Reddog

FWIW I looked in Lock On #9, A-7D/K Corsair II, on page 22 there is a photo of an A-7D with the flaps and slats down and it looks like the area under them is a dark grey. HTH Reddog

That's a CATM-88 HARM on a LAU-118 going on station 9, not a Sparrow or AMRAAM. Reddog

The NACA vents were introduced with the F-14A+ (F-14B) which hit the fleet in 89, VF-101 got thier first A+ in late 87 but VF-142 and VF-143 were the first fleet squadrons to get them in 89. Starting in late 89, early 90, the A's were then retrofitted with the new vents and this change lasted all the way to about 93. This was an AFC (Airframes Change) and if memory serves me correctly it was AFC-713. There were still some A's floating around with the old style as late as 93/94 but by 95 they were all changed over. This change was either an O level or I level change, can't remember, but it wasn

No problem, always glad to help out. Sorry about the broken/messed up typing, was trying to get it typed while the wife was yelling at me to come eat dinner. One of these days I'm going to have to get around to doing my TA-7, right after about twenty other projects. :D Reddog ;)

Sorry, don't have any pics to post of parent rack bombs. Parent rack means that they are loaded on the main aircraft pylons, no MERs/TERs. The link below should help some, it shows the main aircraft pylons. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt...l%3Den%26sa%3DN Yse, it is possible to load practice Mk 82's (500 lbs) and Mk 83's (1000 lbs) on MER's. For Mk 82's you can put six on a MER but for Mk 83's you can only do three, one centerline aft and two on the forward shoulder stations. As far as live vs. inert on MER's/parent rack, it could be go either way, just depends on what operatio

AIM-7F's. Reddog

They would be carried on MER's/TER's or parent rack, just depends on configuration you want to do. Usually they carried 500 pounders and up practice bombs on parent racks and the smaller ones (Mk 76/Mk 106's) were on MER's mostly. We only carried them on TER's if we didn't have anymore MER's. If you use MER's then they would have tanks on the inboard stations and an occasionally inert winder (usually with out the back wings) on the fuselage. VA-174 would occasionally send a det out to Fallon or El Centro to do live ordnance so you can put live stuff on there if you want. HTH Reddog :)

The Tomcat started bombing right after Desert Storm so by 96 everyone should have had the rails/rack to do bombing, also the LANTRIN Pods didn't hit the fleet until late 95/early 96 with VF-103. FWIW, I wouldn't put a LATRIN on a 154 jet if you are doing it before 97/98 time frame, I dont' think they had the LATRIN Mod before that time. Reddog :blink: Edit: Dang I type slow.

No it's not a possible load, actually I believe it's physically impossible to put them side by side. You have to load them opoosite to each other, in other words one on station 3R (fwd port) and the other on 5R (aft starboard) or vice versa. You also can't put one behind the other, they are too long and won't fit. HTH Reddog ;)

Nick, You are correct. The GBU-31/BLU-109 was never cleared on the Tomcat, the loading procedures were put in the loading manual but it never got cleared for flight. Reddog

Not a Skyhawk expert but I would say yes, you should be able to load Mk 77's from the outboard stations. Reddog

The numbers on the pods were the pods serial number. Reddog

Yep, red shirt. If you want to do a heavy load out how about winders on both upper wing stations, a Pheonix on the lower left wing station, a LANTRIN pod on the lower right wing station and four GBU-16's on the belly, oh yea, you got to have tanks also. It's technically accruate and the bird looks great with all the stuff hanging off it, just a suggestion. For the LANTRIN adapter if you can't find one I would suggest modifying a sparrow adapter, just sand the bottom flat and put a indented notch in the middle, sand off the budle on the side so it's flat and fill in the aft end until is strai

Hoops, You are correct, it was a AWW-13 Pod. Reddog

The answer to that question is NO...............we had to slow the boat down during recoverys just so the S-3 guys could catch up and land. For the E-2 guys we had to throw it into reverse. :blink: Reddog

VG, Depends on what squadron and time frame your talking about. When I was in Tomcats we did alot of GBU-12's, GBU-16's Mk-82/83/84's. I left just as we (VF-143) started to get the JDAM and GBU-24 mods so I missed the truly smart weapons stuff on Tomcats. We did do GBU-24B/B's a few times but boy those things were bigs (and heavy), lots of fun trying to roll those rails up when loading. :blink: HTH Reddog

Got to give it those zone four after-prop guys, even the bug smasher guys can make a funny video. :D Reddog

If you are talking about side number 210, it's got a GBU-12 on the out board and mid board stations with a GBU-38 on the in board station and one AIM-9X on the wing, the other wing tip is empty. All weapons are loaded on parent rack. The F-18 (all flavors) can not do bombs from TERs. I'm taking a SWAG here but I'd say the other side would probably be loaded the same way or would have one GBU-12 and two GBU-38's. Reddog ;) Edit: one day I will learn to type, but today is not that day.

When the Tomcat shut down the rudders would return to neutral position with the loss of hydrualic pressure. If the bird hadn't been turned in a long time and was sitting out on the flight line, in a strong wind the rudders would deflect a little but not much. 99.9% of the time they would be in the neutral (straight) position unless the bird was turning and the flight controls were being moved. Reddog ;)

I don't think it's a good idea to go flying around advertising your kills now a days, the bad guys have eyes everywhere. Plus, kills painted on the birds where usually for the pilots tally, not the aircraft's tally. As long as it's in the aircraft's log book that all that counts, that log book is the history of the aircraft and is kept on file even after the aircraft is gone. Reddog

Craig is correct, it's a modified AERO 1D drop tank coverted into a CNU-188 Blivet, i.e., a baggage carrier. Basically, it's an old drop tank, gutted, the fins/tail cone removed with access panel cut into it for the aircrew to carry what ever. Reddog

Justy remember, don't go past 90 degrees either left or right or Airframes is going to be ticked. They would have to change the nose gear steering dampner if you over crank the nose gear and thay ain't going to be too happy doing it. :D Reddog

Here's a link to a line drawing of a TARPS skid, minus the actual TRAPS cradle. The skid is a MHU-191 with a ADU-400/E on it. http://www.tpub.com/content/aviation/14313/css/14313_220.htm The second link is of a pod on a skid, the cradle is the bottom piece that the pod is strapped onto. It's basically a bar with a forward and aft adapter, you can see the forward adapter. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:TARPS_pod_on_skid.jpg HTH Reddog

Understand that but isn't the X-35 smaller than the F-35? I haven't seen any pics of the weapons bay but from what I heard it ain't going to be that big. Reddog

As a note, the nose gear can only turn 10 degrees with the launch bar down and in neel. Reddog