Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!world!decwrl!shelby!rutgers!att!cbnews!military From: jabusch@osiris.cso.uiuc.edu (John Jabusch) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Persian Gulf Combat Aircraft--The A-4 Skyhawk Keywords: facts, figures, data Message-ID: <1990Oct11.050817.29127@cbnews.att.com> Date: 11 Oct 90 05:08:17 GMT References: <1990Oct8.030359.11680@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military-request@att.att.com Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana Lines: 72 Approved: military@att.att.com From: jabusch@osiris.cso.uiuc.edu (John Jabusch) jfb@ihlpm.att.com (Joseph F Baugher) writes: > A-4E One 8500 lb. st. Pratt and Whitney J52-P-6A turbojet. I was in the USMC, serving as I&I (Instructor/Inspector) Staff with the MARTD (Marine Air Reserve Training Detachment) at NAS Memphis from 1976 through 1980. I kept in touch with many of the reserves there up till around 1986. Our squadron, flew A-4Es and a TA-4J. Very little difference in the avionics and performance, other than expected. Our pilots were mostly reserves, who loved the A-4s. Most of them had experience in at least one other Navy/Marine Corps airframe, and preferred the A-4. One called it the "go-kart of the sky" in reference to its maneuverability and flyability. We had one pilot who flew in from California just to be in the A-4. A definite favorite with them! We had the Martin-Baker latest/greatest seats, APG-53 terrain scanning system, and a lot of other nice features. The APG-53 was so unrealiable and expensive to maintain that we removed it from all the aircraft and didn't use it at all. All the airframes we owned had the "biscuits", large flat cans full of various avionics components in the nose, replaced by newer systems as part of the standard upgrade package. Newer avionics included the APX-72 (IFF transponders), associated KIR-1A (IFF Mode 4 computer), APN-157 TACAN (I think that number is correct), and the UHF was replaced, but I can't remember the new designation. Overall, a pretty good avionics package. UHF repair was manpower-intensive - each stage, some 5 or 6, of the IF and RF portions had variable tuned capacitors, which look like large disks with flat spokes and no outer rims. Each spoke is tuned by manual adjustment with a ceramic tool, and the procedure takes several hours! When you put the case on and pressurize it, it goes off frequency again! The TACAN was prone to immediate failure due to inadequate warm-up. A trasmitter transistor bank in it _had_ to be allowed warmup time (control box swith in "Standby" position) of five minutes, or the entire bank would blow when place in transmit mode. No internal override, and with the occasional overly-efficient checklist completion, a pilot would blow the TACAN and down the aircraft. (We added two checklist steps - mark time at fire-up, insure that five minutes had passed since fire-up). The "turtle-back" or hump contained DECM (ALQ-___ - two large heavy boxes!) and various small components. Of course, there were also some antenna mods to the A-4Es to allow that. APN-141 Radar Altimeters were part of the new package as well, but also very unreliable as avionics go. The ECM and Krypto packages were seldom flown, due to cost of maintenance if failure occurred, and lack of need. Doppler was the APN-153, if I remember correctly. Calibration on this puppy was a real bear! Gyros and loft-bombing support came from the AN/AJB3A rate gyro system (Hughes?), and only the flight computer and autopilot systems remained as old electrical systems. Weapons: 250 & 500 lb GP HEX, Shrike, Bullpup, inboard 20mm > A-4M Special version for US Marine Corps. 11,200 lb. st. VA-124, the old Corsair-based "Black Sheep" squadron once led by Pappy Boyington, now flies the A-4M (or did in 1987). Very impressive aircraft still today. The Blue Angels were flying A-4s up until the Hornets became common in the fleet, which took a few years (the first F/A-18 squadron began forming in the planning stage in 1976). John W. Jabusch INTERNET: jabusch@cerl.cecer.army.mil MILNET: jabusch@osiris.arpa US Mail: USA CERL, PO Box 4005 Newmark Drive, Champaign, Il 61824-4005 Voice/Phone: Commercial (217) 352-6511 -- John W. Jabusch INTERNET: jabusch@cerl.cecer.army.mil MILNET: jabusch@osiris.arpa US Mail: USA CERL, PO Box 4005 Newmark Drive, Champaign, Il 61824-4005 Voice/Phone: Commercial (217) 352-6511