KA-3B Skywarrior

[gray eagle]

Did you Google for any UTube videos of A3-B Skywarriors that you could compare the actual aircraft to see if that is authentic or too much?

Thanks to my son showing me the ropes, I used my shadowplay to make the recording and post to utube. I turned a big page when I learned I had those tools for showing future issues here - you know what they say a picture is worth a 1000 works so a video should be priceless.

 

[gray eagle]

Here is a '69 VQ2 deployment video when back in the day the CAG consisted of a variety of aircraft. The Whale is shown in launch/recover modes.
Back in my F-4J days, they had a nose wheel strut extension The purpose of the nosewheel strut extension in general is to increase the Phantom's angle of attack when launching. All USN Phantoms had the same 20-inch nosewheel extension. The catapult crew would extend the strut during the hookup to the catapult, using a switch in the left main landing gear well. Extending the strut also locked the nose wheel in the straight-forward position, so it was only used immediately before a catapult launch, not while the aircraft needed to taxi or when operating from land bases. This is probably why you've seen what appears to be Navy phantoms with "normal" nose gear.

I wonder if the A-3 had this feature, I watched closely of all the A-3 launches and from what I can tell, there wasn't any extension like the F-4.
In the video, the A-3s appear to have a slightly lower nose gear stance. Maybe it just my imagination.

 

[tgycgijoes]

Like you said...I remember that stance. Remember my post about my IPMS winning F4B Phantom deck dio. Revell didn't do that but just the normal landing gear and I remember extending with a piece of plastic sprue to get the above stance. Come on! It's only been 54 years since I watched that from Vulture's Row, give me a break! LOL!!!

 

[tgycgijoes]

I just downloaded the Youtube video and saved it to enjoy a couple of times. Thank you for uploading it. Noticed that when the Skywarrior trapped that it DID dip the nose like the model is doing.

 

[gray eagle]

In this video at around the 18:00 mark, a close up of a whale taxing with no down nose gear movement.

BTW, those engines sure put out the dark exhaust smoke like the F-4 use to. Later, a smoke abatement system was incoporated to eliminate the tell tale smoke signature that told Viet Cong of their presence.

 

[gray eagle]

I just downloaded the Youtube video and saved it to enjoy a couple of times. Thank you for uploading it. Noticed that when the Skywarrior trapped that it DID dip the nose like the model is doing.

Wow, I missed that. So they did dip a little. Didn't see it so much in the 2nd vid I uploaded.

 

[Mike71]

That is braking force and strut damping ---

However, the reaction on a trap is FAR MORE DRAMATIC then braking on a runway at high speed.

 

[Mike71]

the entry after the // is the original probably in the FS2004 Alphasim because it tells the simulator to ignore anything after the "//" in xml code.

incrementally change the 2.7 to slightly lower values and test; start with 2.0

 

[gray eagle]

incrementally change the 2.7 to slightly lower values and test; start with 2.0

I changed it back to 0.3 like the value after the // and there is very little dipping of the nose gear.
The 2.0 had no effect, in fact going to 0.3 cured the issue AFAIC. The nose brake dipping seemed a little exaggerated..

Thanks Mike.

[brakes]
toe_brakes_scale= 0.3 // 0.3

 

[tgycgijoes]

AWEW (All's well that ends well) I am going to check mine out too. We can together tweak this to "as good as it gets".

 

[tgycgijoes]

With all the work I have been doing on it, I haven't yet uploaded it with controls to fly it so I had not taxiied it or applied any brakes. Thanks to you post about the toe brakes needing refinement, I checked my aircraft.cfg and it was ALSO 2.7//0.7 Bob Chilico must have had a reason for adjusting it but I put mine at 0.3 like yours. Any more observations to my conversion and textures that needs refining let me know here.

 

[expat]

I am going to try converting the EKA-3 model in MCX and see what happens.

Well that didn't go well - looks like something that got rearranged in a malfunctioning Star Trek Transporter. Folded wings sticking out of the fuselage and lots of other anomalies. Oh well.

 

[Mike71]

rom the A-3B / KA-3B NATOPS, here are accurate weight data limits. Note the original A-3B FSX conversion is too heavy!

max_gross_weight = 78000.000//Field Takeoff
//max catapult - 73,000 lbs
//max arrestment -50,000 lbs
//max field FCLP (includes T&G) -50,000 lbs
//max field landing (flare) - 56,000 lbs

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[gray eagle]

Made a change to the exhaust effect (little darker) based on Youtube vidoes I've seen of real aircraft ; pressing the "i" key will activate.

 

[Mike71]

They definitely smoked; P&W J-57s used in the F-8, F-100, F-102 etc all smoked a lot! It was also the baseline for the JT3D commercial engine; it was one of the first twin spool engines that later morphed into low bypass fans.

I liked the J-57 and its distinct sound. It was very reliable.

There was an injection mod that decreased it somewhat for use in combat theatres.

 

[MrZippy]

Nothing like standing on the flight deck behind Tilly watching the launch. We were covered in smoke and exhaust gas. On Hancock, the JBD's were useless for the Whale! Only
once on my first cruise aboard Saratoga was I called out to the Whale sitting on the CAT awaiting launch. I had to crawl up by steeping on the landing gear, up past the wing and
on to the back of the aircraft walking to the open cockpit hatch shaking like a leaf! The pilot wanted me to hear a hellacious static they had been complaining about for a couple of
days. It turned out to be from the ADF unit.

Kinda looked like this:

 

[Mike71]

Yes, JBDs were not too effective on the old ESSEX boats. Even on bigger carriers the center JBD panels had to stay down because of the fuselage length.

 

[Mike71]

I saw yesterday a lot of USN Squadrons of these EA-3's. You can Google and find them. I didn't know that the Air Force used them too.

Well that didn't go well - looks like something that got rearranged in a malfunctioning Star Trek Transporter. Folded wings sticking out of the fuselage and lots of other anomalies. Oh well.

I have a complete left side door done for a TA-3B I am working on. It is the same on the EA-3. Let me know if you want it in PSD form

 

[tgycgijoes]

I have a complete left side door done for a TA-3B I am working on. It is the same on the EA-3. Let me know if you want it in PSD form

I'm not doing that model but thank you. I did spend the day working on a new repaint from1960 that I ran across and liked. Using the Alphasim Paint Kit and even had to do some artwork for it, I have the Fuselage_1_t done and it checks out in the model in MDCx. I'll share it later in the week. I have a dentist's appointment tomorrow for a tooth pulled so I'm gonna be out of commission at least for tomorrow.

 

[gray eagle]

When I was with VF-24 (F8-C) one cruise in '65 on Hancock and '66 on Bon Home Richard, I noticed that the A-3s would also carry mail, supplies and yes, the Zuni tubes (LAU 33 and 35) we used on the F-8's on Dixie Station.