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Starfighter RWR - calling all Canadian Starfighter techs


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Hello All,

 I’m curious about the RWR installation on Canadian, and ex Canadian Starfighters. I had thought that both the forward and after RWR were installed at the same time, but I’ve turned up a few Starfighters that have only the after ones around the tailpipe installed. Does anyone who worked on Starfighters in Europe know when the RWR was installed, and why some don’t have the forward one? Was there an availability issue on the forward installation, or was it an optional fit?

 

TW

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Not answering your question, but after the Norwegian CF-104s were retired, the two RNoAF Dassault 20 Jet Falcons had the forward RWR antennas installed. Thus it seems that the forward and rear RWRs operated independent.

 

Nils

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From the Airdoc Book "Canadian Starfighters" by Patrick Martin:

 

The CF-104 fleet would also recieve the ALR 501 Airborne Radar Warning Receiver system to warn of impending radar directed threats. It was a very advanced system capable of detecting all Warsaw Pact Surface to Air Missiles up to and including the then modern SA6 fire control system with its new Continuous Wave fire control wave radar. It comprised a sophisticated analog computer with four coiled antennae (two nose, two tail) and the CW blade antenna under the cockpit. The system fit added a 'double chin' under the radome and two rear facing rounded receivers just before the engine 'cans'. This gave crew warning of various threats, giving aircraft survival a great boost. While all the single seat aircraft in Europe were fitted with the system, few in Cold Lake received the entire fit. Several others were noted only with the rear-facing receivers. These new fittings were not added to the CF-104D.

 

And judging by the dates of photos, they were added around 1976.

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