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F104C Vietnam Sidewinder setup


Planebuilder62

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By the time camouflage was introduced, most F-104 missions were ground attack, so the armament was usually one bomb under each wing with tip tanks.

Previously the type operated as a fighter in Vietnam and in this case the armament was Sidewinders on the wingtips and a tank under each wing.

I can't remember any picture of a 104 in Vietnam with launchers under the fuselage 

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23 minutes ago, reini said:

Was there even an option for fuselage launchers with the C? G-model had it and I think also J but not sure about C?

Not from the beginning: the ventral catamaran for sidewinders was introduced on the C in 1961 as part of an upgrade named Project Grindstone.

The catamaran was however not popular in USAF use

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On 9/27/2020 at 11:24 AM, Giorgio N said:

By the time camouflage was introduced, most F-104 missions were ground attack, so the armament was usually one bomb under each wing with tip tanks.

Previously the type operated as a fighter in Vietnam and in this case the armament was Sidewinders on the wingtips and a tank under each wing.

I can't remember any picture of a 104 in Vietnam with launchers under the fuselage 

Agreed, Giorgio

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1 hour ago, Planebuilder62 said:

In the Italeri set I am building is the centreline store shown below. Does anyone know what is? There are some pictures from Thailand with this on the Starfighters.

 

Regards Toby

 

travel pod I guess!

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The SUU-21 drops the BDU-33 Practice bomb or one of its close cousins.  Nothing particularly special about that.  However, the SUU-21 pod allows the pilot to practice arming sequence for 'other' weapons that would only be dropped from the centerline station.

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... and we all know what kind of load was to be carried on the centreline Polonia of NATO Starfighters...

 

The SUU-21 was also a very common sight on the F-104 in peacetime and Esci has to be commended for supplying one. The 1/72 offering however was not great, the one in their 1/48 kit was nicer. I'm not sure if many others are available in 1/72, I have a set from Flightpath that unfortunately only offers closed lower doors

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