F-105 Question

I've got an old Wings TV show recorded around here somewhere. The doors opened outboard and into the bay from the center. According to the show, unless they are wrong, the bay was primarily used for a nuke or, more often than not, a fuel tank. From the way it was shown on the show, I'm not sure a conventional load could be carried there, it looked like a special sort of attachment point.

The F-105 was built as a low-level nuclear tactical bomber. The weapon was intended to be carried in an internal bomb bay with a rotating door. When it was placed into service during the Vietnam War (or perhaps earlier), the Air Force needed more range and installed a fuel tank in the bomb bay. A centerline hard point was attached to permit external carriage of ordnance or additional fuel tank.

If you have a Thud or Phantom qustion like this head over to rec.aviation.military and ask. Usually Ed Rasimus will answer these questions. Ed is super and was a two tour Thud and Phantom driver in Viet Nam. Has written two books also, I ve read When Thunder Rolled: An F-105 Pilot Over North Vietnam and look forward to reading Palace Cobra.

HTH...Mark

Two revolving doors. Could carry a variety of things, including, but not limited to: Nuclear weapons, conventional bombs, missiles, fuel tanks, countermeasure pod, and whatever else could be fit. It is a huge bomb-bay, somewhat bigger than that on a B-29, as I recall ... having spent quite a few hours in it when I worked at Republic. Another book to read, my favorite in fact, is Thud Ridge.

Boris

Yep, got that one a long time ago. I used to belong to the Jeppesen Book Club.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.