Sheet 72009 F-102 question

[f5guy]

Hey Kursad,

I'm just finishing up the Hawaii ANG jet from this sheet, having already built the ND ANG option last year. I noticed in my reference pic collection that all of the Hawaii and ND ANG jets that I have photo's of have the IR ball in front of the windscreen. The instructions to your sheet don't mention the ball, so I'm wondering if these two jets on your sheet have the ball or not? Thanks, Fred K.

[KursadA]

This is a somewhat older sheet and I do not currently have all the references I used at the time to draw it. I can not tell you with any certainty whether they had the IRST ball or not, sorry. Looking quickly at other aircraft flown by the units at the same time, it looks like they were equipped with the IRST ball.

[gmat]

Fred K,

When the 16th FIS deactivated in the 1964, 20 of their Configuration 8 F-102As with the IR ball were transferred to the 199th FIS in Hawaii. Others were transferred from CONUS units, I believe. The orange and red Hawaiian Tapa design on the tail was adopted in about 1973/74ish. Previous to that their aircraft just had the round ANG badge with Hawaii in small letters above it. So all of their aircraft with the orange and red markings had the IR ball. The 16th FIS was the only one of the PACAF F-102 units deactivated in 1964/65 under Project Clearwater that were provided with the IR configured aircraft. The 509th FIS at Clark AB also had IR equipped F-102s. The 4th, 40th, and the 68th FIS were the other deactivated units. I believe the 16th got the IR aircraft as they also provided alert birds in SEA. So make your model with the IR ball.

Grant

Edited January 2, 2016 by gmat