| 5-30-01 F11F-1: Model By F11F-1 Pilot Tom Sweeny "I flew this airplane on 12 May 1961. I had 5" HVAR under the left wing and a live Sidewinder under the right. The HVAR had some flares around the tailpipe that were ignited by the rocket motor. The idea was to pull the nose up, fire the HVAR, drop the nose, get a tone and fire the Sidewinder. Believe it or not, it worked! At least the "winder" went out there and blew up, so I claimed a kill! I enjoyed building the model, loved the detail. I used Corky Meyer's book on the F11F from the Naval Fighter series. There is a picture of #350 (my plane) on page 119." editor note: It's always nice to hear stories from the guys who were really out there flying these long forgotton airplanes. Many of their detail accounts will never make it to any of the commercial publications. We enjoy doing our part to preserve these machines before they're forgotton forever. |
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