Some options available for the F35

[Slick]

Glamour shot



An interesting assortment of current munitions.

 

[Slick]

And since I'm really bored, I'll continue the theme:


Please add to this.

 

[AE501]

Here are some more bits.
The first photo is the Concord engines.

 

[Nabob]

OK, here are some pics from ma neck of the woods.

 

[HAZORD]

Well hell, let's crank this up! The A-6 is dropping Captor Mines. Their parachutes haven't deployed yet.

 

[Slick]

I grew up on USAF bases during the '50s & '60s. These were the planes I grew up around. Attended many airshows with aircraft staged and displayed with their armaments. Love me some airplanes.


Back to the theme:

 

[HAZORD]

I'm on the lookout for a photo of an early A-10 with daisycutters onboard if you run across any.

 

[Slick]

I'm on the lookout for a photo of an early A-10 with daisycutters onboard if you run across any.

Am guessing it was a sitting-on-the-ground pic. Taking off might be problematic. A 5' OD bomb would only leave about 6'' ground clearance. That's before the weight compressed the gear legs. I'd sure not want to be the test driver on that run.

 

[HAZORD]

No, smaller bombs with fuze extensions like these, except on an A-10.

 

[Taber10]

We have to excuse Slick, as the current media--and some military so-called "experts"--have begun calling the BLU-82/B a "Daisy Cutter" instead of the original nickname of "Cheeseburger Bomb." As per Hazord's request, the original "Daisy Cutter" was an M1 (36 inch) fuze extender that was attached to any number of MK-series bombs, to allow detonation prior to ground penetration. Some time in the first Gulf War era, the few remaining BLU-82s were used by Special Operations aircraft, and the nickname was apparently changed. A display at the USAF Armament Museum has this "new" terminology, but it is confusing to us "Vietnam era" munitions troops. I have a copy of the LIFE magazine from May 21, 1971 with a two page (pp 40-41) picture of "The Bomb Called 'Cheeseburger'."
Taber
USAF Munitions 1974-2004
Munitions Response Contractor 2004-2014

 

[Slick]

HAZ, I was thinking you meant this one. I stand corrected and updated.

 

[HAZORD]

Taber10,

Thanks for the explanation. It would really be nice if you could scan the two pages of your magazine that shows the "Cheeseburger", and post them.

I was at a gunshow at the end of the Gulf War, and purchased some propaganda leaflets from some Air Force Bomb loaders/munitions guys. A couple of the leaflets say things like "We dropped a cheeseburger here today, and we will be back tomorrow, you had best surrender now"

My only problem is that I can't find the leaflets at present. They all fit into an envelope.

Did you ever load A-10s with the older Daisycutters, or were you only issued Proximity Fuzes?

 

[Slick]

Cheesebugha! Cheesebugha! Cheesebugha!

Here's an explanatory story: http://www.sv-galena.com/BackWhen/AirForce/RVN/RVN2.html

 

[Taber10]

Slick
Good story from someone who was there! During the drawdown in Thailand, circa 1975, we had a BLU-82/B that had been scheduled for disposal. It contained "a lot" of ammonium nitrate slurry, more than the local disposal range limits. The EOD guys, with a "Brown Bar" safety officer, began unscrewing the baseplate, thinking that we would dispose of the slurry in increments--each detonation within the range limits. In the heat, the slurry began oozing out as soon as the baseplate was loosened. What a mess, but we got it done--SAFELY.

Hazord,
I personally don't remember loading fuze extenders on the A-10. The fuze extender was pretty much out of the inventory by 1975--EXCEPT for the Special Ops community--, roughly when the A-10 got to Myrtle Beach. But I'm not saying it didn't happen somewhere, somehow.

Taber

 

[AE501]

A microturbo Harpoon engine, a Hellfire in a proposed coast defence role and these are to really not engine starter cartridges but Redtop missiles.
Finally, one for those who hung out of the doors of Blackhawks and other suppression aircraft.

 

[US-Subs]

The BLU-82s were all used up during the Gulf by the Psyops folks, in conjunction with the leaflets you mention. One of the guys in the program kept really good notes, copies of the leaflets and photos, we exchanged info for a while and he gifted me with his original report - all of the original photos, leaflets and history of what was going on. He eventually did a book on the propaganda war during the Gulf, pretty decent. I'm at work and don't remember the title, but it has been discussed here before. A decent read.