"phantom f4e model service entry (ioc)date:?? usaf" Topic

guys trying to figure out when the f4e gun model entered usaf service (1st fighter squadron if you have it)
what i think i know
first flight 1967
then tests cut short 1968 due to deployment south east asia
some sent there and europe ,think these were only trial machines? test squadrons ? or maybe not
understand 72 machines deployed to late 1971
so can you give me first squadron date operational or first combat sortie of this model

The first F-4Es reached the Southeast Asia theatre in November of 1968, equipping the 469th TFS at Korat in Thailand. The 4th TFS and 421st TFS arrived from CONUS in April 1969 with F-4Es to join the F-4Ds of the 366th TFW at Da Nang AB. After this, the F-4Ds of the 366th TFW assumed forward air control duties, whereas the F-4Es conncentrated on aircraft escort duties and conducted ground attack missions. Six more F-4E squadrons deployed to Vietnam and Thailand in 1972 in response to the North Vietnamese invasion of the South in the spring of 1972.

The F-4E was credited with 21 MiG kills during the war. 10 of these were brought down by Sparrows, five with gunfire, four with Sidewinders, one with a combination of Sidewinder and gunfire, and one while maneuvering (no weapons being fired). However, most combat missions flown in Vietnam by the F-4E were ground-attack missions.

The first victories by F-4E's weren't credited until 1972.