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F14 RBF flag placement


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I am wondering if anyone can help me with RBF placement on an F14.

 

I am about to start a VF74 jet from 1993. Land based by that time. 

 

I am assuming nose gear, mains and hook pinned? Would there be a pin in the Aim-9 rail with a CATM-9 blue tube and a tacts pod?

 

A link to photos would be great. 

 

Thanks all.

 

Tom

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For a land based Tomcat with a CATM-9M and TACTS Pod the following pins would be installed;

 

Nose and Main Landing Gear down locks;

 

Main Landing Gear Down Lock (Red thing on the drag brace)

http://www.anft.net/f-14/f14-detail-gearmain-35.htm

http://www.anft.net/f-14/f14-detail-gearmain-18.htm

 

Couldn't find a pic with the nose pin installed so here's the closest thing I can find. The pin would go in the hole just aft of the ground power receptacle (panel on the left side of the nose landing gear drag brace, right along the edge of the Phoenix Fairing);

http://www.anft.net/f-14/f14-detail-gearnose-02.htm

 

Tail Hook Pin

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/f-14--800444533743746971/

 

LAU-7 Pin

https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/sailor-checks-the-aim-9-sidewinder-of-a-f-14-tomcat-aboard-news-photo/51347768

 

No pin for the TACTS Pod (once you apply power to the jet you wouldn't be able to pull it out)

 

Since you are doing an ACM load the plane would be loaded with flares, the pin would be on the right side of the tail hook, adjacent to the aft chaff bucket;

http://www.anft.net/f-14/f14-detail-arrestinghook.htm

About half way down you'll see a tail end pic of a Delta Tomcat with a red circle painted on the right side of the hook, that is where the chaff/flare pin goes

https://formulaf1results.blogspot.com/2020/06/f-14-tailhook.html

 

Note: If you are putting the TACTS Pod on the same side as the CATM-9M it would be loaded on the bottom station, if not, the CATM-9M would go on the left wing and the TACTS Pod would go on the right wing).

 

The seat would have five pins, all connected to the same RBF that would hang from the shoulder harnesses to the seat.

 

hth

GW

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No RBF on the back of the TER, the F-14 used ITER's which didn't have a safety pin and there would be nothing on the practice bomb.

 

For a Mk 76 on an ITER (along with TER/MER/IMER), recommend you add a thin strip of thin plastic (painted red) to simulate the practice bomb adapter (yellow in the first two links, blue in the last - they were usually painted in squadron colors, VF-74 painted their red);

 

Here are pics that will show you how to mount the bomb on a TER/ITER/MER/IMER (it mounted the same way on all stations)

 

https://nara.getarchive.net/media/a-us-navy-usn-aviation-ordnanceman-attaches-a-mk-76-practice-bomb-onto-an-aircraft-01dd5c?action=upgrade&zoom=true

http://www.anft.net/f-14/f14-detail-pbomb-01.htm

bottom pic

https://www.geocities.ws/Pentagon/Bunker/1658/ord/ordiepics.html

 

The fin of the bomb would be dead center of the practice bomb adapter.

 

hth

GW

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5 hours ago, habu2 said:

Do pitot covers usually have RBF flags?

The pitot covers were tied together and there would be one RBF attached to the rope.

 

Note: 99% of the time, if the aircraft was loaded the pitot covers (basically all covers) would be removed/not installed, the 1% of the time is because the ordies beat the plane captain to the bird and the covers would be removed as soon as the P/C got to the bird. Covers were installed when the bird was "put to bed" for the day and rarely were planes left loaded overnight while on the beach (you had to have Wing approval to leave a bird loaded over night and you had to have an ordnance crew on standing by (i.e. on watch) in case there was a need to download the aircraft).

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1 hour ago, Reddog-03 said:

But no RBF flags when on a carrier deck, correct?

There will be RBF's for the landing gear downlocks and the ejection seat pins (and canopy jettison handle in the cockpit), other than that it depends on what is loaded.

 

Covers are only put on (while on the flight deck) when the ship is in port, going through the Suez Canal or some other rare extreme case.

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  • 3 months later...
On 2/20/2023 at 3:33 PM, GW8345 said:

For a land based Tomcat with a CATM-9M and TACTS Pod the following pins would be installed;

 

Nose and Main Landing Gear down locks;

 

Main Landing Gear Down Lock (Red thing on the drag brace)

http://www.anft.net/f-14/f14-detail-gearmain-35.htm

http://www.anft.net/f-14/f14-detail-gearmain-18.htm

 

Couldn't find a pic with the nose pin installed so here's the closest thing I can find. The pin would go in the hole just aft of the ground power receptacle (panel on the left side of the nose landing gear drag brace, right along the edge of the Phoenix Fairing);

http://www.anft.net/f-14/f14-detail-gearnose-02.htm

 

Tail Hook Pin

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/f-14--800444533743746971/

 

LAU-7 Pin

https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/sailor-checks-the-aim-9-sidewinder-of-a-f-14-tomcat-aboard-news-photo/51347768

 

No pin for the TACTS Pod (once you apply power to the jet you wouldn't be able to pull it out)

 

Since you are doing an ACM load the plane would be loaded with flares, the pin would be on the right side of the tail hook, adjacent to the aft chaff bucket;

http://www.anft.net/f-14/f14-detail-arrestinghook.htm

About half way down you'll see a tail end pic of a Delta Tomcat with a red circle painted on the right side of the hook, that is where the chaff/flare pin goes

https://formulaf1results.blogspot.com/2020/06/f-14-tailhook.html

 

Note: If you are putting the TACTS Pod on the same side as the CATM-9M it would be loaded on the bottom station, if not, the CATM-9M would go on the left wing and the TACTS Pod would go on the right wing).

 

The seat would have five pins, all connected to the same RBF that would hang from the shoulder harnesses to the seat.

 

hth

GW

Sorry to be a pain,

You wouldn't happen to have another photo of the chaff flare bucket pin would you? That link is broken and I can only find photos of the tail hook pin. 

 

Thanks for the help.

Cheers

Tom

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20 hours ago, tomthegrom said:

Sorry to be a pain,

You wouldn't happen to have another photo of the chaff flare bucket pin would you? That link is broken and I can only find photos of the tail hook pin. 

 

Thanks for the help.

Cheers

Tom

Sixth photo down, the small red rectangle on the right side of the tail hook, that is where the chaff pin goes. 🙂

 

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/7/13/1449672/-Photo-Diary-F-14-Tomcat-Walkaround

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