Forum: F-16 Spotting & Photography

What a pretty jet.

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Hi magnetass,

Thanks for the photos and keep em coming.

NP Jon. One of these days I'll catch one outdoors where I can get some shots without the damned HAS lights causing problems.

Forum Veteran Joined: Nov 07, 2003 - 09:12 PM Posts: 901

hi magnetass,

one question. What's up with STAT 1 & 9? Any reason why they're clean, that you're able to share with us? Quite unusual. Thanks for posting the photos!

cheers,

Nice pics, thanks! I like the spiderweb detail.

Quote:

What's up with STAT 1 & 9? Any reason why they're clean, that you're able to share with us?

471 is kinda odd in that way. It has the tip rails for the winder, whereas the rest of the 421st birds I've seen have the slammer rails on the tips. Now, I've seen the 120s carried on both the tip rails, and the under-wing points, but not both yet. The CC explained to me that they don't park the a/c with the 120s on the tips due to the weight causing cracks in the windtip, and if they are going to carry them on the tip rails, they will poad them prior to the mission.

2 shots today that show both configurations

120s on the tip rails

Tip rails empty, 120s on the wing station.....same element

Could also be that station 1 or 9 has an SMS problem that would have them load the missiles on station 2 and 8. Bet things have continued to be busy their!
Have a great day
chickenlegs

Just out of curiousity, are the HAS's we're using in Iraq (like the ones in the pics) newly built or were they upgraded from pre-existing ones? And to follow up, does anyone know what was involved to bring 'em up to USAF standards? Question

Quote:

Could also be that station 1 or 9 has an SMS problem that would have them load the missiles on station 2 and 8.

The 421st has a complete mixed bag of stations that the 120 are hanging from. If they are having an SMS problem, its on multiple airframes.

The vipers are definately busy fo' sho'.

Hey I had some markings done for y'alls birds when they were here, both the Colorado and the New Mexico one's.

I'll send ya a pic of the model when I get home and get 'er done.

Here's the scans of the markings so far

Thanks for all the pics you sent me.

I can tell you that they were built many years aga by a Yugoslavian company. If you call a coat of paint an upgrade..........then yes. As far as up to standards..........it's called operational risk management. The operation there was quite different then any I've experienced. Our unit was the first to operate out of there with F-16's and took a little time to get our procedures down pat. I can tell you that we could of used more crew chiefs for the operation. The HAS's did provide protection from mortar and rocket attacks. In the photo you can see a piece of plywood on the ceiling where a bomb entered the HAS from the Gulf War.

Magnetas.......Your welcome!

Have a great day
Chickenlegs

Good grief! You could park half a squadron in there! (which would be strategically dumb, btw)

That's one of the double ones....the ones above are singles. I've been out to a lot of them, mostly on my side of the base in the rotary wing area, and they all seem to have been patched...indicating that they had been dropped in '91.

Forum: F-16 Spotting & Photography

421st FS flagship, Iraq... better pics