TomcatFanatic123 Posted April 18, 2013 Share Posted April 18, 2013 Just wanted to confirm that the F-117 carried just two of the radar signature emitters (one on each side of the fuselage) when it flew training, air shows and other non-combat sorties (I notice Tamiya gives you a pair with the kit, but makes not one mention of them in the instructions. Anywhere. At all.). Two is all I can seem to find in my reference pics, but I just want to make sure that there's none hiding underneath the fuselage or in some other nook or cranny that I may be missing. Also, does anybody have any close-up shots of the red anti-collision beacons that they carry during non-combat ops. Can't seem to find any fairly good walk-around shots of those anywhere... the only ones I can find are pretty distant views. Thanks for the help :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
William G Posted April 18, 2013 Share Posted April 18, 2013 ipms stockholm may be a good place to start I have several books on the Nighthawk and I will check to see if I have any images of either... Check the walk-around section too on here... HTH William G Quote Link to post Share on other sites
habu2 Posted April 18, 2013 Share Posted April 18, 2013 Also, does anybody have any close-up shots of the red anti-collision beacons that they carry during non-combat ops. I believe the beacon lights are always carried - they are retractable for LO reasons so they aren't always visible in photos. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rob de Bie Posted April 18, 2013 Share Posted April 18, 2013 Just wanted to confirm that the F-117 carried just two of the radar signature emitters (one on each side of the fuselage) when it flew training, air shows and other non-combat sorties (I notice Tamiya gives you a pair with the kit, but makes not one mention of them in the instructions. Anywhere. At all.). Two is all I can seem to find in my reference pics, but I just want to make sure that there's none hiding underneath the fuselage or in some other nook or cranny that I may be missing. Also, does anybody have any close-up shots of the red anti-collision beacons that they carry during non-combat ops. Can't seem to find any fairly good walk-around shots of those anywhere... the only ones I can find are pretty distant views. Thanks for the help :)/> Working from memories of 15-20 years ago, and without checking books, there were 'top hat' radar reflectors on the lower side too on early birds. It's basicaly a cilinder with flange, with the flange mounted on the skin. Such a reflector gives a nice 360 degrees coverage. I also remember a story that F-117s with just the reflectors on the side of the fuselage were difficult to see by ground radar. Only when they banked during a turn, exposing the reflector, they became visible on primary radar. Rob Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TomcatFanatic123 Posted April 19, 2013 Author Share Posted April 19, 2013 (edited) Hmm...I have that IPMS Stockholm page bookmarked on my computer for references...don't know how I missed the shots of that beacon. Judging from those pics, yeah it looks retractable, but could have sworn I read in one of my books that it said it was bolted on for training/non-combat ops and taken off in-theater. I could be dead wrong though. Thanks for the help guys...I've got about 50-75 tabs marked in my F-117 books, and think I've pored over all the pics on Airliners, as well. It just seems to be difficult to find details on obscure little things like that when it comes to this aircraft.EDIT: Apparently Tamiya does include the anti-collision beacons on the clear sprue for the kit...they're just marked "parts not used" in the instructions, but it's obvious what they are, similar to the radar reflectors :) Edited April 19, 2013 by TomcatFanatic123 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TomcatFanatic123 Posted April 20, 2013 Author Share Posted April 20, 2013 After poring over 1,000's of F-117 photos on three different aircraft photo websites, the walkaround section here, AND my two books on the aircraft...it looks to me like sometimes there was only one anti-collision beacon exposed on the aircraft, and it ommonly looks like the one on the bottom side. Concentrated on photos of air shows, since that's where mine will be on "static display". Good thing, too, because it was getting difficult to find a good photo showing the exact location of the one on the top side, but I found some very good shots of the bottom one. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
helyun302 Posted April 24, 2013 Share Posted April 24, 2013 As a former maintainer of F-117 Avionics, I was on the airframe for 3 years, 88-91, and deployed to Desert Shield/Storm. Initially when the 117 was displayed publically there were 4 radar reflectors, 2 cylinders and the 2 diamond shapes. The cylinders were placed behind each main gear and the diamonds were in the usual spot on the side of the fuselage. After a little while the cylinders weren't used anymore, I've no idea why. The Anti-collision lights are NON-retractable and were removed and the area rammed over for combat ops. Hope this helps, Brad Quote Link to post Share on other sites
William G Posted April 28, 2013 Share Posted April 28, 2013 Hey nice to know Brad... William G Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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