactical
Reconnaissance
Squadron at Kadena
Air Base, Japan, during
Exercise ‘Photo Finish
85’. Jim DunnT
HIS MONTH’S FLASHBACK column
illustrates what this feature is
all about — how times have
changed. The former 15th Tactical
Reconnaissance Squadron (TRS) ‘No
gun Shoguns’ flew these wonderful
McDonnell Douglas RF-4C Phantom IIs under
the 18th Tactical Fighter Wing at Kadena,
Japan. Today, this unit identity is worn by the
15th Attack Squadron flying the MQ-9 Reaper
from Creech AFB, Nevada, and the RF-4Cs are
sadly long gone.
The 15th TRS traded its recce RF-101 Voodoos
for RF-4Cs in 1967. It was to operate the Phantom
for almost a quarter of a century. Its RF-4Cs
passed to the 460th Tactical Reconnaissance
Group at Taegu Air Base, Korea, in 1989 until the
squadron closed down in 1990, with the majority
of its aircraft being passed to the Republic of
Korea Air Force (RoKAF). The 15th TRS identity
was assigned to an intelligence squadron
until 1997, when it re-emerged as the 15th
Reconnaissance Squadron flying MQ-1 Predators.
This wonderful photograph was taken during
the biennial National Guard Bureau ‘Photo Finish’
competition for tactical reconnaissance units. In
October 1985 it was hosted at McClellan AFB in
Sacramento, California, by the 192nd TRS ‘High
Rollers’ of the Nevada ANG from Reno.
The ‘No gun Shoguns’ came from Kadena for
the exercise, as did the 67th TRW RF-4Cs from
Bergstrom AFB, Texas, and the Alabama ANG’s
106th TRS from Birmingham. This was the fifth
and final ‘Photo Finish’, as the Reconnaissance Air
Meet replaced it from 1986.http://www.combataircraft.net // April 2018 113
112-113 Flashback C.indd 113 15/02/2018 15:19