F-105 Weapons Bay

[GTX]

Hi folks,

I know the F-105 did have an internal weapons bay, but that it was only ever used to carry fuel. I have never seen photos of this weapons bay open though - does anyone have any photos or similar showing it?

Regards,

Greg

 

[Just call me Ray]

In this photo you can (barely) see what appear to be bomb bay doors

http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/imgs/f105_2.jpg

This depiction shows off the doors in better detail:

http://www.174ahc.org/images/ben51.jpg

I'm unable to find any pictures of the bay doors open. The bay appears to be outright deleted on later versions of the F-105.

 

[KJ_Lesnick]

I'm confused here. I know the F-105 routinely carried an external fuel-tank underneath the bomb-bay, did it carry an extra fuel-tank in the bomb-bay (or on models where it was deleted, extra fuel capacity in lieu of the tank?)


Kendra

 

[sferrin]

The internal bay could carry either a MK28 nuke (AFAIK that's the only one the planned to use in that bay) or a fuel tank but mostly they just used it to carry the fuel tank. All F-105s had the bays.

 

[KJ_Lesnick]

Wow, that's a lot of extra fuel (a fuel tank in the bay, and then a pylon fitted onto the door of the bays carrying another tank)... No wonder the Thud had such long low-speed supersonic range.


Kendra Lesnick

 

[sferrin]

IIRC the F-111 & B-1Bs can also carry tanks in their bays as well. The one in the F-105's was 375 gallons.

 

[GTX]

In this photo you can (barely) see what appear to be bomb bay doors

http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/imgs/f105_2.jpg

This depiction shows off the doors in better detail:

http://www.174ahc.org/images/ben51.jpg

I'm unable to find any pictures of the bay doors open. The bay appears to be outright deleted on later versions of the F-105.

Thanks. Though I have seen the external photos of the weapons bay, I'm really interested if anyone has any pictures showing it open or better yet inside.

Regards,

Greg

 

[sferrin]

http://www.talkingproud.us/HistoryThudA.html

Ed Rasimus is a frequent poster on rec.aviation.military (or he used to be anyway, don't know if he still is)

 

[Just call me Ray]

The internal bay could carry either a MK28 nuke (AFAIK that's the only one the planned to use in that bay) or a fuel tank but mostly they just used it to carry the fuel tank. All F-105s had the bays.

I guess that would explain why it wasn't used to carry live ordinance much.

 

[GTX]

http://www.talkingproud.us/HistoryThudA.html

Ed Rasumus is a frequent poster on rec.aviation.military (or he used to be anyway, don't know if he still is)

Thank you!!!

Regards,

Greg

 

[flateric]

something that can switch on your imagination

 

[GTX]

Thank you .

Regards,

Greg

 

[flateric]

Ed Rasumus is a frequent poster on rec.aviation.military (or he used to be anyway, don't know if he still is)

Ed is a great person, author of 'When Thunder Rolled'

When Thunder Rolled: An F-105 Pilot over North Vietnam: Ed Rasimus: 9780891418542: Amazon.com: Books

When Thunder Rolled: An F-105 Pilot over North Vietnam [Ed Rasimus] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <b>“YOU CAN ALMOST SMELL THE JET FUEL AND GUNPOWDER. You attack the world’s fiercest defenses at 500 knots and share the ultimate thrill of hurling yourself against almost...

www.amazon.com

...and one of the pilots who was deeply involved in F-23 development 'playing' various Northrop's flight simulator scenarios

 

[sferrin]

Looks like the F-105 could carry the following nukes:

MK 28IN Mod O/Mod 1, MK 43 Mod 0 bomb/Mod 0 nose, GAM-83B6 (F-105D only), TX-57

(I'd forgot about the MK43 & 57 until I saw that picture above. It appears to show a MK43)

 

[r16]

interesting that they have prefferred an actual drop tank instead of a fully fitting tank , the tank was to be dropped in any emergency I guess .

 

[Robert]

something that can switch on your imagination

Hmm, I thought I recognized the F-105 in the last picture you posted (f-105d_60-0492_58_of_59.jpg): F-105D-10-RE s/n 60-0492 is at the Valiant Air Command museum in Titusville, Florida. I took a few pictures back in November - the weapons bay isn't open though.

 

[EdK]

More than eleven years after the original question was asked --
This film shows the F-105's open bomb bay at 1:03.

 

[GTX]

Brilliant!!

 

[Sundog]

I never knew it had the split bomb bay capability (See around the 2:20 mark).

 

[Jeb]

I never knew it had the split bomb bay capability (See around the 2:20 mark).

That was just for the practice bomb dispenser, not the Thud's actual bay.

 

[riggerrob]

How many minutes or miles did the internal fuel tank add to subsonic cruise?

 

[Kiltonge]

Found on this ARC thread, a view of the F-105 weapon bay looking forward.

The black circular object in the ceiling centre-foreground is the pneumatic 'kicker' in its retracted position, it was the hardpoint for the internal nuke and would extend to eject it with 17,000lb of force.

Remarkably, the ventral pylon with which the Thud was invariably seen in Vietnam was mounted directly to the reinforced bay doors rather than to the kicker. Initially both internal and external ( strap ) reinforcements were used until the internal ones were beefed-up and the straps removed. This made life easier for the ground crew as there were various junction boxes in the bay that needed to be accessed. Load limit with a full MER of six 750lbers was 4g.

The kicker was disabled when the bay fuel tank was fitted.

 

[flateric]

F-105D Thunderchief - Fort Worth Aviation Museum

fortworthaviationmuseum.com

 

[Kiltonge]

Surprisingly this Flight cutaway of a 105D shows the kicker, numbered 102 between the intake trunks, that more modern cutaways miss.

 

[sferrin]

Surprisingly this Flight cutaway of a 105D shows the kicker, numbered 102 between the intake trunks, that more modern cutaways miss.

Notice it also has both a refueling probe and boom receptacle

 

[Kiltonge]

Given their configuration and weights the F-35 should really have been the Thunderchief II...

 

[sferrin]

Given their configuration and weights the F-35 should really have been the Thunderchief II...

The rabid detractors (we all know who they are) were already comparing it to the F-105 "not designed to maneuver", "overweight" and other such nonsense. Why give their idiocy any credence?

 

[NMaude]

The rabid detractors (we all know who they are) were already comparing it to the F-105 "not designed to maneuver"

So they're comparing the F-35 to the Ultrahog? I'm not surprised and is one of those detractors Carlo Kopp?

On another note in regards to the F-105's bomb-bay I have an old "Detail&Scale" book about the F-105 that I bought in the 1990s, i'll have to wait till i'm back in Auckland to search for it.

 

[sferrin]

 

[NMaude]

That's clearly a B43 being loaded in the upper photograph, what's being loaded in the lower two photographs?

 

[sferrin]

That's clearly a B43 being loaded in the upper photograph, what's being loaded in the lower two photographs?

Most likely a Mk28IN.

 

[Kiltonge]

Bay dimensions:

Length: 190 in
Width: 32 in
Depth: 32in over forward three-quarters, then sloping down to 20 in

 

[Robert]

Hmm, I thought I recognized the F-105 in the last picture you posted (f-105d_60-0492_58_of_59.jpg): F-105D-10-RE s/n 60-0492 is at the Valiant Air Command museum in Titusville, Florida. I took a few pictures back in November - the weapons bay isn't open though.

I guess I deleted those photos sometime in the last 16 years (wow, time flies!). I still have the originals on a hard drive somewhere. At any rate, the VAC subsequently restored 60-0492: https://www.valiantaircommand.com/portfolio-collections/vietnam-cold-war/f105-thunderchief

Here are a couple of photos that I took in May 2022.

 

[NMaude]

In the F-105G wild Weasel wasn't the bomb-bay permenantly closed and contained the electronics for the AN/ALQ-105?

 

[TomS]

In the F-105G wild Weasel wasn't the bomb-bay permenantly closed and contained the electronics for the AN/ALQ-105?

I don't think so. The ALQ-105 is basically an ALQ-101 pod split in half and scabbed onto the skin of the aircraft above the bay doors. There's no reason its electronics would fill the whole bay.

 

[AE220]

I took this picture at the Evergreen aviation and space museum

 

[AE220]

View attachment 725114I took this picture at the Evergreen aviation and space museum

Just realized it’s a F-105g and that answers the answer from earlier.

 

[AE220]