Lynn Coffelt wrote:
The geniuses at Rockwell designed the T-39 with bolt on wings. This
meant the 6 (3 per side) fuel quantity pip connectors were in the wheel
wells. Instead of using water proof connectors they used standard pip
connectors that had no seals. We had to periodically blow them out with
nitrogen and re-wrap them in F-4 tape. I will refrain from using the
language here that I used when working on those [expletive deleted]
airplanes.

As an aside I love those pip connectors. They used to be made by
Dage. I have no idea who makes 'em now. I sure would like to find out
since I need some.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

I think the T-39 wing was basically a rehashed F-86 wing. The F-86 wing
we
took off and reinstalled (to gain access to the fuselage main tank) was a
real challenge to us green behind the ears greasemonkeys. We showed our
chief inspector the parts we had left over.......... After a "one-time"
flight
back home, he made us do it over, and not have any parts left over.
I served my time hammering on several F-4 models, but I just never
heard
of "F-4 tape", so I had to Google it up, and I'm not sure I ever used any on
F-4's
but I recognized the "Googled" description and think it was the stuff we
used
a lot around the T-38's at Edwards.
Old Chief Lynn




F-4 tape is the silicone tape that only adheres to itself. It comes
in red or black. It's been called that since at least the mid 1970s in
all the circles I was in including the years I was on F-4Es. I don't
recall the correct nomenclature.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired