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Mk 82 and Snakeye colors in Vietnam


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yes, they were painted in plain and simple Federal Standard Olive Drab

 

They were painted at the factory.

 

Any controversy about the color stems from the fact that they were then shipped all over the US, with many more of them shipped to Vietnam. (with whatever stops along the way)

 

Then, some were stored at bases, and some on ships,,,,,some in holds, some in a bomb farm next to the flight deck. (with fin groups not attached yet, and with fins assembled to them)

 

Some got loaded and de-loaded, some flew and were "bring backs", and some came right out of the crates/pallets and were mounted on aircraft and were dropped.

 

If you have a favorite Olive Drab color from your favorite Model Paint Company,,,,,,,,,that is the right color.

 

(everyone uses their favorite, as do I)

 

 

 

 

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you're welcome, I'm just glad you didn't ask about the stripes

 

just in case, here are some thoughts on that, on my old site that got "photobucketed" to death

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/hangardeckresource/some-aircraft-and-weapons-timeline-notes-t42.html

 

you will need to scroll down a bit, if you don't need or want to know the other stuff in that thread, a lot of it pertains to Skyhawks and Phantoms, though

 

 

 

 

Edited by Rex
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Oh, and here is an old post of mine that explains some of the colors and stripes.

 

Many of these colors were based on an International Agreement, so that all involved would instantly know what he was looking at when he saw, for instance, a Gray looking bomb shaped like a Mk 82, with Green stripes.

 

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/hangardeckresource/weapons-colors-and-stripes-t13.html

 

Still missing is a post about about the stripe sizes and what different numbers of stripes meant. (yes, the number and width of the stripes also had a specific meaning)

 

I'll type that post up when I finish migrating my site to one that actually lets me log into it. (between Photobucket and Tapatalk's game playing, the HD Resource site is toast)

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Whoa, Rex!! Thanks a lot, I'm having a great time reading all your stuff and I'm just in the beginning!! I really love that kind of info!! 😄

 

I'm currently building a USN A-4F and two USAF F-4Es. I want to load the Skyhawk with two MERs on the inside rack and a single bomb on the outside rack. with a drop tank on the centerline. One Phantom will have two MERs on the outside rack and TERs on the inside racks, plus an ECM pod, the other will have only missiles, an ECM pod and drop tank on the centerline... I'm sure I'll get some ideas from your material...

 

Thanks again, cheers from Brazil!!

 

Sergio 

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One note - yes, they were overall OD but keep in mind, the bombs (minus fins and fuzes) were staged in outdoor "bomb dumps" for long periods.  They often got muddy, faded, scratched, etc.    Seems most modelers shoot them with gloss OD and call it a day.  They typically were very weathered.   Less so for the tail fins / snakeye attachments.  

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Oh, and as for "mixed bomb loads", it is okay to put one kind of bomb on a MER or TER, and a different kind on a different MER, or on the wing pylon bomb rack.

 

Back around 1973 or so, Squadron published their first Skyhawk booklet, with color photos instead of profiles. One subject was loaded with #750 on the inner pylons, and #500 Snakeyes on the outer pylons.

 

Just don't mix them together on the same MER, each bomb and size had a different bomb trajectory when released. (although I think it was Finn that posted some photos of mixed bomb types on MERs, I don't remember)

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14 hours ago, Rex said:

yes, they were painted in plain and simple Federal Standard Olive Drab

 

They were painted at the factory.

 

Any controversy about the color stems from the fact that they were then shipped all over the US, with many more of them shipped to Vietnam. (with whatever stops along the way)

 

Then, some were stored at bases, and some on ships,,,,,some in holds, some in a bomb farm next to the flight deck. (with fin groups not attached yet, and with fins assembled to them)

 

Some got loaded and de-loaded, some flew and were "bring backs", and some came right out of the crates/pallets and were mounted on aircraft and were dropped.

 

If you have a favorite Olive Drab color from your favorite Model Paint Company,,,,,,,,,that is the right color.

 

(everyone uses their favorite, as do I)

 

painted

statesidee

 

In Chu Lai 1968, you would see LST's full of bombs. If looked close, some were heavily faded while others looked like they had been just painted. Story went that with way we went thru bombs in I-Corp we were actually emptying ammo dumps stateside. We saw the same thing with arty rounds. I remember seeing stuff from 1944, and six months later it was current manufacture. 

        Chu Lai was like the air strike hub of I-Corp, and bombs didn't stay in the bomb dump long. Napalm canisters stayed shiny stored four hundred yards from the ocean! Eight out of ten strikes either used five hundred pounds or seven hundred fifty pound dumb bombs. Snakeyes seemed to be harder to come by in early sixty eight. Yet they used them all the time south of us.

Cluster bombs were what we really wanted out west, and trust me they were a Good send!! Still most of the time you gladly accepted what was hanging on the wings. When you made radio contact with the folks in the rear and raided a FAC, he had several flights at his disposal. Most were armed with a combo of napalm and bombs, or maybe rockets and napalm. 

        If you were not the fortunate son, and got to work on your sun tan way out west, you soon learned that nobody had a lot of time four butt out there. Maybe twenty five minutes tops! Plus he's not gonna have that big load out. Often you get what's left over from some place in the Ashau, and then he's got eight or ten minutes to find you, set up and get out of Dodge City.  So be looking at four five hundred pounders and maybe a couple napalm canisters. If it was ugly (sometimes) they would come and clear out on fumes. Then perhaps fifteen minutes out would be three fast movers that were diverted to bail your sorry butt out of the fire one more time. 

Gary

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In this video you can see a bomb on the inboard side of the TER:

 

 

it's a Mk-81 Snakeye while a pair of Mk-82 Snakeyes are about to be loaded. Normally different types aren't loaded on the same MER/TER as mentioned above, different ways they dropped, but there were always exceptions. Also in the video you can make out the different shades of the bomb bodies and tail sections, mainly because the tail sections were usually stored inside and thus didn't fade as much as the bombs did. 

 

Jari 

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10 hours ago, ChesshireCat said:

In Chu Lai 1968, you would see LST's full of bombs. If looked close, some were heavily faded while others looked like they had been just painted. Story went that with way we went thru bombs in I-Corp we were actually emptying ammo dumps stateside. We saw the same thing with arty rounds. I remember seeing stuff from 1944, and six months later it was current manufacture. 

        Chu Lai was like the air strike hub of I-Corp, and bombs didn't stay in the bomb dump long. Napalm canisters stayed shiny stored four hundred yards from the ocean! Eight out of ten strikes either used five hundred pounds or seven hundred fifty pound dumb bombs. Snakeyes seemed to be harder to come by in early sixty eight. Yet they used them all the time south of us.

Cluster bombs were what we really wanted out west, and trust me they were a Good send!! Still most of the time you gladly accepted what was hanging on the wings. When you made radio contact with the folks in the rear and raided a FAC, he had several flights at his disposal. Most were armed with a combo of napalm and bombs, or maybe rockets and napalm. 

        If you were not the fortunate son, and got to work on your sun tan way out west, you soon learned that nobody had a lot of time four butt out there. Maybe twenty five minutes tops! Plus he's not gonna have that big load out. Often you get what's left over from some place in the Ashau, and then he's got eight or ten minutes to find you, set up and get out of Dodge City.  So be looking at four five hundred pounders and maybe a couple napalm canisters. If it was ugly (sometimes) they would come and clear out on fumes. Then perhaps fifteen minutes out would be three fast movers that were diverted to bail your sorry butt out of the fire one more time. 

Gary

 

Those must have been some tough times, Gary, I'm sure...

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9 hours ago, viperjockey said:

Guys, I understood that on the Skyhawk one MER position would remain empty, so as to not interfere with the MLG door. But I couldn't really see how many bombs the MER was carrying. Would it carry five or 4 bombs?

 

In this case the inner front position would be empty. In fact, you might see a MER with three bombs (outer front, center front, inner rear).

 

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3 hours ago, Finn said:

A list of what the A-4E could be carried is here:

 

http://www.alternatewars.com/SAC/A-4E_Skyhawk_SAC_-_1_July_1967.pdf

 

scroll down a bit, you'll note only 3 Mk-82s could be carried on the inboard pylons, due to roll limits, and with the main gear door in the way, they used MERs with the bombs loaded as mentioned above.

 

Jari

 

Great!! That solves my doubts and a problem. I got my Snakeyes from VideoAviation and asked Maurizio if he could add two extra bombs. He said OK, but forgot it, so I only got the normal 8-bomb set. With that MER configuration, those eight bombs will be enough, since I will use  three on each MER and one on each outside rack!! :banana:

 

Sergio 😊 

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16 hours ago, viperjockey said:

 

Those must have been some tough times, Gary, I'm sure...

Nah!!  We thought we were made of steel, and didn't reason well. I ( personally) thought I was bullet proof till somebody prooved me wrong. I learned that nobody knew the " air to mud"  business as  the Marines out of Chu Lai,  and we used a bunch of them from everywhere. I can still hear an F100 rolling thru waving the palm trees in the jet blast. 

        I  miss it sometime, but then come to my senses!!

Gary

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