Finn Posted April 28, 2021 Share Posted April 28, 2021 I guess for some reason they would taxi with the engine FOD covers in place: Jari Derek B 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeC Posted April 28, 2021 Share Posted April 28, 2021 Well if those are solid covers he's not going to get very far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palm-tree Posted April 28, 2021 Share Posted April 28, 2021 1 hour ago, Finn said: I guess for some reason they would taxi with the engine FOD covers in place: Hilarious.....why would “they” try to do that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheetah11 Posted April 28, 2021 Share Posted April 28, 2021 I think it is a posed photo. All the RBF tags are still in place, no bombs are going to drop. MikeC 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek B Posted April 28, 2021 Share Posted April 28, 2021 This appears to have been SOP. I would guess that this practice was to prevent accidental FOD damage to the engines during the taxi phase to the holding point, where they would probably be removed during the 'last chance' arming checks and pin removal prior to take off (hopefully, someone with experience of this can confirm my theory?). Derek Paul in Napier, allthumbs and Kagemusha 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kagemusha Posted April 28, 2021 Share Posted April 28, 2021 I think you're spot on Derek. LSP_K2 and Derek B 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grunticus Posted April 28, 2021 Share Posted April 28, 2021 More importantly: why is there no 1/32 F-5A and F-5B available? So many operators...The Belcher bits conversion doesn’t count. Derek B, Rockie Yarwood, aircommando130 and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RLWP Posted April 28, 2021 Share Posted April 28, 2021 Maybe it is to stop ingesting birds during take-off... Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kensar Posted April 28, 2021 Share Posted April 28, 2021 Looks like they could be screens over the intakes. USMC Herc 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quang Posted April 28, 2021 Share Posted April 28, 2021 (edited) These curious intake FOD covers were created and made by the South Vietnamese to be used only on VNAF F-5As. They were originally made for the first Skoshi Tigers F-5A which visited South Vietnam and were later passed to the VNAF. The construction was indigenous and fairly simple. It’s basically a nylon mosquito net over a metal frame. The covers were attached to the intakes via a buckle and a metal band As the covers were hollow, I suppose they could be used while the engines were turning. They were invariably painted yellow with the three horizontal bars in red to represent the South Vietnamese national flag (like the fin flash on VNAF aircraft). Here are the ones I scratch-built for my 1/48 Wolfpack F-5A. HTH Quang Edited April 28, 2021 by quang MikeMaben, allthumbs, Paul in Napier and 3 others 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firefly7 Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 Beautiful piece of scratch building there Quang, those covers look great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quang Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 Thank you, firefly. During my research, I found a youTube video showing a VNAF crew installing the FOD covers. Wish I could remember where. Derek B 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek B Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 Nice guards Quang I am not certain that they were only exclusive RVNAF items, as they are also appear to be evident on USAF inventory aircraft as well (as seen in the images below. However, these could have been aircraft which were just about to be handed over to the RVNAF?). I think that you are correct about RVNAF 'Skoshi Tiger' aircraft making extensive use of these FOD guards - certainly an very interesting 'addition' to any model. Putting my aircraft engineering hat on for a moment, I would have thought it unlikely that any 'local' designed and manufactured FOD guard would have been approved for use by Northrop unless they had fully assessed the design and approved it, so my view is that it is more likely to be a pre-existing Northrop designed asset. A F-5B of 602d TFS at Bien Hoa, 1966 Derek Paul in Napier 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quang Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 You might be right Derek as my theory is only speculation based on what I found on the internet. It could be that these covers were approved by Northrop although I’ve never found these covers used anywhere else outside Vietnam. As a matter of fact, the F-5s on your photos could be the Skoshi Tigers which later were turned on to the VNAF. Derek B 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek B Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 2 hours ago, quang said: You might be right Derek as my theory is only speculation based on what I found on the internet. It could be that these covers were approved by Northrop although I’ve never found these covers used anywhere else outside Vietnam. As a matter of fact, the F-5s on your photos could be the Skoshi Tigers which later were turned on to the VNAF. Like you, I also cannot find any evidence of them being used elsewhere (at least, on an internet image search; it does not necessarily mean that they were not existing items which were used routinely for normal for static ground running - perhaps no one was bothered to take a picture of them?). So, with lack of any further evidence, we may have to assume that they were developed specifically for use by the RVNAF - all interesting stuff! Derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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