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A-6A loadout suggestions?


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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!

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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. 

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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. 

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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.

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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/

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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.

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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

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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 by ziggyfoos
19 B conversions
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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

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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

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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 🙂

 

f84f-57.jpg

 

Rob

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