pseward Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 Hi all you knowledgeable Jet people out there. Question on F/A-18F Tankers, Would the Individual squadrons have there own Tankers, ie would VF-103 have its own specific Tanker planes or are there specific Tanker squadrons ?? Cheers for reading this Pete Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Spook498 Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 All Super Hornets are able to carry the ARS for fuel. Most times, a squadron will have a tanker set up for their own squadron mates, however, anyone needing a tanker can get fuel. Some CAGs may designate a particular squadron to have tankers, as Legacy Hornets cannot be tankers, so they would need to plug in somewhere. As do the Prowlers. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
VFA-103guy Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 Hi all you knowledgeable Jet people out there.Question on F/A-18F Tankers, Would the Individual squadrons have there own Tankers, ie would VF-103 have its own specific Tanker planes or are there specific Tanker squadrons ?? Cheers for reading this Pete VFA-103 had Victory 206 assigned as the designated tanker in the first combat cruise. I've gotten pics from them during this cruise, but it's mainly all combat load stuff. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sig Saur & Son Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 (edited) Even the CAG bird gets into the act. Photo-Copyright David F. Brown Edited May 12, 2009 by Sig Saur & Son Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pseward Posted May 13, 2009 Author Share Posted May 13, 2009 Hi Thanks for the awesome pic, I want to build a VF-103 Tanker re-fueling another 103 plane Cheers Pete Even the CAG bird gets into the act. Photo-Copyright David F. Brown Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jinxter13 Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 (edited) VFA-103 had Victory 206 assigned as the designated tanker in the first combat cruise.I've gotten pics from them during this cruise, but it's mainly all combat load stuff. WHAT!!!!!!.........and you haven't uploaded them yet....Awwww c'mon man.....don't put us thru all this misery.........have you no heart for all us poor cameraless peons..who look up to gods with cameras such as you, Sig Saur, Jmel,and others.... Edited May 13, 2009 by Angels49 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Neeko Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 WHAT!!!!!!.........and you haven't uploaded them yet....Awwww c'mon man.....don't put us thru all this misery.........have you no heart for all us poor cameraless peons..who look up to gods with cameras such as you, Sig Saur, Jmel,and others.... I'll bite... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChristopherC Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 (edited) Let me check that I understand this correctly. Is the F/A-18E/F now the only US navy carrier borne aircraft capable of fulfilling the tanker mission? I would've thought strike fighter squadrons would have better things to do. Chris Edited May 13, 2009 by ChristopherC Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Reddog Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 Let me check that I understand this correctly. Is the F/A-18E/F now the only US navy carrier borne aircraft capable of fulfilling the tanker mission? I would've thought strike fighter squadrons would have better things to do.Chris You are correct, there's nothhing else that carries the buddy stores left in inventory. What do you expect, it's an F-18, a jack of all trades but master of none. Reddog Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kurtd123 Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 You are correct, there's nothhing else that carries the buddy stores left in inventory. What do you expect, it's an F-18, a jack of all trades but master of none. Reddog There is a section about the use of F/A-18's as tankers during OIF in one of the Osprey "US Navy Hornet Units of OIF" books. It was stated that tanking was perhaps the most valuable contribution the Super Bug made during OIF. Something seems wrong with that statement, but I guess that is the way it was. Apparently the pace of air operations made tankers ("big wing" and USN) a scarce commodity. Considering that almost any combat mission requires tanking, it seems that it would be more efficient to use a dedicated tanker. (But obviously, someone much smarter than me - who probably owns lots of Boeing stock - figured it differently.) Those costly avionics sure must come in handy when schlepping gas!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jollyrogerf14 Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 There is a section about the use of F/A-18's as tankers during OIF in one of the Osprey "US Navy Hornet Units of OIF" books. It was stated that tanking was perhaps the most valuable contribution the Super Bug made during OIF. Something seems wrong with that statement, but I guess that is the way it was. Apparently the pace of air operations made tankers ("big wing" and USN) a scarce commodity. Considering that almost any combat mission requires tanking, it seems that it would be more efficient to use a dedicated tanker. (But obviously, someone much smarter than me - who probably owns lots of Boeing stock - figured it differently.)Those costly avionics sure must come in handy when schlepping gas!!! Thankfully, the Tomcat never had to worry 'bout that! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sv51macross Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 Thankfully, the Tomcat never had to worry 'bout that! But a boy can dream, can't he? ;) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GreyGhost Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 You are correct, there's nothhing else that carries the buddy stores left in inventory. What do you expect, it's an F-18, a jack of all trades but master of none. :D Reddog ;) But does them all pretty well though ... Shoots down what's up and blows up what's down ... Gregg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fuji Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 Last time on Truman, each squadron (E/F) had 2 to 3 aircraft set up as tankers. Crazy. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jinxter13 Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 (edited) You are correct, there's nothhing else that carries the buddy stores left in inventory. What do you expect, it's an F-18, a jack of all trades but master of none. Reddog I don't know if I agree with that, there are two Iraqi pilots who thought they had easy meat, with a pair of loaded Hornets who are now wishing they had never seen a Hornet; as they were on the wrong end of the outcome of one of the few dogfights the Navy got into during DS. It seems they (the Hornets) were the masters of that piece of sky that day!!!. To top it off the Hornets didn't dump the ordnance!!! (bombs), and still won. Edited May 13, 2009 by Angels49 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fuji Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 I don't know if I agree with that, there are two Iraqi pilots who thought they had easy meat, with a pair of loaded Hornets who are now wishing they had never seen a Hornet; as they were on the wrong end of the outcome of one of the few dogfights the Navy got into during DS. It seems they (the Hornets) were the masters of that piece of sky that day!!!. I have copies of those HUD tapes. MRT is a good friend. Pretty interesting stuff and nothing too strenuous. They were pretty much head on shots. Still, it validated the concept in the eyes of many of the Hornet's self escorting capabilities. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sv51macross Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 I don't know if I agree with that, there are two Iraqi pilots who thought they had easy meat, with a pair of loaded Hornets who are now wishing they had never seen a Hornet; as they were on the wrong end of the outcome of one of the few dogfights the Navy got into during DS. It seems they (the Hornets) were the masters of that piece of sky that day!!!. To top it off the Hornets didn't dump the ordnance!!! (bombs), and still won. Isn't that more a comparison of vac-tube vs. transistor and "my boresight angle is bigger than yours" Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Reddog Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 I don't know if I agree with that, there are two Iraqi pilots who thought they had easy meat, with a pair of loaded Hornets who are now wishing they had never seen a Hornet; as they were on the wrong end of the outcome of one of the few dogfights the Navy got into during DS. It seems they (the Hornets) were the masters of that piece of sky that day!!!. To top it off the Hornets didn't dump the ordnance!!! (bombs), and still won. What most people don't know was that those Mig's were running from the Tomcats that were out in front of the strike group on a fighter sweep. The Mig's were so worried about running from the Tomcats that they didn't even look to see what was in front of them and ran into the middle of the strike package. They were flying straight and level and did not take any evasive maneuvers, they could have probably have been shot down if they ran into a Piper Cub with Sidewinders. Not trying to diminish the aircrew, just stating that it wasn’t really a dog fight and they were easy kills, there was no reason to dump their 84's. As far as killing what’s in the air and what’s on the ground, lots of aircraft can do that. The Tomcat did it farther from the battle group, was just as accurate and could hit you in the air farther out then the Hornet could on a good day. BTW, I have a copy of those HUD tapes also, taped them off the Desert Storm Update onboard ship from the night the kills happened. V/R Reddog Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pseward Posted May 13, 2009 Author Share Posted May 13, 2009 Thanks for more great pics guys. So it was`nt only the F model that got involved with Tanking operations, I see the E model did it as well. Does seem strange that you would use a strike fighter to Tank but i guess its all to do with reducing types on a carrier with limited space and spiraling costs of kit/ maintenance etc ? I also agree that the Tomcat is still being missed as also with the Royal Navy missing the Sea Harrier...( my other great passion !!!) Thanks guys awesome work Pete Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jinxter13 Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 Fuji, Mike, RD, you guys just won't let me win will ya, here I am mere extolling the fact that an F/A aircraft loaded to do some Mud moving and I repeat LOADED!!!, didn't bother to dump the ordy they were carrying, when the MiG's approached, They didn't know at the time that the MiG's were haulin *** away from the fire and jumped into the frying pan, and may have been in an ATG mode, simply switched to ATA and lined up the target fired, tallyied two MiG's continued on proceeded to move mud, and returned to the boat, No problem!!!. That makes them the masters of sumthin, Those Hornets are still flying and the MiGs well they're probably part of a Bar B Q pit somewhere in Iraq helping Marines do a cook out!!!.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GreyGhost Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 Not that the Hornet/Tomcat argument hasn't already happened but ... but how many jet kills did the Tomcat get in ODS ? Oh well ... Passin' gas is just one of the duties that the Rhino does, all quite well ... And they might just be getting more powerful engines to boot ... Gregg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Reddog Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 Not that the Hornet/Tomcat argument hasn't already happened but ... but how many jet kills did the Tomcat get in ODS ? That's because the A/F was incharge of the AWAC's and always directed the F-15's to the MIG's and kept the Navy from playing. VF-103 had a chance to get a kill and the A/F AWAC's told them to break off the engagement because they mis-identified the target. When they finally ID'ed the target correctly they directed the A/F CAP to intercept them. We even had a Sparrow in the air on the way to the target that we had to break off from and let go ballistic, we were about five second from getting a kill. Look at how many kills the A/F got compared to the USN/USMC/Allies, kind of loop sided don't you think. Now, lets compare how many kills the Tomcat has compared to the Hornet. Also, the reason why the Iraqi's were running from the Tomcats was because they were so scaried of the Tomcat due to what the Iranians did to them during the Iran/Iraq War. When ever we turned our radar on the Iraqis scattered like roaches as soon as you turned a light on. The Migs that the VFA-81 got initially started to go after the Tomcats, when the Tomcats turned around and painted them with their radar the Migs turned tail and ran at full burner, smack into the stike group. ;) Reddog Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GreyGhost Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 Painting is one thing Killing is another ... >>> Story on possible engine upgrades for the Rhino <<< sounds like more range and power are goals ... Gregg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Reddog Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 (edited) Painting is one thing Killing is another ... Yep, and the last time I checked the score was 5 to 2, and that ain't counting the Iranian kills either. Boy that bug is a real Mig killer ain't it, BTW, ones bombed on the ground don't count. ;) B) Reddog Edited May 14, 2009 by Reddog Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GreyGhost Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 Yep, and the last time I checked the score was 5 to 2, and that ain't counting the Iranian kills either. Boy that bug is a real Mig killer ain't it, BTW, ones bombed on the ground don't count. ;) B) Reddog Well, if you want numbers, take a look at the Eagle ... What's it's tally, about 135-0 counting Israel ... In the modern age(1980-Present), it more or less comes down to opportunity ... and that's much fewer and further between ... Look how many air to air chances have come up in OEF/OIF, zilch ... nadda ... zero ... Gregg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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