F-100 in vietnam

Cold war, Korea, Vietnam, and Desert Storm - up to and including for example the A-10, F-15, Mirage 200, MiG-29, and F-18.
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by spazsinbad » 28 May 2020, 09:36

:devil: Oh youse old guys, drifting and diving. Go here and get a FIXED but depressable A-4's [so not to get confused with some spastic USAF name of yore - see 'outlaw162' post below] gunsight [follow LIBRAscope] and then scroll down: :mrgreen:
viewtopic.php?f=22&t=27661&p=297617&hilit=fixed#p297617 :doh: :roll: :drool: 8) [dumb dive bombing info here]

A-4's gunsight c.WWII era: download/file.php?id=21242

Image

Reflector Gunsights used by the US Navy
website under construction

"...Librascope Reflector Gunsight used in early Douglas Skyhawks.
In the early fifties, the Librascope Co. designed a Reflector Gunsight that was used in the early versions of the Douglas A4D Skyhawk. This Sight had been in production since about 1953 and the quantities manufactured probably numbered into the thousands. Up until 1969 only a few subtle changes had been made such as, moving the turn and bank indicator up to the bottom of the reflector plate for improved visibility and changing the reticle pattern (probably partial instead of complete circles, and vertical and horizontal radii). In 1969 major changes were made in the mils depression knob, reflector plate support strut, locking lever, etc. by the Naval Avionics Facility, Indianapolis, Indiana. They produced a number of kits for modifying the old sights to the new configuration. In 1970, these changes were incorporated into new sight production...."

Photos at URL this is one: http://www.aircraft-gunsights.com/wp-co ... eticle.jpg

Source: http://www.aircraft-gunsights.com/reflector-sights/
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A-4gunsightView.jpg
Last edited by spazsinbad on 29 May 2020, 01:47, edited 9 times in total.


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by alfakilo » 28 May 2020, 13:28

Something like this.
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by spazsinbad » 28 May 2020, 17:29

FORMER US NAVAL AVIATOR PROVIDES AN A-4 VS A-7 TECHNICAL COMPARISON
20 Jul 2019 Dario Leone

"..."With a lightbulb and one moving part (two if you count the rheostat for the light bulb) the gun sight couldn’t have been simpler but placed a premium on pilot technique and practice. In that regard, you would not expect that an airplane so sensitive on the controls would be a good dive-bomber but it was. The roll rate [720 degrees per second] and response made instantaneous corrections possible and even with the World War II—style gunsight, most of us became very good at all types of weapons delivery...."

Source: https://theaviationgeekclub.com/former- ... omparison/


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by quicksilver » 28 May 2020, 21:51

“Much respect for you all that didn't have the modern crutches of war to lean on.“

We used what we had; some didn’t like to use ‘new’ things because they might create a ‘dependency’. But, technology marches on, and that is (generally) good. ‘Crutches’ are simply contextual for the times; I thought a HUD was awesome the very first time I flew w one; I used it without de-clutter selections to force myself to use what was available. I eventually learned what was truly valuable and what was in-fact clutter w little value-added. Same for having an INS...then we got one with a drift rate less than 2 or 3-tenths of a mile per hour (an RLG version) — woo-hoooo!! Ya learn to use what ya got.

As for ‘slant range bombing’, it didn’t work for medium or high angle deliveries because one’s ability to distinguish the size of the target relative to a given piece of HUD symbology was non-existent at those slant ranges. We eventually called it the LARS delivery — ‘looks about right’ — and it worked, because we had done it time and time and time again.


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by Gums » 28 May 2020, 21:52

Salute!

Well. gotta say that I have flown with and bombed with crude systems, and even did so in combat while getting my skinny butt shot at. And gotta say thet Scooter site looks familiar.

OTOH, I'll match the A-37 site with the Scooter site any day. We didn't even have a "click" knob to crank in the mils. I have to get a 'net link to post the pic, but we basically had a lever at the bottom of the doofer, and it was only marked at 5 degree increments or so. So it was almost the same as the ones Scooters had.

Made no difference. When the tgt filled the windscreen, you counted to 5 real slow, and then pickled and pulled!

We also had the most simple armament switches you ever saw ( need to get pic uploaded). We had 8 stations, and normally had tanks on 3 and 6. The panel had 8 switches, one for each station, imagine that? Each one had lift lock switches - neutral was "off", up was "fire" and down was "drop". No interval or ripple or .... Then we had fuze options like nose/tail/both and safe. Master Arm was a big sucker and guarded.

The Corona Harvest report on the Combat Dragon phase of our experience awarded us an average CEP/CEA of 42 feet or so. Not too shabby, huh?

Oh well, the Hun was a good plane for the stoopid war unless we had 200 A-1's and never went into harsh territory for CAS or CSAR. The Hun never did a lotta night work along The Trail either, and did not do a lotta work in Laos supporting the Hmong.

Gums sends...
Gums
Viper pilot '79
"God in your guts, good men at your back, wings that stay on - and Tally Ho!"


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by outlaw162 » 28 May 2020, 23:42

No interval or ripple


Another quick manual bombing story.

Had my F-4 with two TERs worth of slick inert MK-82s to drop on the TAC targets at Smoky Hill, KS one afternoon. Decided to dive bomb ripple 6 as singles on some simulated evenly spaced earthen bunkers just north of the access road from the range entry gate to the range tower. Challenging academic exercise to determine a good interval. All six ended up within dive qual distance (150') of a bunker, but one appeared to hit close to the access road just south of the first bunker. Headed home for some cold beer.

Next morning, I led the first AM gunnery flight on the scoreable range, checked in on the range tower freq and....nobody there. Looked north and could see vehicle dust approaching the range tower. Orbited and waited. Checked in again and the range officer apologized for being late:

"Sorry for the delay, some idiot took out the only bridge on the range access road yesterday."

Replied, "I was that idiot."

Bomb one bridge...... :mrgreen:

edit: BTW the A-4 was the designation of the F-100 (and F-86) gunsight (ranging radar, wing spanner, or simply depressible controlled diamonds around the pipper), the A-4 did not have an A-4. :D


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