330-PSA-182-61 (USN 710960):  Lowest Altitude – Highest Speed.  The Navy’s F4H “Phantom” burned up the desert sagebrush in a record claiming low altitude speed flight August 28, 1961.  Lieutenant Huntington Hardisty, the pilot, and Lieutenant E.H. De Esch, the Radar Intercept Officer, flew the Phantom at a speed of 902,769 miles per hour, over three kilometer (1.8 mil.es) straightaway course to claim a new international speed record.  To compete for the record, the team of Hardisty and De Esch had to fly the F4H two times in each direction at an altitude (including turns) not exceeding 328 feet over the marked close course.  The McDonnell built F4H Phantom is shown here in one of the record making runs at less than 50 feet from his grounded shadow.  Photograph released August 30, 1961.  (9/22/2015).
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