Spook498 Posted January 7, 2021 Share Posted January 7, 2021 As the title says, I am looking for ordnance loadout suggestions for a Vietnam era A-6A. Im not too particular as to what it is, but I already have one that is a mix of Rockeyes and Snakeyes. It will be a west coast N* squadron but I havent made a solid decision yet on which one. I have several sheets to choose from. thanks for the input! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Collin Posted January 7, 2021 Share Posted January 7, 2021 Mines....MK52 types. Could do an A-6B conversion and arm your bird with AGM-78 ARM missiles. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gary F Posted January 7, 2021 Share Posted January 7, 2021 Could do 4 drops and a tanker package on the center. If you opened it up to a Marine A you’d have some interesting options. They used some of them ‘olden time’ fat bombs from Korean era ... think 4 of the type found in the Tamiya Skyraider kits ... certainly different than the usual mk 82 and Rockeye loads usually seen on the A-6A. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Spook498 Posted January 7, 2021 Author Share Posted January 7, 2021 2 hours ago, Collin said: Mines....MK52 types. Could do an A-6B conversion and arm your bird with AGM-78 ARM missiles. That is a distinct possibility! I will have to look at the shapeways page. How many mines did they typically carry on one trip? 1 hour ago, Gary F said: Could do 4 drops and a tanker package on the center. If you opened it up to a Marine A you’d have some interesting options. They used some of them ‘olden time’ fat bombs from Korean era ... think 4 of the type found in the Tamiya Skyraider kits ... certainly different than the usual mk 82 and Rockeye loads usually seen on the A-6A. I am planning on a KA-6D down the road a bit. Im looking for the Cobra conversion right now. Flying Leatherneck is possibly kicking around the idea for one as well. As far as USMC stuff, I don’t generally model them but I was given an A-6E that I was going to do as a Polkadots bird. But it would be a mid-80s paintjob. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Collin Posted January 7, 2021 Share Posted January 7, 2021 There are pictures in the attached mine thread. They carried 4 x MK52’s. Cheers Collin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ziggyfoos Posted January 7, 2021 Share Posted January 7, 2021 Most common were the Mk.80 series (Mk.81, 82, 83, 84), either slicks or snakeyes. But Vietnam A-6s pretty much carried also everything possible (more so the Marines). Not limited to this list, but among those used: M65, M66, M117, Mk.36, 2.75" rocket pods, LAU-10 Zuni rocket pods, Mk.77, Mk.79, CBU-24, CBU-29, Mk.20 Rockeye, AGM-12 Bullpup, AGM-45 Shrike, AGM-78 Stanadard ARM, AIM-9 Sidewinder, and as mentioned already the Mk.52. If you're looking for authenic/accurate loads, you'll have to pick a particular time during the war or squadron in some cases. For example, earlier period A-6s you wouldn't see the Rockeye. The Mk.52 load is known for the Operation Pocket Money and VMA(AW)-224. Steel Beach also makes(made?) a KA-6D and A-6B conversion. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sabre Freak Posted January 7, 2021 Share Posted January 7, 2021 I know you said Navy, but this VMA(AW)-242 Easter Egg load is worth noting. Sorry I can’t find the website anymore that had pics of the real thing https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234998070-intruder-with-easter-eggs/ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Peter Fey Posted January 7, 2021 Share Posted January 7, 2021 How about an Iron Hand loadout? There's some great shots of VA-85 doing Iron Hand off the Kitty Hawk during 1967. 4x AGM-45 Shrikes on the wing stations and 6x Mk-82 on the centerline. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Spook498 Posted January 7, 2021 Author Share Posted January 7, 2021 2 hours ago, Peter Fey said: How about an Iron Hand loadout? There's some great shots of VA-85 doing Iron Hand off the Kitty Hawk during 1967. 4x AGM-45 Shrikes on the wing stations and 6x Mk-82 on the centerline. I found a photo of that last night, and I think I may do that. However, I may pick up a few of the mines that Collin and Ziggyfoos mentioned, and just do a pseudo phantasy loadout. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Finn Posted January 7, 2021 Share Posted January 7, 2021 On pg 17 of this file: https://www.prisoner-of-war.com/command history va35 1967.pdf lists the ordnance, including mines, expended by VA-35 from the USS Enterprise during the 1966-67 deployment. Jari Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChesshireCat Posted January 7, 2021 Share Posted January 7, 2021 11 hours ago, ziggyfoos said: Most common were the Mk.80 series (Mk.81, 82, 83, 84), either slicks or snakeyes. But Vietnam A-6s pretty much carried also everything possible (more so the Marines). Not limited to this list, but among those used: M65, M66, M117, Mk.36, 2.75" rocket pods, LAU-10 Zuni rocket pods, Mk.77, Mk.79, CBU-24, CBU-29, Mk.20 Rockeye, AGM-12 Bullpup, AGM-45 Shrike, AGM-78 Stanadard ARM, AIM-9 Sidewinder, and as mentioned already the Mk.52. If you're looking for authenic/accurate loads, you'll have to pick a particular time during the war or squadron in some cases. For example, earlier period A-6s you wouldn't see the Rockeye. The Mk.52 load is known for the Operation Pocket Money and VMA(AW)-224. Steel Beach also makes(made?) a KA-6D and A-6B conversion. The A6a wasn't cleared for the Shrike, that was the A6b. There were A6's flying out of Chu Lai and DaNang that headed north of the DMZ everyday, and most were loaded up with plain jane 500lb, and 750lb. dumb bombs ( lots of them). Sometime right after the A6b showed up, a lot of the A6a's were sent to Chu Lai and DaNang. The bone yard in Chu Lai was full of them. The A6 doing a bomb run south of the DMZ was not a common sight till the bombing halt. Yes they made some runs up near Khe Sahn and out near the Hiep Duc, but also probably less than two dozen. South of the DMZ you mostly saw A4's and F4's. Why I can't say, but that what showed up. After the bombing halt, you saw A6's run thru the valleys in Laos regularly. Even then F105's were more often heard on the fire push. A Phantom with a class A load had twenty minutes to find his targets and be headed home. The A6 seemed to just stay forever. The F105 also was outta gas by the time he made two or three passes. gary Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ziggyfoos Posted January 7, 2021 Share Posted January 7, 2021 (edited) 32 minutes ago, ChesshireCat said: The A6a wasn't cleared for the Shrike, that was the A6b. There were A6's flying out of Chu Lai and DaNang that headed north of the DMZ everyday, and most were loaded up with plain jane 500lb, and 750lb. dumb bombs ( lots of them). Sometime right after the A6b showed up, a lot of the A6a's were sent to Chu Lai and DaNang. The bone yard in Chu Lai was full of them. The A6 doing a bomb run south of the DMZ was not a common sight till the bombing halt. Yes they made some runs up near Khe Sahn and out near the Hiep Duc, but also probably less than two dozen. South of the DMZ you mostly saw A4's and F4's. Why I can't say, but that what showed up. After the bombing halt, you saw A6's run thru the valleys in Laos regularly. Even then F105's were more often heard on the fire push. A Phantom with a class A load had twenty minutes to find his targets and be headed home. The A6 seemed to just stay forever. The F105 also was outta gas by the time he made two or three passes. gary The A-6A could carry the Shrike, the AGM-78 Standard ARM was carried by the specialized A-6B (offhand it was only around 20 or so 19 A-6As that were converted to B's). Edited January 7, 2021 by ziggyfoos 19 B conversions Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChesshireCat Posted January 8, 2021 Share Posted January 8, 2021 4 hours ago, ziggyfoos said: The A-6A could carry the Shrike, the AGM-78 Standard ARM was carried by the specialized A-6B (offhand it was only around 20 or so 19 A-6As that were converted to B's). I'm not going to argue the point as you may well be right. I can only speak from my era (12/67-3/69). The aircraft for the most part left Chu Lai and kinda drifted out to sea, then headed due north on a nearly constant basis 24 hours a day. We were over there everyday, and watched them. The arming pit was not far from the repair depot that we were in constantly. A6's and A4's carried some much iron that they took two thirds of the runway to clear the tree line to the north. Mostly dumb bombs. I've heard there were F4j's in and out of there, but that's got to be late in life as I was then out by the fence. DaNang was similar, but you saw more aircraft headed west. I used to load on choppers right in the middle of the runway out front of the F104's every now and then. Still mostly dumb bombs and napalm like Chu Lai. We monitored the fire push thru Apache six out on the border constantly to give us a heads up as to what to expect. Mostly Airforce, but every now and then we'd get a Marine chiming in. I left a couple months after the OV10's showed up, and they knocked them down faster then they could get new ones. Funny thing is that I never saw an OV1 go down, and they were there daily. On the border, the B52 was the beast followed by F105 flights with a couple F105g's in the lead. We called it working on the night shift. gary Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChesshireCat Posted January 8, 2021 Share Posted January 8, 2021 Just to add to the load outs. The Wild Weasel / Iron Hand aircraft used a lot of cluster bombs along with a couple Shrikes. From what I gather the cluster bombs were total destruction verses the radar unit. gary Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tailspin Turtle Posted January 8, 2021 Share Posted January 8, 2021 Pretty everything you need to know to model the A-6B: 'http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2016/01/grumman-6b-iron-hand.html Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Finn Posted January 8, 2021 Share Posted January 8, 2021 A nice set of A-6B radome pics here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/grummana6b Jari Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Finn Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 Here is one with CBUs: http://www.usscoralsea.net/images/cva43VA-52A-6JH.jpg Jari Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Finn Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 Or you could go Snakeyes and Shrikes: Jari Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonwinn Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 Interesting thread, I just started a 1/72 Fujimi A-6A and want to do Main Battery from Vietnam era. Any possibilities of 4 Mk 84s, one on each pylon and center line drop tank? Like the Easter Egg pic but want to use "modern" 2000 pounders. jon Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Finn Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 You can have up to 5 Mk-84s loaded if you want, here is one with one loaded so far: Jari Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rob de Bie Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 43 minutes ago, Finn said: You can have up to 5 Mk-84s loaded if you want, here is one with one loaded so far: Jari Jari, when I was scratch-building the AN-M66 bomb with conical tail in 1/48 scale, I believe you posted a photo of an A-6 loaded with five of them. I looked high and low but cannot find it again. If it was you, can you please post that photo again? It surely looked impressive, five of those fat bombs 🙂 Rob Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jonwinn Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 (edited) Thanks Jari, my weapons set only has 4 , LOL jon Edited January 10, 2021 by jonwinn Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Finn Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 Not the same pic as before Rob but here is another one: Jari Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rob de Bie Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 33 minutes ago, Finn said: Not the same pic as before Rob but here is another one: Jari Super, thanks! Rob Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DET1460 Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 Don't forget that if you mount mer's on inboard pylons you have to omit the inboard forward bomb because they interfered with the main gear doors. Only five weapons on those inboard racks... Hope this helps... DET1460 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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