Gord Beaman wrote in
:

"Joe Delphi" wrote:


One intriguing part was that they were supposedly fitted with
rear-firing AIM-9 Sidewinders on wing pylons. To discourage MiGs
while engaged in overflights...

This sounds a bit far-fetched to me...has anyone heard of such a
thing?

Sounds a bit far-fetched to me. Too much danger of the missile
hitting the horizontal stablizer on its way out.

JD

It would tumble all over the place wouldn't it?...as likely
impact the fuselage as anywhere I'd think, hell, the turbulence
might even trash the whole missile, rip the fins off etc.

I doubt they would stay on the rails much past 100 knots. The wind blast
on the blunt back end (nozzle) would probably blow them off. The missiles
aren't mechanically locked to the rail, just held in place by the spring
loaded detent, which had been known to loosen over time, leading to
separations upon recovery, as documented here -
http://www.airdisaster.com/forums/pr...ad.php?t=51707 .

Adding a small fairing over the nozzle might alleviate that problem, but
I'm really doubtful that this whole rear-firing thing was ever done.

Dave in San Diego