sloegin57 Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 As some of you know, some of the 26thTRW's RF-4C's had the UPD-8 data link assembly fitted in place of the Number 2 station under the nose (an inverted truncated cone). Question. Did the same unit's aircraft also carry the AN/APD-10 podded extended range antennae in a modified 600gal c/l tank ?. If so - what did it look like as I cannot recall seeing the tank fitted to them when visiting Leuchars. Ta ! Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Creepy Pete Posted February 15, 2017 Share Posted February 15, 2017 Interesting question. I must say, I haven't heard of this modified c/l tank, and after some searching and reading, I still can't find much about it. The search continues! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 They had a oblong box with slopping sides mounted on the upper fuselage centre . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony.t Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 (edited) On 13 February 2017 at 7:34 PM, sloegin57 said: As some of you know, some of the 26thTRW's RF-4C's had the UPD-8 data link assembly fitted in place of the Number 2 station under the nose (an inverted truncated cone). Question. Did the same unit's aircraft also carry the AN/APD-10 podded extended range antennae in a modified 600gal c/l tank ?. If so - what did it look like as I cannot recall seeing the tank fitted to them when visiting Leuchars. Ta ! Dennis Yes, the synthetic aperture radar system was installed in a modified centreline drop tank. I have a pair of colour McAir photos somewhere which saw publication on page 240 of the A&AP book The Phantom Story. The modified c/l tank was hard-wired to the gear in the nose using a conduit that ran part way under the fuselage (to cross the wing box IIRC) in what resembled a waveguide. The tank - or, more correctly, pod - possessed a slightly blunter tip than usual and some instructional panel data, but otherwise looked like a drop tank in 36622 very pale grey. BTW, Grizzly is referring to the optical LOROPS pod, aka the General Dynamics G139(?) HIAC - a configuration the USAF called the 'Box Bird'. Completely different recce system. HTH Tony Edited February 16, 2017 by tony.t to add details and clarify 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hook Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 12 hours ago, tony.t said: The modified c/l tank was hard-wired to the gear in the nose using a conduit that ran part way under the fuselage (to cross the wing box IIRC) in what resembled a waveguide. There may be some pics of this in one of the AirDOC / Double Ugly Israeli Phantom books - let me check back home this weekend. Cheers, Andre Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazza Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 (edited) 21 hours ago, Grizzly said: They had a oblong box with slopping sides mounted on the upper fuselage centre . That was the 'doghouse' antenna for the ARN-101... -Daz Edited February 17, 2017 by Dazza Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony.t Posted February 18, 2017 Share Posted February 18, 2017 On 17 February 2017 at 5:09 PM, Dazza said: That was the 'doghouse' antenna for the ARN-101... -Daz Yes, the Arnie 101. I thought Grizzly was mixing up dorsal and ventral. if Dennis still is interested I will dig up those colour pics, scan them and post them here. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sloegin57 Posted February 18, 2017 Author Share Posted February 18, 2017 6 minutes ago, tony.t said: Yes, the Arnie 101. I thought Grizzly was mixing up dorsal and ventral. if Dennis still is interested I will dig up those colour pics, scan them and post them here. Tony Thanks for all your input guys. I have been doing a bit of digging myself and in the process got confused by US designations for various bits of on-board equipment. I also got confused between the modified 600gal tank and the LORAP pod. Currently scanning some of my photos taken at the time which I will put up later, in the mean time, yes Tony.t, I would be interested in seeing them. As far as i can tell, the 26th did not carry them into Leuchars. Thanks All, Dennis 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony.t Posted February 18, 2017 Share Posted February 18, 2017 5 hours ago, sloegin57 said: Thanks for all your input guys. Currently scanning some of my photos taken at the time which I will put up later, in the mean time, yes Tony.t, I would be interested in seeing them. As far as i can tell, the 26th did not carry them into Leuchars. Thanks All, Dennis Dennis, I'll try and find those 10x8's but in the meantime something to get your head around (ca.1969-74)... Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sloegin57 Posted February 19, 2017 Author Share Posted February 19, 2017 Thank you Tony. That laser recce set was withdrawn quite soon after as I understand it, but from the ten serials quoted it appears that it only served with the Unit at Kadena - the 15TRS-18TFW coded 'ZZ'. Attached as promised, shots taken between 1979 and '83 of 26thTRW's RF-4C's that visited Leuchars equipped with the antennae. The first two were 69-0361 and 69-0365 on the 30 March '79. The visits of these UPD-8 equipped aircraft were infrequent and I only recorded a sum total of four from the Unit as follows, 69-0360, 69-0361, 69-0365 and 69-0368. 69-0360 was interesting in that it first appeared at Leuchars on the 22nd August '81 without the aerial fitted and with what is now known as "a square nose" but by the following March had not only the aerial fitted but had also been modified with the deeper nose, the only one noted with both. The crews told me that the doors (502 and 503) were interchangeable but I have not seen that in print. Other differences noted between the antennae and non-antennae equipped aircraft were fairly minor. UPD-8 equipped aircraft had a straight yellow painted aerial on the nose wheel door replacing a black swept aerial. The usual RHAWS aerials were fitted on to the brake para door with the exception of 69-0365 which had the larger aerials (APR-46 ?) which I had only seen on the Wild Weasel F-4C's from the 52nd TFW. Whilst researching this I came across an entry in Flight for 2 Feb 1980 which stated that a new sensor called "Terec" (AN/ALQ-125) was being introduced to provide RF-4C's with automatic location and recognition of one or more emitters and could be simultaneously transmitted to a ground station via a radio data link (UPD-8 in use ?). I do not know if the 26thTRW ever received AN/ALQ-125 but it does seem coincidental that the Units aircraft started carryon the UPD-8 data link transmission aerial the year before "Terec" was introduced. Anyway - enough of my ramblings, please enjoy the photos :- Pre and Post "Deep Nose" 69-0361 left and 69-0360 right Thanks again for your inputs Dennis (All I was doing was refurbishing an existing 1/72 RF-4C !!!) 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony.t Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 I'll rummage for those prints of the Zweibrucken RF-4C top hat data-link, conduit and pod this week. The AVD-2 was combat tested at Tan Son Nhut with the 12th TRS Blackbirds but image quality was deemed inferior to the up-and-coming new generation of IRLS such as the AAD-5. Most of the "near real time" gear was tested by the Zweibrucken Wing, including the Goodyear UPD SAR and Litton-Amecom ALQ-125 TEREC. 23 of the latter were converted (the 24th going to Israel) but I'm not sure of the serial numbers. A fascinating period of rapid sensor development. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hook Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 21 hours ago, sloegin57 said: Attached as promised, shots taken between 1979 and '83 of 26thTRW's RF-4C's that visited Leuchars equipped with the antennae. Great pictures - thanks! Cheers, Andre Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray2 Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 On 19/02/2017 at 22:19, tony.t said: I'll rummage for those prints of the Zweibrucken RF-4C top hat data-link, conduit and pod this week. The AVD-2 was combat tested at Tan Son Nhut with the 12th TRS Blackbirds but image quality was deemed inferior to the up-and-coming new generation of IRLS such as the AAD-5. Most of the "near real time" gear was tested by the Zweibrucken Wing, including the Goodyear UPD SAR and Litton-Amecom ALQ-125 TEREC. 23 of the latter were converted (the 24th going to Israel) but I'm not sure of the serial numbers. A fascinating period of rapid sensor development. Tony Hi, i have only just seen this thread, here are the RF-4C serials for the various upgrades: Ray ARN-101 DMAS 65-0905 68-0548/550/551/552/553/554/555/556/557/561/562/563/564/565/567/568/570/571/572/574/576/580/581/582/583/585/589/592 69-0352/357/359/362/369/370/376/377/378/380/381/382/383/384 71-0248/249/251/252/254/255/258/259 72-0145/146/147/149/150/151/152/153/154/155/156 ALQ-125 TEREC 69-0378/381/382/384 71-0248/249/251/252/254/255/258/259 72-0145/146/149/150/151/152/153/154/155/156 ARN-92 LORAN 68-0594/595/596/597/598/599/600/601/602/603/604/605/606/607/608/609/610/611 69-0349/350 UPD-8 SAR 69-0360/361/364/365/366/367/368/371/372/373/374/375 NWDS 63-7742/7754 64-0997/1005/1006/1010/1014/1016/1017/1021/1022/1023/1028/1029/1030/1031/1033/1034/1035/1039/1041/1047/1050/1051/1053/1055/1056/1057/1058/1060/1063/1065/1068/1075/1077/1079/1080 65-0823/824/828/832/833/838/843/852/853/854/859/864/867/870/874/875/876/879/881/884/886/890/892/897/898/900/901/902/903/904/907/908/910/911/912/917/918/922/923/927/928/931/932/935/939/942/945 66-0393/397/399/400/401/402/407/408/415/417/418/422/423/425/428/430/435/444/449/452/453/461/464/469 67-0434/449/452/456/463/466 68-0575/593 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray2 Posted July 28, 2021 Share Posted July 28, 2021 was UPD-8 the correct designation, or was it APD-10 SLAR ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheyJammedKenny! Posted July 29, 2021 Share Posted July 29, 2021 One of the Reno High Rollers told me that part of TEREC was visible as a towel-rack antenna center-mounted atop the rear fuselage, just ahead of the vertical stabilizer. The Air National Guard aircraft didn't have it, but it's on the Fujimi kit. I built the Fujimi kit with the towel-rack antenna in place as a 92 RG RF-4C, and the High Roller told me it was incorrect! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hook Posted July 29, 2021 Share Posted July 29, 2021 2 minutes ago, TheyJammedKenny! said: One of the Reno High Rollers told me that part of TEREC was visible as a towel-rack antenna center-mounted atop the rear fuselage, just ahead of the vertical stabilizer. I think that's the LORAN ARN-92 antenna, not a part of TEREC. Cheers, Andre 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jens Posted August 1, 2021 Share Posted August 1, 2021 The Top Hat antenna was fitted on at least once to an RF-4B. Jens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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