Forum: F-16 Spotting & Photography

I had the opp to shoot at the home of the 138th FW, lots of fun.

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Still my all-time favorite fin flash! Cool

Nice pics. As you a couple of your pictures show we still have the 124th FS flash on some of the new aircraft. Not sure when we will get the new tail flashes painted on.

Starting this fall you will also be able to see the 125th flying out of Ellington Field in Houston as part of the Air Sovereignty Alert mission for homeland security.

squirrel wrote:

Nice pics. As you a couple of your pictures show we still have the 124th FS flash on some of the new aircraft. Not sure when we will get the new tail flashes painted on.

Starting this fall you will also be able to see the 125th flying out of Ellington Field in Houston as part of the Air Sovereignty Alert mission for homeland security.

Scott,

Were you on base yesterday? I spent some hours with Toad for the morning and day launch.

No, I was at my civilian job at the other end of the airport so luckily when I am not on duty I still get to watch them fly.

squirrel wrote:

No, I was at my civilian job at the other end of the airport so luckily when I am not on duty I still get to watch them fly.

Okay, well hopefully I will meet you the next time im out there.

I will add more pics later tonight.

I managed to get a few more up. Enjoy!

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Well I finally finished editing my pics.

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How did yall get clearance to get these pictures?!!
I'd like to take some of my own! Very Happy

here are the TUlsa VIpers I caught in Ft worth.

DaveC

That photo facing the camera, this jet is block 42? Is that a LANTIRN or LITENING pod? I read that this unit has participated in recent conflicts. Is this jet in the photo has bulge landing gear doors since it perform CAS missions?

Snickerbar;
Yes, they fly block 42, it is a Litening pod and the bulged doors are due to the larger wheels of the block 40/42/50/52/60 series Vipers.
Check out the "F-16 Versions" for more details on what separate the various blocks from each other.

As for recent conflicts, all USAF/ANG/AFRC unit regularly rotate through the conflict zones, so all are seeing action.

Boman thank you. If i'm wrong since I cant clearly see the "bulge" in that photo facing the camera, so that jet has bulge door obviously? You really can't see it bulge when it is on the ground and like that one facing the camera?

I know I should be asking this on another thread but its just for modelling purpose, building a small 1/144 viper jet and it seems a block 30 kit, has small mouth but GE engine is included. I wish to get more details to make it a -42 and load it with GBUs.

The bulge is difficult to spot from head-on views, that's for sure.

As for a model kit in 1/144, I doubt you will notice much difference overall. That said, the most obvious difference between earlier and later blocks are that for the Block 40/42, the HUD got changed, the main gear doors got the bulge due to larger wheels, and subsequently all block 40/42 got the stiffener plates on the back. The rest of the changes mainly relate to internal systems and such.
But for the full picture, read up on each version here; http://www.f-16.net/f-16_versions.html

Boman wrote:

The bulge is difficult to spot from head-on views, that's for sure.

As for a model kit in 1/144, I doubt you will notice much difference overall. That said, the most obvious difference between earlier and later blocks are that for the Block 40/42, the HUD got changed, the main gear doors got the bulge due to larger wheels, and subsequently all block 40/42 got the stiffener plates on the back. The rest of the changes mainly relate to internal systems and such.
But for the full picture, read up on each version here; http://www.f-16.net/f-16_versions.html

-one last question Boman, due to additional weight the landing gears are strengthened. Are both the front and main landing gear doors bulged? I had a larger 72nd scale model before, a block 40 and it has the main doors bulge, not the front as far as I remember. I sold that kit and switched to smaller 144th ever since. I know a lot of inaccuracies are found in models. Thats my last question and thank you so much.

Forum: F-16 Spotting & Photography

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