Previously Held AFSC/MOS 46230-Weapons Mechanic
99004-Sea Weapons Mechanic/TAC Units
Service Years
1966 - 1969
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
What are you doing now:
Took early retirement. Working part time as supervisor at a hardware & Lumber yard.
Other Comments:
After getting out I worked for a Sulfur company for two years. Then I went to work for US Steel for fifteen years running heavy equipment They shut the plant down in 86. Then I drove trucks for a few years then went to work for a pipe mill. Then they shut it down went back to driving trucks again. After about ten years I went to work for my friend in the hardware & lumber business for five years then took early retirement. Now just work part time. Threw all of this I been married to a wonderful woman named Brenda. We have one son that is a paramedic on a chopper. the company is called Air Rescue. An have one grandson. Mine and my wife's favorite past time is going to bull riding's and rodeos.
Although originally developed for the USN and a competitor to the USAF AIM-4 Falcon, the Sidewinder was subsequently introduced into USAF service when DoD directed that the F-4 Phantom be adopted by the USAF. The Air Force originally borrowed F-4B model Phantoms, which were equipped with AIM-9B Sidewinders as the short-range armament. The first production USAF Phantoms were the F-4C model, which carried the AIM-9B Sidewinder. The Air Force opted to carry only AIM-4 Falcon on their F-4D model Phantoms introduced to Vietnam service in 1967, but disappointment with combat use of the Falcon led to a crash effort to reconfigure the F-4D for Sidewinder carriage. The USAF nomenclature for the Sidewinder was the GAR-8 (later AIM-9E). During the 1960s the USN and USAF pursued their own separate versions of the Sidewinder, but cost considerations later forced the development of common variants beginning with the AIM-9L.
Specifications Primary Function Air-to-air missile Contractor Naval Weapons Center Power Plant Hercules and Bermite Mk 36 Mod 71, 8 solid-propellant rocket motor Thrust Classified Speed Supersonic Mach 2.5 Range 10 to 18 miles depending on altitude Length 9 feet, 5 inches (2.87 meters) Diameter 5 inches (0.13 meters) Finspan 2 feet, 3/4 inches (0.63 meters) Warhead Annular blast fragmentation warhead 25 lbs high explosive for AIM-9H 20.8 lbs high explosive for AIM-9L/M Launch Weight 190 pounds (85.5 kilograms) Guidance System Solid-state, infrared homing system Introduction Date 1956
