A-7 'Stealth Pod'

[Oxcart]

Does anybody remember the A-7/stealth pod cover stories from the mid 80's. I remember some pics and the basic cover story but can't find anything about it anywhere now.

 

[Dynoman]

Here is a couple of the A-7s used by the 4450th. The pod was a napalm case with fake electro-optical lens and some fake aerials attached. The ruse was that they were doing avionics testing with the pod. Notice the Stealth Fighter pilot badge on the side of the A-7s. The pod was nick named the Klingon cloaking device.

 

[Dynoman]

It was rumored, that to maintain the ruse that the A-7s were testing a classified avionics pod, that when the A-7s taxied past the 'hot box' crew at the end of the runway where the safety pins were pulled on ordinance before takeoff, the crews were told to turn around with their backs to the A-7s by base security so as not to see the pod's details. The aircraft also had a unique paint scheme that separated them from the other AF A-7s. This added to the allure that these were special A-7s and they and their crews were to be handled differently.

 

[aim9xray]

 

[riggerrob]

This is along the same lines as radar reflectors hung from F-35 when they first flew in civilian airspace. The official explanation was to improve primary returns on ATC radar, but the real reason was to mask the true radar profile of the new “stealthy” airplane.

 

[XP67_Moonbat]

Here's an article about that.

The F-117 Stealth Fighter Program Actually Had A 'Klingon Cloaking Device'

With technology that had never been seen before, the U.S. Air Force went to amazing lengths to keep the stealth F-117 Nighthawk program under tight wraps during the 1980s. As the program matured into an operational force, deploying F-117s in small numbers became a real possibility. But...

jalopnik.com

 

[quellish]

Here's an article about that.

The F-117 Stealth Fighter Program Actually Had A 'Klingon Cloaking Device'

With technology that had never been seen before, the U.S. Air Force went to amazing lengths to keep the stealth F-117 Nighthawk program under tight wraps during the 1980s. As the program matured into an operational force, deploying F-117s in small numbers became a real possibility. But...

jalopnik.com

1 internets for each person that can point out a factual inaccuracy in that article.

Or if we get to 10 I’ll post something cool in the senior members area.

Ready… set… go!

 

[aim9xray]

Ooh! Ooh! Mr. Kotter! I'll start...

-"unique purple and green paint schemes" Not purple, nor unique to 4450th A-7s, 'tis just the ugly Euro One color scheme. (Twofer!)

- "became the last Corsairs IIs in service with the USAF" Well, technically true if Active Duty USAF. Not true if counting ANG.

- "F-117 force only flew only at night out of its home at the very remote Tonopah Test Range Airport." And the daytime flight test effort at the other site at the same time was chopped liver? (Twofer!)

 

[CiTrus90]

During that time, the F-117 force only flew only at night out of its home at the very remote Tonopah Test Range Airport.
...what about Groom ops?

These aircraft, with their unique purple and green paint schemes and “LV” tail codes eventually became the last Corsairs IIs in service with the USAF.
1) not purple, nor unique: Euro 1 camo, as mostly seen on ANG aircraft
2) retired in 1989 with the 4450th, last USAF A-7s retired in 1992 (6510th Test Wing)
3) early on, the aircraft had no tail markings apparently

Through The Looking Glass
Lt. Col. Jerry Fleming [Bandit 152] came to Homestead [AFB, Florida] where I was flying F-4s and interviewed me personally. He landed in an A-7 with no tail markings and he had no insignia on his flight suit. He looked like a CIA guy. I was wondering if I’m still going to be in the Air Force and he says let’s go get some pizza. I’m trying to make sense of all this. He says, ‘What you think you’re going to do is not what you’re going to do. I need you to make a decision now because I need you quick.’ I got orders in two days to report to Nellis. It was fun being wanted. It was even more fun getting picked to fly the F-117. – Mark Dougherty, Bandit 168

About the pod:
[...] BLU-27 napalm bomb shell, reinforced it according to Tactical Air Command instructions for a baggage pod [...]
After the Vietnam War all BLU-27 and BLU-1 were converted to MXU-648 baggage pods by the USAF.

Again about the pod:
[...] It had numerous blade antennas from the UHF and VHF frequency spectrum and several faux blowout ports similar to those used as exhaust ports for gas grain generators on early generation nuclear weapons [...]
I honestly don't see any blade antennas or ports?

We used the A-7 in our deployments to Young Tiger in South Korea
Team Spirit 1984, not Young Tiger...?

[...] crews would go inside the shelter and voluntarily face the wall until the A-7s had taken the active runway [...]
Is quite different from:
[...] When the 4450th TG deployed carrying these bogus devices, Air Police closed down the base and ringed the field with machine gun-toting jeeps. They forced all the runway personnel to turn their backs to the A-7s as they taxied past, and actually had them spread-eagled on the deck with their eyes closed until the 4450th TG A7s took off [...]

Yet even when the vampire-like F-117 crews were operating their seemingly very benign A-7s, they were under the piercing watch of the Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations (OSI) to make sure their true mission could not be identified by enemy (aka Soviet) intelligence operatives
Only reference I could find to AFOSI "oversight" is for oversea deployments, not during CONUS deployment?

OSI’s Office of Special Projects (PJ) provided program security and counterintelligence support to ensure the secure transfer of stealth aircraft overseas, and stood by during the deployment of the stealth Special Access Program (SAP) aircraft for extended military operations.

Some nitpicks and guesses and I'm still one inaccuracy short...

...maybe the fact that the A-7s were not just used for cover, but mostly because there were not enough F-117s early on?

I'm trying for the sake and curiosity of everyone here, eh

 

[TomcatViP]

I think your forgot the invisible aircraft in the hangar that allegedly confused people in the know-how for a while.

Let's be honest, it's a good bar story. The one you enjoy with cheap cocktails and down A/C.