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A-7E VA-147 with LGBs in Nam


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I should think that would be a bit later than Viet Nam. Is there any indication of unit or carrier accompanying the photo? I'm no expert, but it seems that is a pretty heavy load without gas bags for a mission over the North. And was the Navy set up with LGBs in that war? I know the USAF used them with F-4s and B-57G. I'd like to know more about the photo!

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A-7’s flew a limited amount of sorties toward the end of the war with large fin LGB’s like in the photo. This photo and a few others floating around (and in the Osprey book) you can see them. Jim Rotramel has the specifics. 

 

Cheers

Collin

Edited by Collin
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I was in VA-196 in early '72 (in SEA) an installed a hand held laser designator in our A-6A's on 3 occasions. It would be plugged in to the BN's side console after removing one of the other panels on that side. It was about the size of a shoe box but a bit longer, with a telescopic sight mounted on top. As I understood, we were designating for drops by F-4J and A-7E's from our airwing but I never saw, or don't remember seeing the weapons themselves.

regards,

Gary F

 

From the topic I posted above.

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If Dambusters on Kittyhawk on 72 cuise (photo in earlier PGM Corsair topic posted above) did carry Pave Way I LGBs, can we assume sister squadron Corsairs from VA-192 Golden Dragons on same cruise did too?

 

 

I wonder....

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On 12/17/2018 at 8:25 AM, Petarvu said:

Thanks for your answers,

So do we know which A-7E squadrons dropped LGB at the end of war in Nam?

 

Cheers

P

I know VA-146, VA-147, VA-82 and VA-86 dropped LGB's during the 72/73 time frame.

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26 minutes ago, Petarvu said:

Check this load out:

Va-192

 

I know it is OT but I find the slant mk82 config very interestig. And what is that on far right station (6) unguded missile containers or some cluster bomb canisters

 

...

Those look like (slant load) LAU rocket canisters with nose cones attached.  

 

Collin

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21 hours ago, Petarvu said:

Check this load out:

Va-192

 

I know it is OT but I find the slant mk82 config very interestig. And what is that on far right station (6) unguded missile containers or some cluster bomb canisters

 

...

Correction, they are SUU-44 Flare Pods

Edited by GW8345
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11 hours ago, Finn said:

Going by the nose cones, they look more like SUU-25 flare dispensers, which are LAU-10s configured to dispense large flares out the back end.

 

Jari

You know, they are Flare Pods, they are SUU-44 Flare Pods. Never say or heard of an A-7 (USN) using the SUU-25 but they flew the hell out of SUU-44 Flare Pods (loaded many of them in my A-7 days).

 

And if I may make a correction, the SUU-25 (and SUU-44) Pod is not a LAU-10 configured to dispense flares. While they may look identical on the outside, on the inside they are a total different beast and you can't configure a LAU-10 for anything but 5.00 Inch Rockets.

 

GW

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2 hours ago, GW8345 said:

You know, they are Flare Pods, they are SUU-44 Flare Pods. Never say or heard of an A-7 (USN) using the SUU-25 but they flew the hell out of SUU-44 Flare Pods (loaded many of them in my A-7 days).

 

And if I may make a correction, the SUU-25 (and SUU-44) Pod is not a LAU-10 configured to dispense flares. While they may look identical on the outside, on the inside they are a total different beast and you can't configure a LAU-10 for anything but 5.00 Inch Rockets.

 

GW

I am not aware of any aftermarket SUU-44...I could use LAU-10 and fabricate the cap , is it the same size?

Thx

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I don't think that is what he is saying. GW knows what he's talking about when it comes to Navy ordinance. I believe what he is trying to convey is that, for the purposes of the reference picture and historical fact, is that the two systems look the same on the outside but internally are completely different.

 

So, with it being that we can't exactly replicate the insides of munitions, using what you suggested should be viable.

Edited by Whiskey
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6 hours ago, Petarvu said:

I am not aware of any aftermarket SUU-44...I could use LAU-10 and fabricate the cap , is it the same size?

Thx

Yes, you can use a LAU-10 as a basis for a SUU-44 Pod, the nose fair is very different (shorter and more pointed). In real life the LAU-10 is 2 inches longer and about a half an inch larger in diameter but for modeling purposes, I would say that's "in the noise".

 

I can send you scale drawing of the SUU-44 pod if you like, just PM me your e-mail address.

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2 hours ago, picknpluck said:

@GW8345 if the LAU-10 and SUU-25/44 look identical on the outside, wouldn't it stand to reason that for the purposes of scale modeling, one could merely mount a LAU-10 with a nose cap and call it good?

For modeling purpose you can (but the nose fairing is very different between the LAU-10 and SUU-44/-25 Pods), but in real life they are two totally different beasts.

 

If you don't put the nose fairing on you would have to scratch-build the breeches and breech leads for the pod and each pod (SUU-25/SUU-44) had a different set up for the breeches (the SUU-44 had 4 breeches, one per tube - the SUU-25 had 8 breeches, 2 per tube). The fairing was required for fast movers but optional for planes like the OV-10 (basically, it was option for what we use to call "bug smashers").

 

Also, the back end of the pod is very different from the LAU-10. There is a latch for each tube and when there are flares loaded, the flare is flush with the back end of the pod and the flare end will be yellow.

 

Note, besides the breech difference there is an additional difference between the SUU-44 and SUU-25 Pod, the SUU-44 has a safety switch assembly (box where the safety pin goes on the top back end, just like on the LAU-10) while the SUU-25 Pod does not have a safety switch assembly on the top back, the safety pin is inserted in the right side at the 9 o'clock position, even with the aft lug.

 

The functional difference between the SUU-44 and SUU-25 Pods, on the SUU-44 Pod, two flares (one tube) are ejected at one time, for the SUU-25 Pod, only one flare is ejected at a time.

 

/r

GW

Edited by GW8345
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