Any idea what this test vehicle is on F-101A 53-2438?

[Space Ranger]

In 1994 I was a historic preservation intern at Edwards Air Force Base. Among the many aircraft wrecks I investigated for possible recovery and restoration was that of an early F-101 containing a huge cable drum (and cable wound on it) filling the entire nose of the aircraft, replacing radar and cannons. To this day I’ve never been able to learn the purpose of this installation, but it must have been for a related project. Somewhere I have 35 mm slides of the aircraft, which as far as I know is still where I found it.

[Rob de Bie]

9 hours ago, Space Ranger said:

In 1994 I was a historic preservation intern at Edwards Air Force Base. Among the many aircraft wrecks I investigated for possible recovery and restoration was that of an early F-101 containing a huge cable drum (and cable wound on it) filling the entire nose of the aircraft, replacing radar and cannons. To this day I’ve never been able to learn the purpose of this installation, but it must have been for a related project. Somewhere I have 35 mm slides of the aircraft, which as far as I know is still where I found it.

 

Very interesting indeed! Previously the quoted 40,000 ft cable length seemed unlikely, considering the relatively small pylon. But with a nose mounted cable drum that scenario is suddenly a lot more credible. I hope you can find the slides one day and show them to the world!

 

Rob

[Space Ranger]

59 minutes ago, Rob de Bie said:

 

Very interesting indeed! Previously the quoted 40,000 ft cable length seemed unlikely, considering the relatively small pylon. But with a nose mounted cable drum that scenario is suddenly a lot more credible. I hope you can find the slides one day and show them to the world!

 

Rob

I'll see if I can dig them out and scan them for posting. In the meantime, it appears that the aircraft is indeed still where I found it, and you can see it in Google Earth at 34°49'19" N, 117°49'45" W, adjacent to a photo calibration target. It was one of several disused airframes placed next to similar targets for the purpose of measuring the resolution obtained from aerial cameras. If you follow the dirt road which passes through that area to the northeast, you will find some other interesting airframes, including the hulks of the two X-21s, both of which are in extremely sad shape. Two of the disused aircraft dumped, which you will NOT see, are the 2 Convair XP-81s, which were recovered thanks to my report of them and brought back to the main base area for transfer to the USAF Museum and eventual restoration. You can see photos of them and the recovery mission in Air Force Legends Number 214 - Consolidated Vultee XP-81 by Steve Ginter.

[Trenton guy]

On 2/9/2019 at 10:41 AM, Wez said:

The winch would have to have been reasonably powerful to winch 40,000' of cable, the target and the forces imposed travelling at high speed, and then there's the little matter of a drum to stow 40,000' of cable, I don't think there's room there for it in that pylon.

But there might be room in the fuselage area just above where there was room for a rotating weapons bay on F-101B. Does seem like a lot of trouble to fit a B bay to a C. Maybe it was an aerodynamic test vehicle and the 40,000 ft thing would have used a B fuselage. Pure guesswork.