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F-14 Expanded Chaff Adapter - Photos?


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Great thread. Could have used this a few months again when I was looking for more details to add to the new Tomcat Data and Weapons sheet ...😒😜. Would've been so easy to add empty and full ECA patterns on the sheet!

 

brian

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The 88/32 pattern is much more interesting anyway. It’s hard to see in that photo of the AN/ALE-41, but it’s definitely there. Was that also the same pod they used on prototype/very early A-10s? 

 

OK, so blue or yellow for chaff and dull brass for flares. Would there be a mix of blue and yellow, or would they be sorted by color so there was a contiguous section of each? 

 

This is is coming together well. Thanks everyone for the collaboration.

Edited by andrew.deboer
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27 minutes ago, andrew.deboer said:

The 88/32 pattern is much more interesting anyway. It’s hard to see in that photo of the AN/ALE-41, but it’s definitely there. Was that also the same pod they used on prototype/very early A-10s? 

 

OK, so blue or yellow for chaff and dull brass for flares. Would there be a mix of blue and yellow, or would they be sorted by color so there was a contiguous section of each? 

 

This is is coming together well. Thanks everyone for the collaboration.

We always did either blue or yellow (RR-129 / RR-144) chaff, never mixed them together.

 

Not sure if the A-10 used the ALE-41. I remember having to load that SOB, that was on heavy freaking pod and PITA to clean out after we downloaded it and took it to the hanger, it used rolled chaff and no cartridges like the -37 and aircraft chaff/flare system.

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So here’s my photo of AA211, queuing up for the catapult behind an E-2C and AA-210. Quality is low because I took a picture of the picture with my phone and the picture is under a piece of glass to keep it flat.

 

2BA4FF07-AF3B-4C12-BA37-EFD2BA78D3CC.jpe

 

...and I do believe I see a BRU-10 and adapter just visible on the Phoenix rail. So, there’s yer sign. 

Edited by andrew.deboer
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  • 5 months later...

Hello, all,

 

I expect to have some progress shots soon with my homemade ECA decal and BRU-10A in place.. In the meantime, this thread surfaced:

 

And behold, the thread has an up close shot of an ECA. This is a test flight, so there are a lot of nonstandard things going on here, but it does show the layout and size of things very well. Of interest to me are the umbilical channel aft of the ECA rail, and the contours of the ECA. I also decided to go tankless on my model - to make the TARPS-specific equipment easier to see.

Edited by andrew.deboer
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10 minutes ago, andrew.deboer said:

Hello, all,

 

I expect to have some progress shots soon with my homemade ECA decal and BRU-10A in place.. In the meantime, this thread surfaced:

 

And behold, the thread has an up close shot of an ECA. This is a test flight, so there are a lot of nonstandard things going on here, but it does show the layout and size of things very well. Of interest to me are the umbilical channel aft of the ECA rail, and the contours of the ECA. I also decided to go tankless on my model - to make the TARPS-specific equipment easier to see.

The umbilical bridge (umbilical channel) was not specific to the ECA Rail, it was used to provide electrical power and coolant to the aft weapon rail stations (when installed) and also out to the wing station when Phoenix's were loaded, you can fly the ECA rail without the umbilical bridge installed.

 

And for full disclosure, in the thread you linked, I'm the poster Reddog in that thread.

 

And one detail I missed back then, the ECA Rail is still in "Safe", they never "armed" the rail and closed the arming flags (on the side of the rail by the forward part of the chaff bucket).

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BRU-10 adapter is the name of the earlier bomb rack used by the VF-24 Tomcats during the Red Flag exercise and before that by those Tomcats with 300 gal drop tanks installed on Phoenix pallets which were converted as luggage pods?

 

Luigi

Edited by Mizar
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3 hours ago, Mizar said:

BRU-10 adapter is the name of the earlier bomb rack used by the VF-24 Tomcats during the Red Flag exercise and before that by those Tomcats with 300 gal drop tanks installed on Phoenix pallets which were converted as luggage pods?

 

Luigi

Don't know anything about the VF-24 Red Flag exercise but yes, the BRU-10 adapter was used for the luggage pods (CNU-188 Baggage Pod) before the BRU-32/ADU-703 (commonly referred to as the bomb rail) came into service.

 

Here's another thread that talks about the BRU-10 Adapter, might have some useful info;

 

http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?/topic/303435-odd-etpod-on-early-f-14a/

Edited by GW8345
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21 hours ago, GW8345 said:

Don't know anything about the VF-24 Red Flag exercise but yes, the BRU-10 adapter was used for the luggage pods (CNU-188 Baggage Pod) before the BRU-32/ADU-703 (commonly referred to as the bomb rail) came into service.

 

Here's another thread that talks about the BRU-10 Adapter, might have some useful info;

 

http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?/topic/303435-odd-etpod-on-early-f-14a/

 

Was talking about them ^_^

VSenrIJl.jpg

 

I remember a discussion about those pylons/adapters on the pic here on these forums, unfortunately I can't track it down and I was recently searching for their indicative names so I could scrounge better picks from the net as I no longer have any Tomcat book left on my stash cept for a 2015 international magazine.

 

Anyway many thanks again for your help

 

Luigi

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I'm building a F-14B from VF-102 during Operation Southern Watch, on the 1998 Cruise.

 

It will be the Hasegawa kit using Wolfpak Decals. Here is a picture of the load out in quesiton:

 

* Link *

 

Would ECAs still be loaded as late as 1998? It is a bit hidden behind the near side tank so I can't tell if it is there or not.

 

Another question, obviously this load is 2x AIM-9 and 2x AIM-7, would 2x AIM-9 and 1x AIM-7 1xAIM-54 on the should pylons be possible to make it more interesting?

 

Thank you very much

 

Hoops

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1 hour ago, Hoops said:

I'm building a F-14B from VF-102 during Operation Southern Watch, on the 1998 Cruise.

 

It will be the Hasegawa kit using Wolfpak Decals. Here is a picture of the load out in quesiton:

 

* Link *

 

Would ECAs still be loaded as late as 1998? It is a bit hidden behind the near side tank so I can't tell if it is there or not.

 

Another question, obviously this load is 2x AIM-9 and 2x AIM-7, would 2x AIM-9 and 1x AIM-7 1xAIM-54 on the should pylons be possible to make it more interesting?

 

Thank you very much

 

Hoops

By 98 the ECA rail was basically gone, once the LAU-138 started being carried, there was no need for the ECA rail.

 

2 x AIM-9, 1 x AIM-7 and 1 x AIM-54 was not only possible, it was done, just make sure you have weapon rails on the forward belly.

 

And in the pic you linked, the rail on station 3R is not an ECA rail, it's a regular Phoenix rail.

 

hth

GW

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5 hours ago, Mizar said:

 

Was talking about them ^_^

VSenrIJl.jpg

 

I remember a discussion about those pylons/adapters on the pic here on these forums, unfortunately I can't track it down and I was recently searching for their indicative names so I could scrounge better picks from the net as I no longer have any Tomcat book left on my stash cept for a 2015 international magazine.

 

Anyway many thanks again for your help

 

Luigi

Not sure why they had a BRU-10 Rail on the forward station, they were not cleared to carry bombs in the fleet (only testing). You could only drop a bomb off of it once then had to disassemble the the rail/bomb rack in order to clean it because there was no way of removing the ejector foot without removing the bomb rack itself.

 

The only reason why I could think of for them carrying a BRU-10 rail at Red Flag is that they needed a weapons rail to replace one that was broken and that was the only rail available. That or they managed to release the rack and drop the baggage pod off of the rail, which was not an easy thing to do but could be done if you tired really hard.

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OK, here’s my decal work for the business end of the Expanded Chaff Adapter, and the plastic strip I added to the Phoenix pallet for the ECA body.

 

I did blue or yellow chaff cartridges and a copper-ish color for the flares. Not entirely happy with the printed colors, so I also did a version that can be laid down over paint.

 

7A3A3274-9AB8-4C9B-B256-FFC7AED9E0F6.jpe

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On 4/25/2019 at 7:33 PM, GW8345 said:

Not sure why they had a BRU-10 Rail on the forward station, they were not cleared to carry bombs in the fleet (only testing). You could only drop a bomb off of it once then had to disassemble the the rail/bomb rack in order to clean it because there was no way of removing the ejector foot without removing the bomb rack itself.

 

The only reason why I could think of for them carrying a BRU-10 rail at Red Flag is that they needed a weapons rail to replace one that was broken and that was the only rail available. That or they managed to release the rack and drop the baggage pod off of the rail, which was not an easy thing to do but could be done if you tired really hard.

There were no standard racks for when CAG9 went to fallon. All the jets that had racks on the Det carried the old BRU-10. 

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  • 2 years later...

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