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Does anybody have any pictures of 86-0258 when it was with the 52 TFW?

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Racer--
258 was at Spang only for about three or four years. We had it in VA from 1991 till we gave it to y'all in (I think) 1995 or '96. How's that jet doing? It was a good one for us.

'258 is now "owned" by the New Jersey ANG,transfered late last year.

Racer,try Ebay every now and again,I found a pic of my jet,86-0260,on there from when it was assigned to Spang,a very nice find!

F-16.net Editor Joined: Aug 23, 2003 Posts: 1716

RacerCrewChief wrote:

try Ebay every now and again,I found a pic of my jet,86-0260,on there from when it was assigned to Spang,a very nice find!

RacerCrewChief. Care to share that photo you found with us so we can update 86-0260 history?

Quote:

RacerCrewChief. Care to share that photo you found with us so we can update 86-0260 history?

Photographer unknown,date unknown,location ?.I picked this up on Ebay about 6 years ago IIRC.The scan isn't pretty,needs cleaned up a bit.

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j165/ ... 052TFW.jpg

Yellow tail band, that makes it 81st TFS, the photo must have been taken sometime from 1987 to 1991.

Elite 1K Joined: Jul 12, 2005 Posts: 1557 Status: Offline

Hello all,

GREAT photo - just as I remember her during those days at Spang!! This photo is taken at Spang during 1990 - the 81st FS sis not have any Vipers assigned for a period after "Desert Storm" in 1991 until early 1993 when "Big Inlet" Block-30s started to arrive from the 56th TTW at MacDill AFB, FL. Enough had arrived in the spring of 1993 for half a squadron (12 aircraft) and the 81st flew these Vipers sometimes with others on loan from the 23rd and 480th until the A/OA-10s took over in late 1993/early 1994.

Greetings,

Henrik.

F-16.net Editor Joined: Aug 23, 2003 Posts: 1716

I added it to the gallery

USAF F-16C block 30 #86-0260 from the 81st TFS is parked in front of a shelter at Spangdahlem AB in the late eighties.

and the serial d/b updated for 86-0260

Enthusiast Joined: Jan 13, 2008 Posts: 52

Hi all,

According to my information, 86-0260 flew with all three Spangdahlem squadrons until being transferred to the 149th FS VA ANG:
reportedly arr Spangdahlem 07nov87(?) via Mildenhall
81st TFS (SP yl) nov87-jan88
23rd TFS (SP bl) feb88-aug88
81st TFS (SP yl) mar89-jul90
23rd TFS (SP bl) jan91-mar91
480th TFS (SP rd) may91-jun91
unmarked (still at Spangdahlem) aug91
f/n dec91 with 149th FS VaANG

BTW, had 86-0260 (and 85-1555) been upgraded to F-16C+ standard by the time of their accident on 17may04?

Likewise, squadron assignments of 86-0258 were noted as follows:
arr Spangdahlem 27oct87 (markings not noted)
81st TFS (SP yl) dec87-jan91
480th TFS (SP rd) jun91
23rd TFS (SP bl) jul91
f/n dec91 with 149th FS VaANG

HTH & MTIA,
Joris

Enthusiast Joined: Jan 13, 2008 Posts: 52

To RacerCrewChief, and others:
Found this pic in my slides collection. Enjoy, Joris

Joris wrote:

Hi all,

According to my information, 86-0260 flew with all three Spangdahlem squadrons until being transferred to the 149th FS VA ANG:
reportedly arr Spangdahlem 07nov87(?) via Mildenhall
81st TFS (SP yl) nov87-jan88
23rd TFS (SP bl) feb88-aug88
81st TFS (SP yl) mar89-jul90
23rd TFS (SP bl) jan91-mar91
480th TFS (SP rd) may91-jun91
unmarked (still at Spangdahlem) aug91
f/n dec91 with 149th FS VaANG

BTW, had 86-0260 (and 85-1555) been upgraded to F-16C+ standard by the time of their accident on 17may04?

Likewise, squadron assignments of 86-0258 were noted as follows:
arr Spangdahlem 27oct87 (markings not noted)
81st TFS (SP yl) dec87-jan91
480th TFS (SP rd) jun91
23rd TFS (SP bl) jul91
f/n dec91 with 149th FS VaANG

HTH & MTIA,
Joris

F-16C+ meaning the AIFF and CCIP upgrades installed?That is a no,they hadn't recieved those upgrades at the time of the accident.None of our jets had those upgrades as of at the time we transfered them late last year to New Jersey.They did have minor cockpit upgrades prior to then but not the AIFF or the other major CCIP items.

Joris,very awesome picture,I plan on modeling '260 in Spangdahlem markings in the future and now I have pictures of both side to help out!

Active Member Joined: Apr 22, 2004 Posts: 143

My understanding is the C+ designation was given to the Block 30's once they went through the Cupid Upgrade. Block 30's and earlier will never get CCIP'd. I think a lot of this info was put in by Henrik in the Post BRAC post: f-16.net/f-16_forum_viewtopic-t-6706.html

The C+ designation has been used way before CUPID came into play. First time it was used was when the early F-16C's got night vision cababillity and Litening pods.
The C+ designation is a bit blurry as there is no "standard" for what makes a +, the term has been used on most Charlies upgraded technically (not structurally though!)

The 14 years I spent working on F-16's,I never heard the C+ term ever used after any mod was done.Never heard or used this term the two years I worked in MOC prior to retiring in 2004.

Evidently some Block 30's are getting the AIFF mod,I've seen pics of the 176th FS Vipers having the mod,not sure if this is for selected for low hour airframes or certain FY aircraft.

http://www.f-16.net/gallery_item267012.html

Active Member Joined: Apr 22, 2004 Posts: 143

Personally, using NVG's is not an airframe upgrade. Just slap some goggles on the Helmet and voila' Night vision capability. A make shift modification done in the field was the Velcro and clipped in 'Christmas Tree light string (all green lights)'. That was a temporary fix until the Depot level modification. No Block 30 unit got the + added because they used NVG's.
The night vision compatible lighting, ability to use the Litening or LANTIRN pods, other wiring enhancements and the AIFF were all rolled into the CUPID designation. Having been around long enough to remember how units are task coded, the C+ designation went to units that could utilize the Targeting pods/ JDAM's because of the Mil spec 1553 Bus that had to be placed in the Block 25/30/32's. So several units may have undergone modification to utilize Targeting Pods/GPS weapons prior to it being called CUPID. Thus garnering the C+ designation. This process was eventually captured under the CUPID program and that was back in 2001ish
An example is the Active duty Block 30's at Cannon. For the longest time, they did not go through the Combat Upgrade Plan Integration Detail and were only C's. They also did not get selected to do rotations over to the Desert (during the Watches) because they could not utilize the LANTIRN pod and the JFAC wanted precision bomb droppers. They went to Nellis a lot to do support sorties for FWIC.
Not claiming to be the Expert on this.

Here is some info from a 2004 post by Habu2: http://www.f-16.net/f-16_forum_viewtopi ... cupid.html

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86-0258 SP Tail Code