F-104S Centerline Bomb Loadout

[MigBuster]

In the F-104 Mega Pack the F-104S-CB for Turkey has this weird bomb loadout which the modder has taken from a diagram in a book.

Does anyone know if this was actually operational ever on any F-104s?

 

 

[+russouk2004]

The luftwaffe do use the stations for practise bomb loads...this is the G demonstrator...dunno if it actually carried them in service though....

AVSIG: Awesome F-104G Weapons Load (aero-farm.com)

 

[DaniloE31]

1 hour ago, russouk2004 said:

The luftwaffe do use the stations for practise bomb loads...this is the G demonstrator...

AVSIG: Awesome F-104G Weapons Load (aero-farm.com)

 

 

Seeing ist has  2 pylons per wing, it has to be an F-104S? And so nothing to do with Luftwaffe...

 

[+russouk2004]

what im saying is.....some 104`s do have bomb pylons there,but for practise.....maybe the S did too...but theres no info to show it actually carried full size in service...

[+russouk2004]

or maybe they did...from wiki 

Armament

The basic armament of the F-104 was the 20 mm (.79 in) M61 Vulcan Gatling-mechanism autocannon. This weapon frequently had shell ejection problems due to linked ammunition resulting in avionic problems and crashes. A linkless ammunition feed system was developed for the upgraded M61A1 installed in the F-104C and later models. The Starfighter was the first aircraft to carry the new weapon, which had a rate of fire of 6,000 rounds per minute. The cannon, mounted in the lower part of the port fuselage, was fed by a 725-round drum behind the pilot’s seat, giving only a continuous 7+ second burst of fire. It was omitted in all the two-seat models and some single-seat versions, including reconnaissance aircraft and the early Italian F-104S; the gun bay and ammunition tank were usually replaced by additional fuel tanks. The gun’s location was advantageous as gun-flash was not in the pilot’s line of sight, therefore not robbing him of night-adjusted vision. Two AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles could be carried on the wingtip stations, which could also be used for fuel tanks. The F-104C and later models added a centerline pylon and two underwing pylons for bombs, rocket pods, or fuel tanks. The centerline pylon could carry a nuclear weapon; a “catamaran” launcher for two additional Sidewinders could be fitted under the forward fuselage, although the installation had minimal ground clearance and made the seeker heads of the missiles vulnerable to ground debris. The F-104S models added a pair of fuselage pylons beneath the intakes available for conventional bomb carriage. The F-104S had an additional pylon under each wing, for a total of nine.

Edited November 29, 2020 by russouk2004

[MigBuster]

Thanks for the photos Russ............the guy who did the mod (PureBlue) has this in the readme.

 

  

 

Unfortunately the F-104S manual I have makes no mention of the allowed A-G loadouts so unsure if it was authorised for actual use.

 

[+ravenclaw_007]

here is a picture from a turkey F-104S showing the pylon in question

[Blade]

As far as my research goes, those pylons were not often used operationally. One source says that loading them caused significant extra drag. Nevertheless, here are a few pictures showing Turkish F-104S Starfighters with practice bombs and Italian ones with BL755s and Sidewinders.

[yakarov79]

Since we are here if someone has good photos of catamaran launchers I would really appreciate it. All types 

[+Soulfreak]

9 hours ago, yakarov79 said:

Since we are here if someone has good photos of catamaran launchers I would really appreciate it. All types 

Jarek, here are good references located regarding the F-104:

http://www.916-starfighter.de/

https://www.i-f-s.nl/

[+ravenclaw_007]

here an other picture of that pylon with AIM-9B launch rails mounted

 

here are the AIM-9 fuselage launch rail of an Danish F-104G

 

here are the AIM-9 fuselage launch rails of an Japanese F-104J

 

[yakarov79]

Thanks. 

As you can see there was at least 3 type of underbelly launchers in use.  

NATO catamaran - Denmark, Norway, Germany...

double Aero-3B used by Japan/USAF.

and Italian/Turkish fixed pylons with BRU and attached Aero launcher. 

[+Soulfreak]

3 are right.

F-104G & CF-104

F-104J

And F-104S

[+ravenclaw_007]

22 minutes ago, yakarov79 said:

Thanks. 

As you can see there was at least 3 type of underbelly launchers in use.  

NATO catamaran - Denmark, Norway, Germany...

double Aero-3B used by Japan/USAF.

and Italian/Turkish fixed pylons with BRU and attached Aero launcher. 

the AERO-3B is the one on the Danish F-104G , dont know what type or manufacturer the Japanese launcher is

by the way the italian and the japanese have different mountings but the same launch rail

AERO-3B launcher

Edited December 1, 2020 by ravenclaw_007

[yakarov79]

1 hour ago, ravenclaw_007 said:

the AERO-3B is the one

yes, you are absolutely right! My mistake.

[+daddyairplanes]

this is an awesome thread. i always knew about the winder rails/pylons. most pics i'd ever seen had wingtip tanks, fuselage winders and bombs and rockets under the wings.  never knew the fuslage could carry a2g ordinance outside a nuke centerline