The F-4 Phantom II first flew in 1958, and against every odd, a handful are still flying in 2026 — and aviation fans can still catch some of them at airshows. Of the 5,195 built, only about 127 remain on military inventories worldwide, split between Greece, Turkey and Iran, plus one remarkable privately owned example in the United States.

Greece has flown the Phantom since 1974, when the first of 36 F-4Es arrived under the Peace Icarus program. A major avionics upgrade finished in the 2000s gave the fleet modern radar, precision weapons and the striking "Aegean Ghost" grey paint scheme, and the jets have long flown armed patrols over the Aegean. Greece regularly puts them on display at events like the Iniochos exercise and NATO Tiger Meet at Araxos. The story has a sombre edge: an F-4 crashed during its display at Athens Flying Week at Tanagra on September 5, 2026, killing both crew. With Rafales arriving and F-35As on order, the Hellenic retirement is expected within a year or two — meaning these could be your last chances to see a Hellenic Air Force Phantom in the sky.

Turkey operates the largest active Western fleet, with roughly 30-48 jets, upgraded by Israel Aerospace Industries around 2000 into the F-4E 2020 Terminator — a precision strike platform fitted with an Elta radar and Popeye standoff missiles. Terminators appear regularly at the Anatolian Eagle exercise at Konya and at NATO events abroad, such as Poggio Dart 2025 in Italy. With Turkey out of the F-35 program and its indigenous KAAN fighter still years away, the Phantom may soldier on toward 2030.

Iran's fleet, inherited from the Shah and bloodied in the Iran-Iraq War, is the largest on paper at around 63 airframes — but sanctions mean many are cannibalised for parts, and the 2026 conflict losses at Tabriz and elsewhere have thinned it further. This is a fleet for the history books, not an airshow calendar.

For travellers, the best bet is the United States. Although no US military unit has flown the Phantom since the QF-4 target program ended in 2016, the Collings Foundation's F-4D — restored to flight in 1999 after an Act of Congress allowed private ownership, and painted in the markings of Colonel Robin Olds' legendary Operation Bolo jets — remains airworthy. It is scheduled to appear at Wings Over Houston on October 31 and November 1, its first major show on home turf.

If military aviation is your thing, 2026-2027 offers a rare closing window: catch the Phantom at European exercises and airshows while Greece still flies them, look for Turkish Terminators at Konya, and see the Collings Foundation jet in Houston before the type's flying days fade into history.