LABS IP or LABS TGT: Nuclear combat, toe-to-toe with the Rooskies ...

[picklesuit]

Sea Stories

Man, this is why I love this site...all these good stories. Thanks guys!

 

[JIMC5499]

Typical engineer -- they neglected to tell the pilots that little bit of information ...

At least you could run at a few hundred KIAS, I've never seen an H-3 go faster than 85 KIAS. It's pretty bad when the birds are passing you.

 

[Pags]

and being absolutely terrified of nuclear war.

That, and carnies...

 

[Mumbles]

....small hands....and they smell like cabbage. Did I mention I hate the goddamn Dutch too!

 

[Semper Jump Jet]

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.

5 hit Mexico. Nobody cared. The other one was hung...

 

[Harrier Dude]

5 hit Mexico. Nobody cared. The other one was hung...

No, they all came off. The other bad part was that Postal over-g'd the jet doing it. I was in the back seat watching the bombs come off the racks, saw the vapes, and thought "Wow..... that was more pull that I would have thought we needed".

I guess I could have been a better g-limiter.

 

[AllAmerican75]

I would assume this maneuver has a very small window to work in and get the variables right. For instance, did the bomb ever release and collide with the aircraft while still in the vertical? It's kind of hard to get the idea across without a diagram.


EDIT: Hey hey, 777 posts. It's a palindrome. /Nerd

 

[Xtndr50boom]

Hey hey, 777 posts. It's a palindrome. /Nerd

Not quite. That's an example of a same number sequence. Examples of palindromic numbers would be like 707, 747, 767, etc. /bigger nerd

 

[Gatordev]

I would assume this maneuver has a very small window to work in and get the variables right. For instance, did the bomb ever release and collide with the aircraft while still in the vertical? It's kind of hard to get the idea across without a diagram.

From what I remember hearing from a Vigilante pilot, it had the problem where the bomb chased the plane as it was delivered. Not the same delivery method, but I sure would hope I could outrun it...

 

[A4sForever]

From what I remember hearing from a Vigilante pilot, it had the problem where the bomb chased the plane as it was delivered. Not the same delivery method, but I sure would hope I could outrun it...

Not a problem w/ the A-4/A-6 ... as we "toss-loft'ed" it .... we didn't "poop" it out of the rear end like a VIG ....

 

[Gatordev]

we didn't "poop" it out of the rear end like a VIG ....

I thought I remembered it being described that way, but wasn't sure. Amazing how many different ways engineers find to try and kill you.

 

[SteveG75]

Found this story in the old Intruder archives:

There we were ... flying our PS/NS- 17 graduation hop in the RAG as we two students were to join VA-52 in mid-cruise. The profile was a high altitude leg, dropping down to fly the low level that ends up at Bravo 16 near Fallon. For this simulated nuclear mission we carried a 2000# shape with a smoke charge on the centerline. All our pre-flight planning was done. Charts, fuel figures, divert fields, RSP, kneeboard cards, were cascading from my nav bag. The high portion and the low level went fine. Entry into Bravo 16 was right on our target time with a High Loft delivery planned. My 12 mile radar prediction didn’t look like my scope or the RSP the squadron gave me ... expanded display was worse. We’re accelerating to 500 knots now and the ride is bumpy ... 8 miles to go and I’m still not sure of the target... “Master Arm is ON .. the pickle is hot!” At 2 miles to go I ‘fess up and tell Larry I don’t have the target...He said, “I got the run-in line and the target visually’. I felt so relieved ... I said, “Great, we’ll do our LABS backup! “ I reached up and selected LABS but, unfortunately, the wrong one of two choices. We were doing a LABS TGT instead of what I selected, LABS IP. Well, as advertised at 55.2 degrees, a thud from the ejector foot and the shape was on its way. Larry was busy flying the 1/2 cuban eight as I looked at the armament panel (A-6A). I immediately knew what I had done ... and lowered my seat as low as I could.

“Goldplate One, no spot, sir … oh, wait a minute .. holy smoke! ... it’s at the base of that mountain out there!”

Switchology will get you everytime.

The way I saw it, a 5-mile hit with a nuke could still be a bull’s-eye!

YARHAM / HOUSE VA-128 JOs 1971

 

[squeeze]

No, they all came off. The other bad part was that Postal over-g'd the jet doing it. I was in the back seat watching the bombs come off the racks, saw the vapes, and thought "Wow..... that was more pull that I would have thought we needed".

I guess I could have been a better g-limiter.

This is why I really want to try a loft profile with a live 82. I think it was Juice and I who tried lofting 2 76s at Blue Mountain, with a jet circling over the target, and we had no idea where they impacted.

 

[A4sForever]

Switchology will get you everytime.

The way I saw it, a 5-mile hit with a nuke could still be a bull’s-eye!

YARHAM / HOUSE VA-128 JOs 1971

That goes right to the heart of my earlier observation that : "1/4 of a mile ain't bad for a NUKE, Admiral ... "

Yarham/House -- both good guys and great in the aircraft. House, a talented B/N and outstanding photographer just died a few years ago from cancer ... he is missed.

 

[Flugelman]

This is why I really want to try a loft profile with a live 82. I think it was Juice and I who tried lofting 2 76s at Blue Mountain, with a jet circling over the target, and we had no idea where they impacted.

Hmmm... So with the MK 82's you might want to give the range guys a heads up... "Tower, Snake 68, ya might want to hit the bunker, cuz I got no idea where this fvcker is going to land..."