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F4D-1 Skyray and the AIM-9


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Anybody have any ideas on how many AIM-9s the Skyray could carry?  A few sources say it could carry 4, while most say 2; although, the latter could just be the internet echo chamber repeating each other wrongly.  I found one picture of a China Lake F4D with 4 AIM-9s, but that is a test center, so it may not have been an operational load.

 

Regards,

Murph

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I went thru all my reference books on the F4D and found several photos of them carrying Sidewinders. Note the following comments are observations, not hard and fast rules. 

 

I found photos of Sidewinders on inboard pylons and on outboard pylons, but never at the same time. I found no photos of four AIM-9s loaded.  If the Skyray could actually carry four, I found no photos.

 

Also I found photos of two different inboard pylons carrying AIM-9s.  One case was a rail launcher hung off the common pylon with the vertical leading edge, as depicted in the Tamiya 72nd kit. The other was a shorter pylon with a raked leading edge and no visible gap between the pylon and rail. The latter may have been an Aero 3A but the reference I found was in Japanese so I can't be sure. 

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9 hours ago, madmanrick said:

Per Tommy Thompson's excellent Tailhook Topics site, the F4D could carry:

 

 "Sidewinder capability was added early on and up to four could be carried (on the inboard and outboard wing stations), although the usual load-out was two."

 

http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/search?q=douglas+f4d

 

Rick

 

Rick,

  Thanks, Tommy's site was one of the first things I checked, but I missed that.

 

7 hours ago, habu2 said:

I went thru all my reference books on the F4D and found several photos of them carrying Sidewinders. Note the following comments are observations, not hard and fast rules. 

 

I found photos of Sidewinders on inboard pylons and on outboard pylons, but never at the same time. I found no photos of four AIM-9s loaded.  If the Skyray could actually carry four, I found no photos.

 

habu2,

  The only photo I could find with four AIM-9s was that one I mentioned above at the China Lake website.

 

Regards,

Murph

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The last page of the Ginter book has what looks like a page of the NATOPS manual titled "performance summary" and it has a column listing 4 sidewinders and 2 300 gallon tanks. I do not see any pictures in the book with four, or even two visible on the same wing.

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