GW8345

I've never heard that and I did two cruises with LANTRIN equipped Bravo's (VF-143 98 and 00 cruise). In 98 our birds has the fishbowl TID's (they're a great place to set your cranial while you are FOD checking the back seat) and we flew LANTRIN on every bird. I don't recall getting PTID's from other squadrons before work-ups and then having to give them up after the cruise either and I was in QA (we had to FOD check the cockpit just about anytime someone touched the plane).

For the second photo I would say 84/85 time frame, IIRC VF-84 had a few birds still with the hi-vis markings during the work-ups for the 85 cruise but once we were on cruise all their birds were low-vis.

Yes, Phoenix's were still being loaded in 88 though the west coast squadrons didn't load them as much. My understanding is that for the west coast squadrons they were mostly going with 4x4x0 (AIM-7xAIM-9xAIM-54) along with tanks (most of the time). With that said, loading Phoenix's would be dictated by the ATO (Air Tasking Order) but going by how the east coast squadrons did it I would say yes, they would be loaded with Phoenix's (probably 2x2x2). East coast squadrons were use to doing the long range stuff since most of the time we were intercepting Russian Bear's and May's, the we

Specter, To answer your question, no, not all aircraft base paint scheme in a squadron would match. Aircraft are transferred from squadron to squadron and only the squadron markings get repainted, it was illegal (and still is) to paint the entire aircraft at the squadron level without Wing approval (reason is that the aircraft had to get re-weighed when the whole aircraft got painted). Also, for the time frame you are doing the Tomcat community had a mix of paint schemes, it was a period of transition per say, the over all gull grey and over all 36375 was being phased o

No, the Tomcat retired before the -32 was in service with the fleet.

For a SEA scheme the underside would be a light gray, here is the paint scheme for the SEA; https://www.cybermodeler.com/aircraft/a-7/a-7_profile03.shtml And here's a pic of an A-7 in the SEA scheme; https://www.cybermodeler.com/aircraft/a-7/pages/aero_a-7d_003.shtml As for the canopy frame, I can't remember how it goes together, the last time I built that kit was in 1988, you'll have to check the instructions. 🙂

Yes, the landing gear and bays are white, for under the wings it depends on what marking you are using. If you are using the VA-82 markings that come with the kit then yes, the under wings and fuselage belly along with both sides of the horizontal stabs (back wings), radome, vertical fin tip, rudder, flaps and ailerons will be white.

It might just be me but I can see two faint markings on the black part of the stripe that appear to be chevrons. They didn't have those stripes in 84 to 87 when I was on the Nimitz so I guess they were a very short lived thing, they don't show up in any of the cruise books. I would put the time frame for the photo to be between 79 and 82.

Looks like a Mk 4 Gun Pod. https://combatace.com/forums/topic/95901-mark-4-gun-pod-with-single-barrel/ 7th pic down http://www.chinalakealumni.org/1965/1965mo.htm#thumb

If I may, the reason for removing stations 3 and 6 stated in the link is for the A-7C and did not apply to the A-7E. A-7E's regularly carried either drop tanks or "heavy's" on the inboard stations.

Harpoon's don't require any additional suspension equipment (i.e. launcher), it mounts directly to the pylon. Depending on time frame you are doing will determine what stations were authorized, basically, prior to May 2021 only the midboard (Station 3/9) were authorized for Harpoon carriage. After May 2021, inboard (4/8) and midboard (3/9) are authorized for carriage of the Harpoon. As to the ATFLIR, it is not required to employ a Harpoon but it is commonly carried for strike missions. hth GW

For the load you want the stations would be; Stat 1/8 (outboard stations) - Mk 20 on TER, slant load with centerline and outboard TER stations loaded Stat 2/7 (Midboard stations - AGM-88 HARM Stat 4/5 (fuselage stations) - AIM-9M We never removed pylons, the only squadrons I've heard of doing that was VA-46 and 72 during Desert Storm. Removing the pylons was a huge PITA so it wasn't a common thing to do. hth GW

When I was in A-7E's (VA-82 from 84 to 87) our SUCAP load out was as follows; Station 1 - SUU-44 Flare Pod on centerline TER station, loaded with 8 x Mk 45 paraflares Station 2 and 7 - Mk 20 Rockeye Station 3 or 6 - Drop Tank (only 1 x drop tank per plane) Station 4 or 5 - 1 x AIM-9M Sidewinder We never loaded HARM's as part of the SUCAP alert load but we did have other alert loads, they are as follow; SEAD Alert (for when we were off the coast of few mid eastern country) Station 1 and 8 - 2 x CBU-59 APAM slant loaded on a TER (cen

Yes, no matter what screen the bird had you still needed the controller on the left hand counsel.

Do a search for "Bomb Rack Sway Braces", you see pics of different bomb rack's sway braces. Here is a chapter from the USN Aviation Ordnanceman Training guide that deals with suspension equipment (bomb racks, etc) that will show different racks and their sway braces. https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/navy/nrtc/14313_ch10.pdf