G’day All,
I am about to start work on the Splinter F-14 of NSAWC and was curious how the ACMI telemetry pod mounts to the underside of the pylon(usually the sparrow/Lantirn position). does the whoole item mount directly to the lugs or is there an adapter (AIM-9 Rail maybe?) in between. Also are all of them orange in colour or is there a mix? I have seen grey on other aircraft types but only the orange on the cats.
Thanks heaps
Cairnsy
The ACMI pod uses the AIM-9 tube to house the instruments. It would have to use a AIM-9 launcher to carry it. I have seen ACMI pods in orange, dark red, white and gray. The orange was when they were first deployed, followed by red and white then gray. What era you will be using will determine the color of the pod.
To mount an ACMI Pod on the “B” station’s you have to remove the Sparrow/Harm/Phoenix adapter and install what was called a “B” Station adapter. This adapter was about five inches deep and went from the nose of the pylon to about 3/4 of the way back, then you would bolt a LAU-7 (AIM-9 Launcher) on. So to answer your question, yes, they have to be on a Sidewinder launhcer.
As far as color of the pod, depending one which pod you loaded would determine what the color was but since you are doing a NSAWS bird I would go with orange. Usually TACTS and LATR pods were orange while ARDS pods were white and Air Force Pods were grey. I believe NSAWS usually fly with TACTS Pods so they would be orange. They were either loaded on the B (lower) station with a CATM-9 (inert Sidewinder) on the A (upper) station or a CATM-9 on the A station on one side and the Pod on the other side A station. HTH
Reddog