all,
I’m wanting to make my 1/72 revell super tomcat with a modern air-to-ground attack weapons load. I’ve bought the 1/72 hasegawa weapons kit VII which has the LANTRIN and JDAM. I found reference as to what the 'cat can carry but I haven’t found any photo reference that shows a load like this. Does anyone know where I can find some good photo’s or other references? Specifically, if I mount the LANTRIN under the right wing what goes on the left? JDAM? I’d also like to add 1,000 or 2,000 guided bombs on the phoenix rails under the 'cat. Are there other weapons kits I should look at? Does anyone know if the F-14 carried the “bunker buster” bomb? Is there a kit with this?
TIA,
chrisj
I know the Tomcat can carry the GBU-24 LGB
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/images/f14-gbu24.jpg
and according to globalsecurity.org (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/f-14-specs.htm)
4 x GBU-10/-12 500 lb. LGB
4 x GBU-16 1000 lb. LGB
4 x GBU-24 2000 lb. LGB
4 x GBU-31 2000 lb. JDAM
As well as “dumb” bomb equivilants of the aforementioned. The Tomcat carries two of the bombs in the front Phoenix rails with an adapter (One of the Hasegawa weapons kits contains these). I don’t know offhand if bombs are carried on the aft rails.
When I get home tonight, I’ll look up a guide that TwoBobs included in some of their OEF and OIF related sheets that had loadout guides. I think the Tomcat was on there too.
I’m pretty sure the F-14 doesn’t carry the GBU-28 “Bunker Buster” due to the sheer size of it . I think it’s an AF only weapon.
Chris, The F-14B squadrons VF 11 and VF 143 were the first to be cleared to carry the JDAMs in 2001. There are a few photos out there, but I don’t have a link for you. Check AirForces Montly April 02 issue. There is a whole article on the F-14/JDAM. The JDAM has subsequently been cleared for carriage on the F-14D.
The LANTIRN is located on the “shoulder” pylon, and the Hasegawa weapons kit includes the correct attachment hardware for this pylon A sidewinder (AIM-9) shares the upper part of this pylon. The opposite shoulder typically does not carry air-ground weapons operationally. Operationally, this will be loaded with either a sparrow/sidewinder or phoenix/sidewinder.
The Air-ground ordinance is carried under the fuselage. TRIGGER74 gave you a good list of the typical load-outs. You may run into one problem. There are special weapons pylons that are attached to the phoenix missile pallets that allow it to carry the bombs. Black Box and Eagle Designs both carry after-market resin kits for the “Bombcat” that include these pylons. Also look at globalsecurity.org (follow the “military” links for the F-14) for numerous photos of the Tomcat in various configurations. Hope it helps!
TRigger74 gave you some excellent info. Here’s some more. Typically, dumb bombs and LGBs are carried together in a staggered loadout, side by side and fore and aft. I have the sheet Trigger74 was refering to and it has some great info on it. Try also these sites: www.anft.net/f-14 and www.aircraftresourcecenter.com
Chrisjo,
The LANTRIN would be on the right wing, (LAU-92). The left side usually has an AIM-9L or AIM-9M on the LAU-7 and either an AIM-54C or AIM-7 Sparrow on the left LAU-92. All of the A/G weps are mounted on the belly stations of the F-14A,B and D.
As far as photos, there are tons! Search for NAS Oceana, and click on the NAS web sight. Look for tennant commands and that will take you to the squadron page. Check out VF-213 and VF-31, they’re the last remaning F-14D squadron’s. You can alway’s email the public affair’s officer and ask them your questions. Also check out www.f-14association.com. The association has great photos and links to other Tomcat pages. Last, check out www.navy.mil and go to gallaries and then featured gallaries - aircraft.
Good luck! I’m a former F-14 mechanic, any questions feel free to ask.
No joy finding that sheet yet. I know I have it, I just don’t know where
I like the look of this jdam load.
http://www.anft.net/f-14/f14-detail-jdam-02.htm
I’ll add the LANTRIN and left side pheonix/sidewinder.
thanks for your help.
You got it brotha…Post some pics when you’re done. Also check out the link below, you’ll enjoy it.
Chris,
My personnal favorite was 2 x GBU-16 1000 pound laser guided bombs and 2 x GBU-32 1000 pound GPS guided bombs. Why I think this was interesting was they were cross-loaded…the right side of the tunnel had GBU-16 in front and the left side of the tunnel had GBU-32 in front. This looks great on an F-14 as it shows the diversity of guided weapons they can carry. Early in the war, they were carrying AIM-54C Phoenix missiles on the left glove with an AIM-9M on the shoulder and on the other side they had the LANTIRN pod and AIM-9M on the shoulder. The AIM-54s were down-loaded when the MiGs refused to fly. They were pretty sure they would be dropping all of the bombs so the come-aboard weight issues was solved during the sortie. This bomb load is a heavy bomb load so bring back was an issue some times. I have some of the video from a jet loaded like this ( I live 10 minutes from Oceana NAS) and it was interesting to see the targets being “serviced” with this kind of load.
Hope this helps. This was a Northern Arabian Gulf F-14 (or F-14s flying in the south air war campaign) load by the way. The guys/gals in the Med had similar loads but I have not confirmed some of them yet with my friends in the two F-14 squadrons. These two squadrons were the Black Lions of VF-213 and Swordsmen of VF-32.