And it did a hell of a loop when lofting a nuke....a GREAT airplane that never saw a day of planned "combat mission(s)" in the bomber variant that it was designed for --
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LABS IP or LABS TGT: Nuclear combat, toe-to-toe with the Rooskies ...
- Thread starter HAL Pilot
- Start date
A4s said:a GREAT airplane that never saw a day of planned "combat mission(s)" in the bomber variant that it was designed for --
LABS IP and LABS Target deliveries ... the two most terrifying moments of my early stage, still learning, young NUGGET life ...
That's awesome!!
Now, mebbe this should go in the stupid questions thread, but I once had a Captain H-60 bubba tell me that he worked on a project where they used (what sounded like) a similar maneuver to lob a nuclear weapon from a helicopter. Fact or fiction??
Harrier Dude
Living the dream
I think there's still something in the ST/LL range regs about this........can't recall/find it/care enough to look much harder.....
Aside from LOFT deliveries, I don't think anybody still does this or even knows how.
I once lofted 6 Mk76s at CW from 10K' just to see what would happen.
I think they're still in flight.
Aside from LOFT deliveries, I don't think anybody still does this or even knows how.
I once lofted 6 Mk76s at CW from 10K' just to see what would happen.
I think they're still in flight.
I think we made our run-in < 1000' (500'?) to the target -- the maneuvers were designed for nuclear deliveries, so all NUKE-capable crews had to maintain proficiency and get an annual "certification" on the drops as part of SIOP ....
Mebbe the AF called it "low" ... we called it "LOFT":
LABS IP = begin the overhead maneuver from an "IP", or pre-planned "initial point" and recover w/ a 1/2 Cuban 8 ...
... and then go have 8 drinks & a 1/2 Cuban cigar.
LABS TGT = begin the overhead maneuver from directly overhead the target -- i.e., you flew directly overhead and then initiated your 4-G pull ...
... "BOMBS AWAY"!! ... and then continue the recovery as depicted w/ the completion of a loop.It's really important to do a "perfect" overhead loop as that determines where the bomb goes downrange -- or in the case of LABS TGT -- directly up and then directly back DOWN!! The idea being you'd have a tail-on aspect to the blast and be runnin' away at @ 500 KIAS when the fireworks began ... a doubtful prospect, at best.
Oh, yeah, we were suppose to use blast curtains if the balloon had really gone up -- never saw 'em, but that would have meant doing the loop and/or egress pop-eye .... I don't think so ....
After all those TRACOM loops starting @ 10K' or so -- it was "exciting"
eek to start one that close to the ground -- get some space in the vertical -- and then see how close the ground was when you came out on top -- on your back w/ half the loop to go ... !!!! Great confidence builder ... Some BULLS were obtained -- I got one ... but in general, not a "real accurate" delivery ... but then 1/4 of a mile ain't bad w/ a NUKE. LABS IP and LABS TGT were two of the "BULL" categories on the side of the SKYWARRIOR Theater @ NUW for the monthly bombing competition(s).
Bottom line: a gut's-ball delivery for NUKES and not too particularly accurate. You could almost smell the fear on the radio from the guys in the rake shacks when one would commence a LABS run ...
I think we made our run-in < 1000' (500'?) to the target -- the maneuvers were designed for nuclear deliveries, so all NUKE-capable crews had to maintain proficiency and get an annual "certification" on the drops as part of SIOP ....
Some BULLS were obtained -- I got one ... but in general, not a "real accurate" delivery ... but then 1/4 of a mile ain't bad w/ a NUKE. LABS IP and LABS TGT were two of the "BULL" categories on the side of the SKYWARRIOR Theater @ NUW for the monthly bombing competition(s).
Bottom line: a gut's-ball delivery for NUKES and not too particularly accurate. You could almost smell the fear on the radio from the guys in the rake shacks when one would commence a LABS run ...
I was the Nuke Weapons Training Officer in my first squadron when we were tasked to drop two B-43 on a test range @ Eglin. This was a QAST delivery - Quality Assurance Service Test, basically they took a real no-$hit B-43 off the shelf, took the "good" stuff out and replaced it with ballast and telemetry equipment, and then made you go through the entire sequence from break out of the magazine, to loading, to delivery. They told you how to deliver - one Visual LAB IP, one visual LAB Tgt. They then recorded your 200' run-in and delivery profile, and when the weapon came off the aircraft, they recorded the flight trajectory to impact. They directed airbursts for each weapon, so at prescribed "burst" altitude, a smoke charge ignited so they could compare actual "burst" against desired "burst." Finally they recorded your impact spot relative to the target. Whole process was to provide assurance that the "special" weapon program would work as advertised if called upon.
I didn't fly the profile - two other crews got that good deal, but I was the guy in the hot seat if anything went wrong (me and the CO, because it was one of those events that could get a guy relieved if performed poorly). The day of the flight the Skipper asked me how well I thought it would go (I had been up all night while the maintenance guys were doing wire checks and pro-loads. He found me sleeping on his couch when he came in that morning). Being a cocky JO I told him I was so confident I had sent an official notification to the Wing that we were going to COMPEX the crews in Visual LAB IP and Visual LAB Tgt. He gave me one of those looks...
Bottom line, both scored Es, both inside of 500'. If you understand all that goes into "committing" as you fly over a visually significant IP (or Tgt), then the math required to determine the count down timer delay prior to executing a 4G pull to intercept 16 units AoA, then keep wings level as they try to walk as the pilot goes over the top at less than 200 kias, topping out at about 10k feet on your back, upside down, you'll realize how lucky we were that day! Plus all the avionics required to successfully provide the pull-up cues, potential for ballistics computer failure, parachute failure, etc, etc.
But, I can tell you a day like that will make or break a career - that's one of the great things about the Navy, and you should strive to be the guy who gets chosen to be placed in those situations. It means you've gained the confidence of the old man.
Side note - my last flight, last pass at Dare Bombing Range, on May 19, 1993, was a night hi-loft w/ a run in at 500kts, 500' AGL, in IMC (fog) just to prove I still had the stones to do such stupid stuff. My pilot was not too thrilled, but he did it for me. It wasn't a bulls' eye, but it was inside 100', which is just fine when dealing death in the mega-tonnage range...
Redux
Well-Known Member
Damn, that would be something top see. The B47 was no baby in stature, in fact it was a pretty big assed airplane even by some standards today!
And now the P-3s clutter it up with Safety "Ses" and SOYs . . . :icon_tong
Xtndr50boom
Voted 8.9 average on the Hot-or-Not scale
Agreed. But the B-47 paid for the cool factor with 'Project milk bottle'. Interesting read:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/systems/b-47-mods.htm
Yeah .. my crew -- me and my former circa-WW2 NAVY enlisted air-gunner-now-jet-B/N (I kid you not) did the first A-6E QAST drop @ Tonopah for the West Coast Medium ATKRON's in 1974 (?) ... quite the cluster-fuck at the end of the day ...
A sample of the landscape --- if you squint real hard (the place looks better if you do
) you can see the run-in line to a target and one of the rake shacks:
Yeah, in the ol' days the "hero of the month" options were:
VISUAL DIVE (Pilot)
LAYDOWN (Pilot)
LABS TGT (Pilot)
LABS IP (Pilot)
STRAIGHT PATH (B/N) ....
The B/N's and Pilots could also get "Bulleye" patches for RBS @ Spokane in the TC-4C ... the criteria for all of the awards was a BULL -- first run only. No corrections allowed for subsequent runs....
When the A-6E came along ... one of the categories went south (can't remember which) to be replaced by "BORESIGHT" ... which was an A-6E pilot's poor cousin to the A-7 HUD visual dive ...
