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Last Tomcat Cruises refuelers


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1 hour ago, Joe Hegedus said:

VFA-115.  First SH Squadron to deploy ( with VF-31 in the airwing as well).  VFA-14 and VFA-41 on Nimitz relieved VFA-115 on Lincoln at the tail end of the Second Iraq War.  Whether or not 115 did any tanking I can't say.

Yep, forgot 115 got SH's first. :thumps-up:

Thanks for keeping me honest. 😉

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11 minutes ago, GW8345 said:

Doesn't have to be a KA-6D, you can use a A-6E TRAM with a buddy store on the centerline. 😉

 

Trumpeter made a 1/32 A-6E.

Great! What A-6 squadron would that be with VF-11 flying Deltas?

Edited by Eliminator
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In Osprey's Combat Aircraft 52, there's a picture of the supersonic pencil refueling from a VFA-115 18E Super Hornet, with the config I earlier discribed.

 

The F/A-18E in the picture is 165784, modex '204', which was equiped with an Aero D-704 ARS, according to the picture caption.

 

So being refueled on a TARPS mission, only 1 AIM-9M is visible on the 14D's shoulder point, with the forward 'bombcat' pylons empty. The aft phoenix rail next to the pod is not installed. The bomb adaptors aren't visible either on the forward fuselage Phoenix points, so not sure they're on when left empty. In a close up of a mounted TARPS pod in the same book, the adaptors are mounted without stores so could be the angle on the photo. Tarps equiped Tomcats also bombed with only using the 2 forward hardpoints. So it's a dime on it's edge.

 

Hope this helps!

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The refueling pod would be the A/A42R-1 variant, the Super Hornet was never cleared for the D-704.

 

Also, the bomb racks would be installed, it was illegal to fly a weapons rail without them (or a LAU-132) being installed.

 

 

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