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Capt. Tate's F-15C


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Hi. Anyone here can help me get some details about Capt. Tate's F-15C? I'm trying to model his jet before or after his first kill in the Gulf War.

Here are my questions:

1) Did his jet/unit carried 3 external fuel tanks?

2) His/their F-15s are still wearing the ghost greys during the war?

3) Is the arresting hook housing (Tate's) installed?

4) Is the canopy frame dark brown/copper (Tate's)?

Additional infos are very welcome of course!

Edited by snickers
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Tate was not flying his jet at the time of the kill, his name replaced the other pilot's after the kill. The standard load for the 1st FW in Desert Storm was three tanks, four AIM-7MHs, and four AIM-9Ms. The Langley jets still used light and dark Ghost Gray at that time, and the canopy and windscreen frames were painted gray. The arresting hook fairing and the wedge shaped vents under the fuselage hadn't been removed yet, and the jet had received the MSIP mod, but the tail antenna was the early rounded dome type. BTW, Bay 5 was white, not metallic green, it had chaff/flare dispensers, and still used the original stick grip.

Regards,

Murph

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Tate was not flying his jet at the time of the kill, his name replaced the other pilot's after the kill. The standard load for the 1st FW in Desert Storm was three tanks, four AIM-7MHs, and four AIM-9Ms. The Langley jets still used light and dark Ghost Gray at that time, and the canopy and windscreen frames were painted gray. The arresting hook fairing and the wedge shaped vents under the fuselage hadn't been removed yet, and the jet had received the MSIP mod, but the tail antenna was the early rounded dome type. BTW, Bay 5 was white, not metallic green, it had chaff/flare dispensers, and still used the original stick grip.

Regards,

Murph

-"Tate was not flying his jet at the time of the kill" -I may sound dumb but what do you mean? What's "Bay 5"? Sorry I'm not really particular with aircraft parts.

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-I may sound dumb but what do you mean?

Pilots don't always fly "their jet" as in the one with their name on it, they fly the one that is ready to fly.

What's "Bay 5"? Sorry I'm not really particular with aircraft parts.

F-15A_77-0100_KFMH_31May2008_KenMiddleton_Bay5_DSC_3244.jpg

aft the ejection seat area

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Pilots don't always fly "their jet" as in the one with their name on it, they fly the one that is ready to fly.

F-15A_77-0100_KFMH_31May2008_KenMiddleton_Bay5_DSC_3244.jpg

aft the ejection seat area

-OK, got it. But HE did killed that Mirage F.1? As I researched, Tate's SN# was 83-017?

"BTW, Bay 5 was white, not metallic green, it had chaff/flare dispensers, and still used the original stick grip." -maybe If I will pose the canopy closed, then no alterations to be made.

Edited by snickers
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To add further detail, when the jet returned to Langley, Tate's name was removed and the original pilot's name put back on, or so the Repli-scale decal sheet says.

As for load out, u could also modify the fuel tanks to be WRM fuel tanks.

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To add further detail, when the jet returned to Langley, Tate's name was removed and the original pilot's name put back on, or so the Repli-scale decal sheet says.

As for load out, u could also modify the fuel tanks to be WRM fuel tanks.

-woah! Due to multiple claims, should I just model it as "83-0017" and leave it as it is. No names.

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These "claims" aren't contradictory at all if that is what you're thinking. The jet deployed from Langley with, capt "snickers" name on it (using your name as i can't look up the actual name til i get home).

Capt. Tate then flew that plane with "snickers"' name on it the night he shot down the iraqi plane. After the shoot down and while still deployed im Saudi Arabia, "Snickers" name is removed and Tate's name put on the plane.

After returning to Langley, Tate's name is removed.

It just depends on the time frame u want to depict, in the end, it's your model and you can do whatever you'd like. I've used my own name before because i didn't have knowledge of the crew names on a plane :)

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I think on the 3 years that I crewed F-15E 90-0239 my pilot and WSO only flew in "their" aircraft 1 or 2 times, and never together. And it was actually "my" aircraft. I spent many many many hours of my life with that pig lol.

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Didn't they use 83-017 as the Demo jet for a while? I remember seeing it fly a demo in Columbia Mo one year. I got a couple of low quality pics of it but nothing special. I wonder if there are decals for it as a demo jet?

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These "claims" aren't contradictory at all if that is what you're thinking. The jet deployed from Langley with, capt "snickers" name on it (using your name as i can't look up the actual name til i get home).

Capt. Tate then flew that plane with "snickers"' name on it the night he shot down the iraqi plane. After the shoot down and while still deployed im Saudi Arabia, "Snickers" name is removed and Tate's name put on the plane.

After returning to Langley, Tate's name is removed.

It just depends on the time frame u want to depict, in the end, it's your model and you can do whatever you'd like. I've used my own name before because i didn't have knowledge of the crew names on a plane :)/>

Tater's jet was 2014, but it wasn't available the first night of DS, so he flew 3017 instead. At the time of the kill, Mark Brugh's name was on the jet. They did make an effort to match pilots with their own jets, because it was the first time the USAF was seriously going to war since Vietnam. As an aside, it's a shame J.B. Kelk took so long to get the proper credit for the first kill of the war. We knew very quickly after the event Tate's kill was not the first, but once the wing commander marched Tate out in front of the press (who congregated at Dhahran) and announced he had the first kill the USAF was kind of stuck with the situation till after Storm ended.

Didn't they use 83-017 as the Demo jet for a while? I remember seeing it fly a demo in Columbia Mo one year. I got a couple of low quality pics of it but nothing special. I wonder if there are decals for it as a demo jet?

The demo jets rotated each season, based on maintenance issues and how new the paint job was. At one point both of my old jets (1022 and 1036) were the demo jets. 3017 eventually became the Wing CC's jet, before Langley replaced the F-15s with F-22s.

I think on the 3 years that I crewed F-15E 90-0239 my pilot and WSO only flew in "their" aircraft 1 or 2 times, and never together. And it was actually "my" aircraft. I spent many many many hours of my life with that pig lol.

I typically flew mine once every two or three weeks, but we made a concerted effort to to do that, so the pilots could get a chance to talk to the crew chiefs.

Regards,

Murph

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These "claims" aren't contradictory at all if that is what you're thinking. The jet deployed from Langley with, capt "snickers" name on it (using your name as i can't look up the actual name til i get home).

Capt. Tate then flew that plane with "snickers"' name on it the night he shot down the iraqi plane. After the shoot down and while still deployed im Saudi Arabia, "Snickers" name is removed and Tate's name put on the plane.

After returning to Langley, Tate's name is removed.

It just depends on the time frame u want to depict, in the end, it's your model and you can do whatever you'd like. I've used my own name before because i didn't have knowledge of the crew names on a plane :)/>

-"These "claims" aren't contradictory at all ", Yeah my bad, wrong use. I guess I will make the one below. Thanks people.

http://img.wp.scn.ru/camms/ar/848/pics/3_28.jpg

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quick question after looking at that last link.. i'm not familiar with F-15s or their squadrons so please bear with me.

i notice that the squadron logo is displayed on the body, just aft of the intake. where do they display the fighter wing logo/shield? (i know with some F-16s, the numbers and FW or TFW are written on the fin)

Edited by vainglorious
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Tater's jet was 2014, but it wasn't available the first night of DS, so he flew 3017 instead. At the time of the kill, Mark Brugh's name was on the jet. They did make an effort to match pilots with their own jets, because it was the first time the USAF was seriously going to war since Vietnam. As an aside, it's a shame J.B. Kelk took so long to get the proper credit for the first kill of the war. We knew very quickly after the event Tate's kill was not the first, but once the wing commander marched Tate out in front of the press (who congregated at Dhahran) and announced he had the first kill the USAF was kind of stuck with the situation till after Storm ended.

cool bit of info, I assume it was Col John McBroom? I thought the public confusion over first kill was because CNN or someone on their own quickly reported Tate's kill as the first of the war, didn't realize a Col. was involved. I found it funny reading about someone from the A-10 wing calling McBroom, asking if he would like the A-10s to provide top cover after their second helo kill.

Snickers, which kit and decal sheet are you using for your build? I've been thinking of building Tate's get too, or a Bitburg jet.

Edited by Benner
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Benner,

Homemade decal actually. I don't know why I like the "FF" on their fins. The kit is Tomytec (1/144), it's a pre-painted -J but will be removing the paint since i cant buy any -C online.

It will be my next build after the SU-30MKK.

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Langley did not get Mod Eagle scheme till after they came back from the storm, they still were in Compass Ghost Gray.

I PCSed to Kadena from Langley and Kadena appeared

To be the first to get all the 15's to mod eagle in late 92, my jet was one of the last as it transitioned through MISIP at Kadena. Langley just started the transition but still had the dark tail codes.

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