f4h1phantom Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 (edited) Open day at Memmingerberg base in Germany, May 5, 1984. TIA! Jorge. Edited August 10, 2015 by f4h1phantom Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DET1460 Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 This picture looks more like the late sixties than 1984. I believe the Dueces and Huns were gone by then and the tail codes on the Hun would have the later Vietnam style. As far as the store, it looks similar to a B-43 Nuke training shape, with a more pointed nosecone. Everything in those days had a secondary Nuke role. Even the RF-4C was Nuke capable from the centerline. JMHO Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f4h1phantom Posted August 10, 2015 Author Share Posted August 10, 2015 Many thanks JMHO. It looked like a nuclear bomb to me, but I was finding it quite odd it would be displayed at an open day. In any case, it is very interesting to confirm what it was and have a picture of it mounted under and F-100! Here's the link from where the picture comes from: http://home.arcor.de/jabomm/open%20days.html My german is not very good, so I may very well be mistaken. Best regards, Jorge. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jennings Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 It's a B43 nuclear shape. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B43_nuclear_bomb Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Finn Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 As others have said it is a MK/B43 shape, the pointy nose is the N43-1 nose, the N43-0 was shorter blunt version with a spike for "planting" the weapon. Jari Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f4h1phantom Posted August 10, 2015 Author Share Posted August 10, 2015 Thanks for the replies, gentlemen. I would have thought that, even though it's just a "shape", they would have been interested in keeping the thing out of anybody's sight. Best regards, Jorge. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gene K Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 (edited) I vote for B-57, more specifically the N-57 Training Store: http://svsm.org/gallery/b57 Gene K Edited August 11, 2015 by Gene K Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ikar Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 even so, if it's a training piece, isn't it supposed to be marked in blue like our genies were or our conventionals? When did they start marking training weapons blue? If it was a live nuke there should be armed guards there. The Air Force always took those things very seriously and I can't believe they would have one on display for the public. We didn't even show a training Genie publically. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Finn Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 Looks more like a MK/B43 going by the blunt end plus a B57 was small, only 118" long while a MK/B43 ranged from 149.5" - 164". Gene the N57-1 was for the nose section, the B57 had 3 types of nose sections N57-0,-1 or -2. The -1 was mainly used for airburst but could be used for laydown or depth bomb while the -0 or -2 were for laydown or depth bomb only. http://nuclear-weapons.info/images/B57-gen-arr.jpg Jari Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Grey Ghost 531 Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 even so, if it's a training piece, isn't it supposed to be marked in blue like our genies were or our conventionals? When did they start marking training weapons blue? If it was a live nuke there should be armed guards there. The Air Force always took those things very seriously and I can't believe they would have one on display for the public. We didn't even show a training Genie publically. All the "shapes" I ever saw were bare metal silver. The security given them seems hit or miss, I saw one being loaded on an A-6 completely surrounded by armed Marines, and I saw another one, sitting all alone and unattended on the shipping dock of a warehouse. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DET1460 Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 All the "shapes" I ever saw were bare metal silver. The security given them seems hit or miss, I saw one being loaded on an A-6 completely surrounded by armed Marines, and I saw another one, sitting all alone and unattended on the shipping dock of a warehouse. It depends on the weapon and, possibly, the service (USN, USAF, etc.) the "shape" is being used by. While in SAC on FB-111A's in the very early 70's our alert birds were armed with 2 B-61's in the weapons bay, in natural metal with small, black noses, and a B-43 on each inboard swiveling pylon in white. When the Munition folks were practicing loading, the B-43 shapes were white. The B-61 shapes were in metal. I'm pretty sure there are variables in units and stations where these weapons were used. Hope this helps DET1460 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hooter Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 I have a couple of photos of a 20th. TFW F-100D on static display at Wethersfield's open day in 1968 with the usual weapons display in front, and on the left is what they called a "500lb. practice bomb" but which I later identified as a B57 training shape, so the USAF did place these items in their static displays. HTH Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Finn Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 During normal day to day operations security was tight when it came to live weapons with limited access, no photographs but on Open Houses and such it was come look and take as many pics as you want, training weapons only of course, the real ones were hidden away. Speaking of training weapons this scene from Star Trek TOS should be familar: http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/1x19/Tomorrow_is_Yesterday_003.JPG you can see MK-28IN (INternal - to fit inside the weapon bay of the F-105) and Mk-28EX (EXternal for the F-104 and F-105). Since they were used on a regular basis they were easily available. Jari Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Murph Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 I would have thought that, even though it's just a "shape", they would have been interested in keeping the thing out of anybody's sight. It's also possible that they may have been interested in making a "statement". Regards, Murph Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mark S. Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 To me it looks like a training shape for the B28RE. The fin is narrower at the body than outboard. Mark S. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
balls47 Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 It's a nuke training shape. The nuke would actually be "lobbed" towards the target. I had someone from the F-100 community explain the procedure to me. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Finn Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 Here is a F-100 about to get a MK43 training shape: Jari Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jeffryfontaine Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 On 8/13/2015 at 8:01 PM, Mark S. said: To me it looks like a training shape for the B28RE. The fin is narrower at the body than outboard. Mark S. You can see the clipped fins that were a unique feature of the B28RE weapon when you zoom in on that image. Links to images of the B28RE that show the clipped fin feature. Second link has additional image available from other viewing angles: Wikipedia Commons - B28RE USAF Museum WPAFB, Ohio Flikr.com (Kelly Michaels) - B28RE USAF Museum WPAFB, Ohio Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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