the six shooter trials also added a single fire mode
You’re commenting on a post with a link to a video I gave where the AIM-26B is shown on a pylon.
As it points out, the missile likely had to be wing mounted for that 1972 Tyndall HMD test because the whole point of the HMD test would have been high-off-boresight engagement, and if the missile’s in a bay that only extends just before firing, that would likely limit the ability to test that.
Single AIM-26s on pylons were probably used for the early USAF HMD testing at Tyndall because they were surplus with no US replacement aircraft for that missile type with the F-102s starting to go offline in 1972, and/or because of the prox fuze. (Also note in the video of the Tyndall test that survives (on Youtube via San Diego Air and Space Museum) at 1:22 they show the AIM-26 missile initiation, and it’s a wholly new box on the right side of the cockpit screwed in place of one of the autopilot components, not part of the AIM-4 fire controls, which were on the left side, suggesting this was very much a one-off trials rig.)
Your source? Note there were no “six shooter trials,” the gun conversion was tested on two operational aircraft in early 1969, and a total of 75 gun kits were then bought and made available for use by the operational force. As the gun kit didn’t interact with the MA-1 missile FCS, there was likely no reason to change its modes as part of installing that kit, although an upgrade to permit missile single-fire could certainly have happened separately, I’ve just never read of that. A lot of near-contemporary during- or post-Vietnam F-106 upgrade programs are often lumped in here and elsewhere as “Six Shooter upgrades” even though they happened at different times, including SPEEDLINE (new canopies, 1971-73), and the addition of in-flight refuelling (1967-69).
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You’re commenting on a post with a link to a video I gave where the AIM-26B is shown on a pylon.
F 3951 Convair F-106 Delta Dart Drone Target Practice?
that’s an AIM-4D on a LAU-42
Your source? Note there were no “six shooter trials,”
got it mixed up it was in the Polhemus fire control that came with the HMD that added single fire
So it is. So yeah, probably to keep the seeker out in the open the whole time for the HMD trial then.
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HOBS AIM-4
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IIRC it was mostly a “can we do this?” and at that point the AIM-4 was one of very few missiles that actually supported seeker slaving.
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Do consider that the ingame version of the AIM-4s isn´t turning nowhere near as much as it should, i’ve even made a bug report on it.Community Bug Reporting System
If you add to the fact that it should have a gimbal limit of ±48º degrees before launch instead of current ±15º limit, then you realise it might be actually pretty decent for a HOBS launch for a missile without thrust vectoring, even accounting for the pathethic delta v and the lack of proximity fuse.
also @spartinwarrior64 , to my knowledge every F106 could, and did do a single fire missile launch on some training exercises, all they had to do was to only load one missile on the forward or rear pair of missile rails instead of the usual 2… The way things were done in the period, it would also be trivial to wire the FCS system to only launch one missile at the time, but launching 2 simultaneously was considered better because there was a high risk of one of the missiles randomly failing, and since both missiles converged at the same target, in case of a narrow miss there was a reasonably high chance of both missiles crashing into each other, making for a proximity fuse of sorts.
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again Polhemus fire control came with the HMD, doesn’t make much sense to volley fire off of the HMD, also the missiles wouldn’t hit with enough force to detonate due to the relative velocity if they’re even in a position to do what you suggest
considering Polhemus was a lot of FCS redoing it’s not unlikely that that AIM-4D on the wing was wired up, although i wonder if the ASAT project came first or Polhemus
And given that their targets were nuclear-armed bombers to begin with, nearly doubling your chances of a hit was very helpful because that’s not a target you can really allow to pass. 106 pilots were even briefed on aerial ramming techniques for this purpose.