AUSTanker
On the topic of F-18A Hornet ordnance-
Finding lots of conflicting info on what type of ordnance the April, 1986 Marine Libya Raider F-18A Hornets carried, how they were painted/ marked, and on which station on the wings? The USS Coral Sea has a website with color pics from the time....looks like HARM missiles, Sidewinders on the wingtips, and possibly Shrikes?
The color photos on the USS Coral Sea website show the USN Hornets at the time- April 1986- with HARM missiles in all white with red noses....anyone know how the various ordnance was painted- Colors? Any stripes? Stencils?
Would really appreciate any pics/ references, as there's conflicting info out there...they were tasked with taking out SAM and radar sites, so HARMs and Shrikes seem reasonable, with Sidewinders on the wingtips?? Anyone out there?
I got the old Hasegawa A/C Weapons set C, and the HARM must have been brand new at the time (1980s?), because Hasegawa gives decals and decent painting info for all the other 25 or so types of ordnance, but the only comment on the HARM is that it's "new and believed to be painted white- little info is known at this time!"
Many thanks!
Best, Christian
I have several (read: 10-12) of the Hasegawa Weapons Sets, including one of the new "E" weapons sets; for the AGM-88 HARM, I used the decals that were supposed to go on the old AGM-45 Shrike (and are in the same Weapons kit) for the HARM just to make it more interesting. I know it's not very accurate, but it's better than an all-white missile with nothing on it.
They MIGHT have had Shrikes in '86, there were a few still in service in the '80's (probably leftover from Vietnam), although if it's a SEAD/DEAD mission they might also have carried Rockeyes (since it's a Navy aircraft). If it's the picture(s) I THINK you are referring to, it looks like the F-18's were carrying ordnance (primarily AGM-88's) on stations 2 and 8, fuel tanks on stations 3, 5 and 7, and AIM-9's on stations 1 & 9. There are also several pictures of the ordnance techs pushing a lot of AGM-88's and CBU-59's (Rockeyes) around so, yeah, if they were carrying anything other than a HARM, it would've been a Rockeye (those things are good for taking out SAM personnel).
In the pictures, I don't see anything on (conformal fuselage) stations 4 and 6. The F-18 would normally carry an AIM-7E on these stations, but since the Navy F-14 pilots probably didn't want the "ground-pounder" Marines doing any air-to-air on that mission, and stealing their thunder, they left those stations empty (that also allowed the Marines to have a lower "bring-back" weight, which probably also increased their range slightly).