Museum Aircraft

McDonnell Douglas Phantom

In 1968, XV408 was one of the first Phantoms delivered to the RAF. She served briefly with No 228 Operational Conversion Unit at RAF Coningsby and in June 1969 was allocated to No 6 Squadron, the first operational Phantom unit, for fighter/ground attack duties. She saw further service with the OCU between 1974 and 1976 at which point, with this aircraft type switching to the air defence role, she was transferred to No 23 Squadron. Moves between several squadrons in both the UK and Germany followed until 1992 when she was finally retired. After a year in storage, XV408 became a gate guardian at Cranwell and was later displayed in the open at Halton and Fairford. Faced with being scrapped in 2004, the RAF Museum agreed to take on the aircraft as a gift and offer it on permanent loan.