F-4 Phantom II makes a final landing at the Oregon Military Museum

Oftentimes, the last leg of any homecoming feels the furthest. At long last, after years marked by hope and anticipation, a cherished companion has made its way back to Oregon, taking its place among the treasured artifacts and equipment at the Oregon Military Museum at Camp Withycombe.

In late August 2025, the F-4C Phantom II supersonic fighter-bomber, number 777, made its long-awaited homecoming to Oregon, rolling into Camp Withycombe atop two flatbed tractor-trailers from Texas, after spending more than 35 years away from its post at the Portland Air National Guard Base. For the next nine months, the jet underwent meticulous reassembly, restoration, and repair at the museum’s maintenance storage area, each step bringing it closer to its new place of honor by the museum entrance.

On the morning of June 2, of 2026, “Triple 7” was ready for move, and so was an eager group of retired military volunteers helping in the effort as the camouflaged-painted jet was wheeled nearly three-quarters of a mile west to the Museum, moving along the perimeter roadway on the Camp’s southern fence line. At the wheel of the aircraft tug, retired Chief Master Sgt. Dennis Budworth guiding the plane to the museum, reconnected to the very aircraft he once cared for as crew chief with the 142nd Fighter Intercept Wing (now designated as the 142nd Wing) in Portland in the 1980s.

“I've flown this airplane and stayed with the F-4 from 1982 until they went away in late 1989,” said Maj. Gen. (ret.) Daniel O’Holleren, describing his experience flying the Phantom II aircraft with the 142nd in Portland. “I actually have a photograph of me on the ladder getting ready to go fly. So we were pretty excited to be able to get this airplane.”

Before joining the Oregon Air National Guard, Maj. Gen. O’Hollaren flew a different version of the Phantom II during his active duty period from 1974 to 1979. Still, instead of missiles and guns, it was equipped with cameras and sensors that were used for reconnaissance in the Far East and in Central Europe during the height of the Cold War.

“I quit flying after the transition from the F-4 to the F-15 Eagle (in 1990) and joined the Medical Squadron. I became the commander there, and later moved up to state headquarters,” O’Hollaren said, talking about his later career. “After that, I served as commander of the Oregon Air Guard before taking my final role as assistant to the commander of Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.”

After several years working as a volunteer and later the president of the Oregon Military Museum, O’Hollaren had been actively looking for an F-4 Phantom for the museum collection.

“I got affiliated with the Oregon Military Museum in 2013, and about four years later, I got a brainchild about why we don’t have an F-4, an airplane that is near and dear to my heart,” he recalled. “We flew it in the Oregon Air Guard. So I have applied to the Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.”

At first, O’Hollaren explained, the museum was ranked seventeenth on the waiting list, so he would check in with them every so often over the next few years. As the months and years passed and Oregon remained far from the top, his hope for bringing the F-4 back home to Oregon began to fade.

“About a year and a half ago, I got the phone call - and they said two things. ‘We have some good news and some really good news. The good news is I found an F-4C airplane for you. The really good news is it's an airplane that the Oregon Air Guard used to fly.’ So we were pretty excited about that,” he said, still jubilant about securing “Triple 7.”

It was previously displayed at the Cavanaugh Air Museum in Addison, Texas, which is now permanently closed due to airport expansion there.

“This airplane had been taken out of the boneyard after it left us at Tucson, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, and then went to the museum in Texas. They repainted it, restored the cockpits into Vietnam-era colors,” O’Hollaren said. “This airplane has the distinction of actually having a MiG kill about six months after a surface-to-air missile in Vietnam nearly shot it down.”

Over the course of the morning, O’Hollaren and other enthusiasts watched the airplane being maneuvered along the front of the museum; one of the tires became stuck in the soft grass. Budworth and other volunteers worked carefully to elevate the airplane, which added about two hours to the process. Eventually it was rotated and parked on three positioned concrete pads, facing the museum at an angle to show off its profile to visitors.

“Our intent is to get it repainted back into the camouflaged (U.S. Air Force) gray air defense colors with the ‘Redhawk’ on the tail. Our painter became ill, so for now, we’ll roll with it and have it on display with the camouflaged green and tan colors,” O’Hollaren said, describing the significance of having this airplane finally set in place. “Oregonians have come and gone, and we must maintain this piece of aviation history… and going forward, we're pretty excited.”