Dang.... Did you reuse the tank??? :Drooling::Drooling::Scared::Thinking: That could have turned bad fast. Im sure your starboard engine wouldn't mind ingesting half a wing tank.... Wow....
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Official Freewing 90mm F-4 Phantom II Thread
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Originally posted by curlyculp View Post
Interesting facts about the wing tanks. The replacement cost of a CL tank was like $13,000. A wing tank- $750. The centerline was speed restricted to 600 KIAS. The wing tanks could go to the airframe limit, though they'd slow you down a lot so it was kinda OBE. The airplane just flew crappier with the wing tanks. Didn't turn as well, bled energy faster.
We started carrying them when I was pretty new to the squadron in 1981. I was flying with this crusty old flight lead one night and one of my tanks wouldn't transfer. I couldn't land back on the boat that way. I tried putting some G on to free the valve. No luck. I told "Dude," (Jack Dodd, the my flight lead) my problem. He tells me "Punch 'em off." I answered, "Don't you think we should tell the ship in case they want us to go to the beach and get it sorted out?" He answers "PUNCH 'EM OFF!! PICKLE 'EM!!"
So I did. Landed back at the boat slick. First the squadron knew was seeing me cross the ramp on the ships TV with no tanks. Skipper meets me walking in the ready room and asks "What happened to your wing tanks?" I replied, "One wouldn't transfer, so I pickled 'em."
He shrugs his shoulders and says "Oh."
And HERE's a picture of what can happen when you tangle with the cable towing a missile target. I was flying the airplane that took the picture...
Best Regards
Woody
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Originally posted by Woodcock View PostI hope I don't regret this. In regards to the weathering of "US Navy Planes". During normal ops, IE on land! Did you know our planes got thoroughly washed every single week! Wheel wells de-greased cleaned top to bottom? I've seen many weathering jobs here, and they all look nice. But when I looked at the planes in real life many just don't look realistic to me. They all look good in there own rights, it's obvious lots of work and thought have went into them all.
Best Regards
Woody
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Originally posted by curlyculp View Post
Shipboard aircraft get disgusting. By the end of an at-sea period they're a mess.
I was a Helicopter Pilot based out of NAS Whidby Island, and flew CH-46's. So not a so glamorous pilot job. I always loved the F-4's, had a few pilot friends, not many.
I was assigned TAD to an EA-6B squadron for 30 days, because of an absents in the squadron.
So yes I've seen what I think are realistic jobs on weathering, and many I think look real nice, but not realistic to me. In my opinion all you need to do is look at the two pictures you have posted, and compare it to how their doing the paint job.
Best Regards
Woody
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Originally posted by Bobaroo View Post... Gotta lotta work yet ahead on my FW 90mm F-4 in the Weathering !!
Woody
PS, I'm not implying the Connie never had F-4's. Just that when I was there, we had F-14's. But the look and finish you have created in your F-4, looks almost identical to the look of our F-14 planes at the time. : )
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Originally posted by Woodcock View PostThat's beautiful LB. Total work of art man!WoodyI solemnly swear to "over-celebrate" the smallest of victories.~Lucky B*st*rd~
You'll never be good at something unless you're willing to suck at it first.~Anonymous~
AMA#116446
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Originally posted by Woodcock View Post
Nice pic Curly! I'm kinda wondering how he was holding that straight? Looks to me like that would want to yaw real bad!
Best Regards
Woody
So after he did that I escorted him to Kedena, Okinawa to drain the other tank and make a plan. He was a more senior but still first tour pilot and kind of a dick. I had to fly on his wing and lord, I have stories. So here I am, super new, and him, all full of himself and not that good, trying to figure it out. We know we'll have to go to the ship as a section, a two-ship, because I have stuff he doesn't. Like airspeed. And an altimeter.
He says he'll lead a section take-off. The two of us at once. I'm on his wing from takeoff roll... so I ask him. "How will you know when to rotate?" (pull the nose up to take off) "You have no airspeed indicator."
He says, snottily, "I'll uses angle of attack." (we used angle of attack in the Navy for approach speed)
I say, "Thor... (his callsign), when rolling on the ground the angle of attack will never change."
He snaps back, pissed off, "FINE. You can lead the section go."
THere's more to the story but I'll save that for sometime over a beer. We survived.
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Originally posted by Hardway View PostDang.... Did you reuse the tank??? :Drooling::Drooling::Scared::Thinking: That could have turned bad fast. Im sure your starboard engine wouldn't mind ingesting half a wing tank.... Wow....
The TF30 in the first generation F-14, on the other hand... yikes.
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Originally posted by curlyculp View Post
Actually a J79 could probably ingest a wing tank and keep going. It was quite the engine. The powerplants guys scoped the engine of an airplane I'd just flown for a couple days and found the last two stages of the compressor section... it had 17 compressor stages... were wiped slick. All the blades were on the bottom of the engine bay... and I never noticed a thing.
The TF30 in the first generation F-14, on the other hand... yikes.
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Originally posted by curlyculp View Post
Actually a J79 could probably ingest a wing tank and keep going. It was quite the engine. The powerplants guys scoped the engine of an airplane I'd just flown for a couple days and found the last two stages of the compressor section... it had 17 compressor stages... were wiped slick. All the blades were on the bottom of the engine bay... and I never noticed a thing.
The TF30 in the first generation F-14, on the other hand... yikes.
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“You didn’t get into the F-4, you put it on, it became you,” DeBellevue said. “It was a manual airplane, not like an F-16 or F-15, they were aerodynamic and designed well. The F-4 was the last plane that looked like it was made to kill somebody. It was a beast. It could go through a flock of birds and kick out barbecue from the back.” Col. (Ret.) Charles B. DeBellevue
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