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desert storm A-6e intruder weapon loads


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so i am building a A-6e tram intruder for some one and they want it to look the way they did in desert storm so what would a typical weapon load out be i am using the monogram now revell kit and the insterment panel that says TRAM is that the right part for a tram bird?

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Jump up to the search function and put in that question into the engine. Lots of folks with the same questions and you will find a bunch of options for ya. I know I have answered a bunch and linked a lot of photos.

Good luck with your build and let us know how it progresses.

Cheers

Collin

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I have an MIA bracelet with the pilot of "Heartless 531" on it. I've always wanted to build that jet on its final mission. I've heard it was an anti-shipping strike off the coast of Kuwait. Any ideas what that load-out was?

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Based on my research and reaching out to a few BN's I know:

Unless you have photo proof (which I don't have), or the actual load plan for that day (dry hole on that as well)...I started looking at associated data. Mainly photo evidence from VA-65 (sister sqd to VA-36 on the DS cruise). Other squadrons also showed similar loads.

531 went down on what looks like a ASuW/SUCAP flight off of Faylaka Island "chasing" Iraqi naval units. Typically those aircraft were light loaded with a centerline fuel tank and outboard MERS loaded with a single MK-20 on the aft/bottom station. This was done to keep the drag count down, keep the MERS loaded on the aircraft for later use on more robust strikes in country, and only two weapons so "come aboard" fuel/trap weight could be kept within limits. A super heavy weapons load would require less gas in the tanks to keep under Max Trap. Plus they were in a relatively low threat (IR SAM/AAA) arena, so a drop of ROCKEYE with it's large pattern would at least have the best chance of covering the target on the move (this was before the day of IR Maverick).

From the CVN-71 DS cruisbook:

http://www.navysite.de/cruisebooks/cvn71-90/071.htm

VA-65 flying the load (I can see the same load being flow by both A-6 squadrons in the same airwing)

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Frickmorganbooks.com%2Fuploads%2F3%2F4%2F4%2F8%2F34487367%2F4196086.jpg%3F634&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Frickmorganbooks.com%2Fintruders.html&docid=o6H6oPF5vIEV-M&tbnid=xzR8Gw75C_q_LM%3A&w=633&h=365&safe=off&bih=860&biw=1219&ved=0ahUKEwibrNS08evNAhVIKiYKHdI5AosQMwiGAShiMGI&iact=mrc&uact=8

VA-18 flew a similar loadout

http://zone-five.net/showthread.php?t=28481

VA-145 off the Ranger

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.seaforces.org%2Fusnair%2FVA%2FAttack-Squadron-145-Dateien%2Fimage020.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.seaforces.org%2Fusnair%2FVA%2FAttack-Squadron-145.htm&docid=IVhYz3eFRaNKsM&tbnid=_hryRqfgdjbciM%3A&w=794&h=336&safe=off&bih=860&biw=1219&ved=0ahUKEwiw1cTO9evNAhUJKyYKHYzeCakQMwhhKD0wPQ&iact=mrc&uact=8

My co-worker just wrote me back and was a BN during DS. He stated they never downloaded the MERs, always had a centerline drop tank, and typically went out with 5 ROCKEYE on the MER and a single 1000lb GBU on the opposite side to keep the weight mismatch to a minimum.

Hopefully someone will come forth with better data.

Cheers

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Edited by Collin
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Do a Google search with these words:

Desert Storm at Sea: What the Navy Really Did Heartless 531

click on a link to the book, it doesn't give much info on Heartless 531's load but another Roosevelt A-6, Tiger 506, searching for Heartless 531 came under AAA fire and returned fire with Zuni rockets. Also earlier in the book mention is made of the A-6 using the AGM-123 Skipper on a tanker.

Jari

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I'm sitting at a meeting with the same B/N mentioned earlier. He did say they reduced down to a couple of ROKEYE but kept the GBU-16/Skipper loaded. He didn't have kind words for the Skipper, very unreliable. They quickly found the higher # of clusters caused them to be Bingo on the ball too many times, so they had to start downloading weapons.

Cheers

Collin

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Here is one with a pair of Rockeyes and a AGM-123 Skipper:

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_iZyNd9ySy4/maxresdefault.jpg

Jari

Great pic, haven't seen that one before. I showed it to my Co-worker and he laughed. He flew with that load but after some other crews dropped their Skippers and the rocket motors failed to fire, they downloaded them and never flew them again.

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Edited by Collin
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  • 4 years later...

Just found this online.  Looks like what you said and matches the photo of 535; a centerline fuel tank, outboards with MERS loaded with a single Rockeye on the aft/bottom station, GBU-16/Skipper on one inboard.

83944172_1449607585246311_3225416625641488384_n.jpg

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On 7/12/2016 at 10:02 AM, Collin said:

I'm sitting at a meeting with the same B/N mentioned earlier. He did say they reduced down to a couple of ROKEYE but kept the GBU-16/Skipper loaded. He didn't have kind words for the Skipper, very unreliable. They quickly found the higher # of clusters caused them to be Bingo on the ball too many times, so they had to start downloading weapons.

Cheers

Collin

 

The Skipper was the AGM-123

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1 hour ago, Dave Roof said:

 

The Skipper was the AGM-123

Sure was. Some carried -16’s, some carried Skipper. My buds Squadron carried Skipper for some of the war then they swapped them for -16’s. 

 

The “/“ doesn’t mean GBU-16 = Skipper. 

 

 

 

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15 minutes ago, Collin said:

Sure was. Some carried -16’s, some carried Skipper. My buds Squadron carried Skipper for some of the war then they swapped them for -16’s. 

 

The “/“ doesn’t mean GBU-16 = Skipper. 

 

 

 

 

Ah okay. That is how it read.

 

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6 hours ago, Murph said:

 

Gilligan begs to differ.

 

Regards,

Murph

 

When did Gilligan date Barbie's little sister? 😆

 

Seriously though, the GBU-16/AGM-123 discussion above reminded me that I've read the Skipper was pretty much literally a GBU-16 with the rocket motor of an AGM-45 Shrike mounted to the back end.  Can the ordnance experts confirm/elaborate?  The reputation I've heard was that it was a good idea on paper that didn't work very well at all in reality.

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24 minutes ago, Quixote74 said:

 

I've read the Skipper was pretty much literally a GBU-16 with the rocket motor of an AGM-45 Shrike mounted to the back end.  Can the ordnance experts confirm/elaborate?

 

That is pretty much exactly what it was. We built a few in ODS and they didn't do well according to the squadrons that dropped them. 

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