Fiat G.91 Avionics Question

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yahya

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Dear Colleagues, I have a question related to the navigation system of the Fiat G.91T/3s and R/3s in the Luftwaffe setup. Reportedly, these birds used the Mark III B PHI plus the DRA-12A Doppler navigation (in addition to the analog Lear ADF-102 ADF), while Luftwaffe is also known to have used the AN/ARN-52 TACAN on them. That early Doppler nav system apparently allowed the 'programming' of five vectors ('waypoints'). Some pictures of Luftwaffe's T/3s, I guess the modified variants, used a peculiar device on the right hand cockpit panel marked the NCU (Nav Control Unit ?) with buttons marked Sequence and Release. In the center of the NCU panel, there seems to be a cavity for inserting a cartridge or data module loaded with, I guess, mission planning. Does anyone know the exact nomenclature of the NCU system, its maker, and how it operated?

The NCU control panel can be seen on these images:



Any hints on the NCU system are welcome.
 
I managed to find a description of the PHI and NCU at a gaming portal as below, but I am unsure how accurate representation of the real thing it was.

PHI - Position and Homing Indicator - FlightGear wiki

wiki.flightgear.org wiki.flightgear.org

Also, the PHI and NCU seem to have been used with Luftwaffe’s F-104Gs. At 24:15 of the video below there is a depiction of the NCU data cartridge:

View: https://youtu.be/wkw1N332zDI


Does anyone know the exact nomenclature and manufacturer of the NCU subsystem? Was it US- or West German-made?
 
A small update.

It seems that on the G.91R/3, the Mark III B PHI was slaved to the DRA-12A Doppler Nav.

The two-engine G.91Y used the PHI 5C-15 indicator slaved to the DRA-12 Doppler or the Sperry SYP-820 two- or three-axis gyroscopic platform WDNS. TAS was fed to the PHI via the 808790 1-1 Air Data Computer.

On the German F-104Gs, there was the PHI-4A-2 PHI made by Teldix-Heidelberg under license from Computing Devices of Canada. It was slaved to the Litef (West German subsidiary of Litton) LN-3A INS. The cockpit PHI NAV panel had a flight plan cartridge cavity.

Links:


F-104G Starfighter, das G steht (nicht) fuer Germany

F-104G Starfighter - Ein Flightschwein erinnert sich - Der Mythos und sein Bodenpersonal.
www.rolfferch.de
 
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