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A-6E El Dorado Canyon: CBU Configuration


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6 hours ago, Hewy said:

If you may, do have info on the war horses snakeye loads, if t

16 Mk 82/Mk 15 Snakeyes loaded as slant fours.

BTW, ALL of the Coral Sea A-6Es were fitted with a D-704 Air Refueling Store on the centerline.

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8 hours ago, mrvark said:

16 Mk 82/Mk 15 Snakeyes loaded as slant fours.

BTW, ALL of the Coral Sea A-6Es were fitted with a D-704 Air Refueling Store on the centerline.

👍👍Thanks Jim, much appreciated 

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11 hours ago, mrvark said:

16 Mk 82/Mk 15 Snakeyes loaded as slant fours.

BTW, ALL of the Coral Sea A-6Es were fitted with a D-704 Air Refueling Store on the centerline.

But this one has a tank:

 

DN-ST-86-06943.jpeg

 

the one in the back has the Buddy store.

 

Jari

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2 hours ago, Finn said:

But this one has a tank:

 

DN-ST-86-06943.jpeg

 

the one in the back has the Buddy store.

 

Jari

Did the one you pictured actually participate in the strike?

 

Just because it was on deck doesn't mean it went on the strike, it could have been a spare. (we always had spares* for every launch)

 

* A Spare is a jet that is loaded, manned and turning but will only launch if one of the go aircraft goes down (breaks down) and can't make the launch, when that happens, we would launch the spare so that we make sure the correct number of  strike aircraft get into the air.

Edited by GW8345
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4 hours ago, Finn said:

But this one has a tank:

 

DN-ST-86-06943.jpeg

 

the one in the back has the Buddy store.

 

Jari

This is AK-511, which aborted and did not participate in the raid. That said, it's a good catch and proof that 30-yr old memories aren't 100% correct!

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No problem Jim. i trust your memories better than written facts. In case someone wants to do an earlier Intruder, prior to the strike they had to be ready for anything when in the area as by this one:

 

DN-SC-87-00480.jpeg

 

Empty MER, MER with 3 Rockeyes, fuel tank, Harpoon and AIM-9.

 

Jari

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45 minutes ago, Finn said:

No problem Jim. i trust your memories better than written facts. In case someone wants to do an earlier Intruder, prior to the strike they had to be ready for anything when in the area as by this one:

 

DN-SC-87-00480.jpeg

 

Empty MER, MER with 3 Rockeyes, fuel tank, Harpoon and AIM-9.

 

Jari

Love it jari💎

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5 hours ago, Finn said:

No problem Jim. i trust your memories better than written facts. In case someone wants to do an earlier Intruder, prior to the strike they had to be ready for anything when in the area as by this one:

 

DN-SC-87-00480.jpeg

 

Empty MER, MER with 3 Rockeyes, fuel tank, Harpoon and AIM-9.

 

Jari

That was their alert load, they stood SuCAP alerts when the Airwing was not flying.

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4 hours ago, GW8345 said:

That was their alert load, they stood SuCAP alerts when the Airwing was not flying.

 

 I've seen the schedule for the VA-34 Prairie Fire flight rom the USS America on 24 March that sank Waheed the  and it only called for 2 x Mk 20, 1 x AGM-84A and chaff & flares--no AIM-9. I checked with my VA-34 source and got the following reply:

 

The (VA-34) Blue Blasters did not carry them (AIM-9s). If there was an Air threat we would always have F-14 CAP airborne under E-2 control. Also this was a day VFR weapon for the A-6 with no real way of using it at night or IFR.
 
However, upon looking at the metadata of the image, it was taken on 22 March 1986, the last day of Attain Document II, on the Coral Sea (VA-55). 
Edited by mrvark
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4 hours ago, mrvark said:

 

 I've seen the schedule for the VA-34 Prairie Fire flight rom the USS America on 24 March that sank Waheed the  and it only called for 2 x Mk 20, 1 x AGM-84A and chaff & flares--no AIM-9. I checked with my VA-34 source and got the following reply:

 

The (VA-34) Blue Blasters did not carry them (AIM-9s). If there was an Air threat we would always have F-14 CAP airborne under E-2 control. Also this was a day VFR weapon for the A-6 with no real way of using it at night or IFR.
 
However, upon looking at the metadata of the image, it was taken on 22 March 1986, the last day of Attain Document II, on the Coral Sea (VA-55). 

I should clarify, I believe that is one of their general SuCAP alert loads for the cruise, not a particular mission. VA-35 occasionally did the same alert load during the 85 Cruise on the Nimitz.

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Contacted my War Horse contacts. AK-511 apparently had a "recurring centerline fuel transfer valve/D704 mating problem"; hence the drop tank on that jet.

As to the approach pic, they were a bit mystified by it, even wondering if it was correctly identified since the deck shown seemed too big for the Coral Sea. 

One of the guys recalled the "load to offend everyone", but wasn't sure if he flew it with VA-55 or -65. It included an AGM-45, AGM-84, 4xMk 20 & AIM-9. 🙂

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That´s a cool name for a load! I´ll keep that in the back of my mind for the release of the Trumpeter 1/72 Intruder and will use it there....

 

 

HAJO

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2 hours ago, Specter1075 said:

Hey Jim,

I PM'ed you another question about the F-111 side of the strikes in Libya. I didn't want to hijack this thread. Hope you don't mind!

 

 

I didn't receive your question.

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  • 3 years later...

I dropped both in Desert Storm.  I don't remember the visual difference, but the MK.20's weighed about 500 pounds and had 247 bomblets for anti-vehicle.  The CBU-59's weighed about 750 pounds and had 717 bomblets.  Yep!  You heard that right.  717 bomblets that would discriminate between a “hard" target (shaped charged penetrator) and a "soft" target (would bounce back up and detonate as a anti-personnel grenade).  Amazing! Damn fine killing machine!

Edited by Paul Moore
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Since this thread has popped up again, I'll update the progress on my book. It took 6-7 months, but passed the DoD classification review unscathed. It will be published by Harpia. Tentative title is simply Operation Eldorado Canyon. Expect to see it in the Spring of 2023 in Europe and early Summer in the US. In addition to OEC, it will also cover Operations Attain Document and Prairie Fire, which happened the previous month. I got lucky with that thanks in large part to a group of us old farts (mostly Navy) called the Old Geezer Fighter Pilots who get together for lunch every month in Richmond, VA. Thanks to their contacts, I have included detailed first-hand accounts of the first two combat launches of the AGM-84. Overall, the book will have a lot of F-111F, but also includes inputs from KC-10A, EF-111A, A-6E, SR-71, F-14A and EA-6B participants. If invited, I may be giving a presentation at next years IPMS-USA Nationals in San Marcos, TX.

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4 hours ago, mrvark said:

Since this thread has popped up again, I'll update the progress on my book. It took 6-7 months, but passed the DoD classification review unscathed. It will be published by Harpia. Tentative title is simply Operation Eldorado Canyon. Expect to see it in the Spring of 2023 in Europe and early Summer in the US. In addition to OEC, it will also cover Operations Attain Document and Prairie Fire, which happened the previous month. I got lucky with that thanks in large part to a group of us old farts (mostly Navy) called the Old Geezer Fighter Pilots who get together for lunch every month in Richmond, VA. Thanks to their contacts, I have included detailed first-hand accounts of the first two combat launches of the AGM-84. Overall, the book will have a lot of F-111F, but also includes inputs from KC-10A, EF-111A, A-6E, SR-71, F-14A and EA-6B participants. If invited, I may be giving a presentation at next years IPMS-USA Nationals in San Marcos, TX.

Will it be available via Amazon?

 

I'll have to see who needs to invite you for Nats next year.

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