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What color would AIM-9Ms be in 1983?


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Specifically, I'd like to know what color AIM-9M Sidewinders would have been on Bitburg F-15Cs in 1983.  I'm guessing grey but I'd like to be sure.  I've google searched a million different phrases but I never really get any solid answers.  And photos of the planes back then aren't really clear.  Any help would be appreciated!

 

Thanks!

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You are definitely right. Finding F-15C pics from back then with Sidewinders loaded was like looking for hen's teeth. The few I could find showed grey bodies and dark anodized metal forward sections.

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The base color by that point was Light Ghost Gray, but you could still find missiles with white warhead sections or aft fins.  When we loaded up our jets in 1991 for Desert Shield I was amazed how many of the AIM-9Ms still had white fins.

 

Regards,

Murph

 

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Back in the early 80s, when Empire Strikes Back arrived on base this is what our ships looked like:

scan0062.jpg

scan0052.jpg

 

This was the only ship I saw with its side tanks.

I spent most of my time in the Ops. building, I knew when they flew with live missiles but rarely got to see them loaded.

Edited by ikar
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Back in the early 80s, when Empire Strikes Back arrived on base this is what our ships looked like:

scan0062.jpg

scan0052.jpg

 

This was the only ship I saw with its side tanks.

I spent most of my time in the Ops. building, I knew when they flew with live missiles but rarely got to see them loaded.

Just want to make a few comments;

 

For the top pic, the missiles are Inert Training Missiles (i.e. CATM's) and are not indicative of what live missiles would look like. Also, the Sparrows are ground training missiles only (gold bands are for ground training missiles) and are not cleared for flight. (the Sidewinders are CATM-9L's and the Sparrows are CATM-7F-3's)

 

For the bottom pic, again, the missiles (and the bomb) are inert training rounds, the Sparrow are (again) ground training rounds and not all the wings/fins are installed.

 

FWIW: I didn't join the USN until 84 but all the AIM-9M's I saw back then were light ghost grey. Rarely there would be one or two with different color sections but normally, all the components were the same color (except for the CCG)

 

just my $0.02, ymmv

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