Very nice thankyou.
Phantoms really were a missed opportunity, proposed as replacement for the Sabre, Canberra, for the RAN FAA, before finally being acquired as an interim solution prior to the delivery of the F-111 but then being returned even though there was provision to keep them. The reason given was the expense of buying the required support equipment and the fact that the F-111 was entering service would require the disbandment of one of the Mirage squadrons to provide the necessary manpower. Ironically No.76 Sqn was disbanded two months after the last Phantoms returned to the US demonstrating that the real reason was entirely financial.
As far as whiffs go there are so many believable ways to get various version of the Phantom into ADF service the most obvious being retaining the leased aircraft after the delivery of the F-111. The question is what role, strike, as they had been employed, but progressively moving into multirole, or as fighters, bolstering the Mirage force. What would be interesting is if, following the cancellation of the RF-111, the RAAF was able to convince the government to acquire RF-4C or E, perhaps to re-equip No.2 Sqn. A further move could be to convert some of the retained F-4Es into Gs or buy and get the RAAF into SEAD role in the 70s / 80s.
To me the ultimate progression would have been, retain the Phantoms, perhaps re-equipping on of the Mirage squadrons, then acquiring RF-4C and F-4G to replace No.2 Sqn Canberras in the late 70s, forming them into a Phantom wing that could have provided useful service into the 90s, perhaps even into the early 2000s. This Phantom force could have permitted the Mirage replacement to be slowed and other options to be considered, i.e. if the Phantoms were strike roled then a more air superiority oriented option could have been considered, but if the Phantoms had taken a more long range BVR air defence role then the new fighter could even have been a light weight or tactical fighter type.
Without a doubt retaining the Phantoms would have transformed the RAAF for a generation (and just think of the low vis schemes of the 90s)