nmollenhauer Posted April 9, 2016 Share Posted April 9, 2016 Anyone know which variant of an AIM-9 an A-7A or B would carry? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
achterkirch Posted April 9, 2016 Share Posted April 9, 2016 Early life B, mid life D, late life L but only in the 80's from what I can see on picture online. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Niels Posted April 9, 2016 Share Posted April 9, 2016 There were restrictions on use of AIM-9's due to low availabillity, so what was available was reserved for CAP flying USN F-4B/J or USAF F-4C/D fighters. Hence modelling a VietNam era A-7A/B without AIM-9's is OK. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Superheat Posted April 9, 2016 Share Posted April 9, 2016 No B's on deployed fleet squadron aircraft, just the D and maybe later the L, but I've never seen an L on an A or B, just on E's. The RAG's probably carried B's for live fire exercises, but the D was the standard by the time the A-7 entered service. The low availability of the D was for the first couple years after the missile entered service in 1964 and was gone by the time the A-7 made its first deployment in 1967. We had two A-7 squadrons on Tico in '69, VA-25 and 87, both in B's, and they regularly carried AIM-9D's. Cheers, Tom Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Grey Ghost 531 Posted April 9, 2016 Share Posted April 9, 2016 I think by the time the AIM-9L was in service, all the A-7s were E models. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted April 9, 2016 Share Posted April 9, 2016 Mostly E's, yes....but wasn't one of the squadrons supporting Operation El Dorado Canyon (April '86) flying C's? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
achterkirch Posted April 9, 2016 Share Posted April 9, 2016 Wasn't there some reserve squadrons flying A's or B's. I think I seen some where a picture of one with a captive L. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nmollenhauer Posted April 10, 2016 Author Share Posted April 10, 2016 Awesome info! I'll ask a little deeper; would a CATM-9B be appropriate for a reserve A-7B (VA-203/204) in 1979? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Niels Posted April 10, 2016 Share Posted April 10, 2016 Mostly E's, yes....but wasn't one of the squadrons supporting Operation El Dorado Canyon (April '86) flying C's? VA-82 flew A-7E during this ops. They earlier flew the A-7C, but all had been converted to TA-7C's by this time. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.