Reddog

Okay, I'm "tracking" now. :) Guy, you are correct about the holes in the frame work, forgot about that area. Got to learn to stop watching football and trying to read threads at the same time. Gerry

Spike, Sorry if I sounded a little harsh in my comments, no offense was intended. Reddog

Guy, Not sure what you are talking about concerning the lightening holes but the canopy from was solid, don't remember any holes in the canopy with the exception of the ECS pipes. Reddog

Seeker heads ARE NOT active unless the aircraft has power and the stations are armed in the cockpit. The seeker covers are installed when power it not applied to the aircraft because they keep the seeker inside from bouncing around and beating itself to death. The seeker is a free floater until power it applied to the missile, the cover keeps the seeker locked to the center position and when power is applied to the plane the seeker head is then locked, allowing the cover to be removed. If you pull the cover when power it not applied to the plane you will see the seeker in side bouncing around.

Chains are the tie down chain used to hold the plane in place, keeps it from sliding and rolling around when the deck it pitching. Yes, Chock would be on both main U/C. The JBD's (Jet Blast Defectors) would only be raised after the aircraft taxied to the cat, the plane has to taxi over the JBD's in order to get to the cat. For a normal launchs they would be raised about 30 to 20 minutes prior to the launch so they can be checked for FOD and make sure they work. For an alert launch they are normally in the down position but may be raised if the plane is spotted on the cat. Each carrier was a

I bet this is an alert 60 since you are so close to land. Reddog

Once the bird is taxi'ed the canopy will remain close while on the boat, on land I have seen them taxi with the canopy open but it is rare. For the Tomcat, the RIO will close the canopy as the pilot is starting the first engine. Wayne, On an alert crew, everyone multi-tasks and pitches in, I've done just about everything on an alert you could do except the Plane Captain stuff (I never got my qual for PC), no one stands around or say "that's not my job". And NASCAR pit crews don't have to worry about getting blown over the side, sucked up the intake, getting their ankles broke when the pla

Microscale did a bunch of sheets many moons ago, might want to look at microscale. Reddog

We had between four and six guys depending who was part of the crew. This is how it would brake down sometimes when I was on deck. 1 Plane Captain 2 Ordies 2 Troubleshootser Maybe on PC Trainee also I'm not counting the cat crew, not sure how they did thier alerts and how many people it took to do it. But, keep in mind, we where changing tires on a care, we where flinging a 72,000 pound plane into the air and every system had to work as advertised. How an alert crew would work back in my day. If I was on deck in later years, I could fill the Ordie and a Troubleshooter since I held both

You can put it on the roof with all the covers and everything on it, like inert weapons and say it's a static display for a port visit. Put 12 chains on it and your covered. Reddog

It's happened, have the sore ankles to prove it. Reddog

Everyone pretty much covered up but a few more notes. For F-14's on alert 5/7 crews manned up, power applied, INS cable connected and a huffer connected and standing by. Downlocks installed and all ordnance safety pins installed. With power on the aircraft the Sidewinder nose cones would be removed. All panels closed, only six tie downs installed, P/C, 2 Ordies and 2 Trouble shooters standing by also. When word was given to launch we would start up the engines, pull the downlocks, pull the huffer/electrical/INS cables/hoses, ordies would pull the safety pins and get the bird taxing in under 9

I didn't know that Grumman and the Navy followed an Air Force manual when they painted the Tomcats for the Iranians, learn something new everyday. Reddog

Guy, If you do anything more to those seats I'm going to have to give you a "seat checkout" and make sure you are certified to work around them. As for the RBF, yes it was one long flag with 5 pins attached to it for safing the seat. There would also be a pin in the canopy jettision handle on the right hand side of the cockpit (both front and back cockpit) and three (attached to one flag) on the "turtledeck" under the canopy. The turtledeck is that area under the aft part of the canopy that is covered up when the canopy is closed. Don't ask me where all the pins on the seat goes, it's been

He was my Gunner for the 85 Med Cruise. Not sure about the nice part, he may have been nice on land but on the boat, he was not like by the Ordnance Shop. Reddog

As Gregg stated, the gun and ammo drum bays where GLOSS white and somewhat dirty. Also, if you open the drum bay you have to open the small panel jusst aft of it, you could not open the drum panel without opening that panel first. The very forward gun panel, where the muzzle is (it has the gun gas exhuast removed or what we called the "hair dryer" would be silver inside vice white. HTH Reddog

Even the CAG birds where low-vis, I was on the 85 and 87 Med Cruises (VA-82). Reddog

VF-92 and 96 never got Tomcats. They "may" have been scheduled to transtion but never did, they where decomm'ed instead. Reddog

I'm sure there is but don't what manual covers the Air Force. Reddog

I never worked on Alpha's but I must say that that engine bay is awful clean for being a 40 year old plane, it looks freshly painted. I've never seen an engine bay that clean, let along any other panel that clean on any of the Echo's I worked on or was around. Even the bolts and nuts are shiny and new. Looks like that area has already been restored and the paint has not faded and gotten dirty like it would have out in the fleet. Reddog

All the A-7's I've seen and worked on had the yellow zinc chromate, I think the green may have been a one time thing or the museum fudged on the color a little. Reddog

The Gunslingers where VA-105, he may have meant the Sidewinders. They did a Med cruise in 82/82 and again in 85. If you want you can PM me his name, I will check to see if he is in the 85 Med Cruise. IIRC Dutycat made the 82/83 Med Cruise. Reddog

No problem, always glad to help out. I worked on A-7E's for about three and a half years, if you have a questions just drop me a note. I also have several reference books on them so if I don't know the answer (time does take it's toll sometimes) I can always look them up. Reddog

There is a new MIL-STD-2161B out that call out spesific FS number for that marking so it depends on what time frame he is looking for. The MIL-STD-2161A said it had to be of "contrasting" shade of grey and there where other restrictions but in the new one is gives the specific color to use. The two books you need are; MIL-STD-2161A (AS) dated 1 May 1993 and MIL-STD-2161B (AS) dated 15 Aug 2008. HTH Reddog

Herc, What years was he in VA-86? I was in VA-82 (86's sister sqaudron) from 84 to 87. Reddog