Blimey complete phimats on ebay for £180

[NutLoose]

:ooh:

Phimat Chaff Flare Pods Complete -from Harrier Jaguar Rocket Tornado | eBay (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Phimat-Chaff-Flare-Pods-Complete-from-Harrier-Jaguar-Rocket-Tornado-/300633476198?pt=UK_Collectables_Militaria_LE&hash=item45ff26cc66#ht_598wt_689)


Hope they made sure it was cleaned out, wasn't the chaff length classified?

[sisemen]

Hope they made sure it was cleaned out, wasn't the chaff length classified?

Looks like not :E

Condition: New: A brand-new, unused, unopened and undamaged item

[Courtney Mil]

The chaff length is easy to calculate, so no worries there.

[Lima Juliet]

It's not complete for the later Tornado F3 installation with Towed Radar Decoy (TRD) - the Phimat had a 200kgish lead weight attached to it to counteract the weight of the TRD on the other outer pylon. Just what you need on a high wing loaded and under powered in dry-power high-bypass engined aircraft that struggled at med-high level isn't it?! :ugh:

[NutLoose]

Jag also had the lead weight to allow for the ECM pod on the other side, that was even more gutless.

[Courtney Mil]

LJ,

Did you ever fly the F3? What do you think the effect of TRD on performance was? What do you think the effect of some realy cutting edge ECM technology was?

If you were just having I dig, I accept your banter. IF not, get your facts right.

[Skittles]

Small fish....

I've been measuring up the living room for this;

RAF Nimrod R1 LANDING GEAR & WHEELS - UNIQUE - XW664 - NIMROD | eBay (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RAF-Nimrod-R1-LANDING-GEAR-WHEELS-UNIQUE-XW664-NIMROD-/390373734848?_trksid=p4340.m1374&_trkparms=algo%3DPI.WATCH%26its%3DC%252BS%26itu%3DUCC%26otn% 3D5%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D5193171842415423740)

[NutLoose]

Lot of Nimrod stuff on of late,

so if I fix a Phimats to my roof rack, what length will I need to cut my kitchen foil to, so I can jam a police speed camera? :p

[glojo]

:ok::ok::cool:
so if I fix a Phimats to my roof rack, what length will I need to cut my kitchen foil to, so I can jam a police speed camera?

All depends if that radar is in front or.....

It's behind you ;);)

[Lima Juliet]

Courtney

Yes and I was on the first F3 Sqn to go "sausage side" over Bosnia with TRD. I agree it was a great bit of kit, but just dissapointed to still be flying with the same lump of lead counterbalance over Iraq 5-8 years later (where the heat made a HUGE difference) and we now had chaff built into the LAUs to boot! I reckon that Phimat and the lump of lead took 2,000ft off of our max comfortable dry-power cruising height over the desert - with both drag and weight.

Anyway, if you re-read my initial comment on it being a "complete" Phimat then you might realise that my comment was pointing ironically at it actually being "incomplete" as it is less the ridiculous lead weight that the F3 carted around on Ops between late 1994 and 2003. :ok:

You can see the lead weight clearly on this shot by Geoff Lee between the pylon and the Phimat.

http://www.raf.mod.uk/downloads/wallpapers/tornadof3/tornadof3_04_0800.jpg

LJ

[JFZ90]

Nice photo LJ, was the weight fitted for balance, or fatigue/flutter reasons?

[Courtney Mil]

LJ,

Thanks for the clarification. Having watched so many uninformed people (many should have known a lot better) making ill-founded comments about F3 and its capabilities, I make a point of inviting them to think again - clearly not relevant in your case!!! :ok:

In my experience, the heavier/draggier (is that a word?) fits tended to hurt our performance higher up, whilst the temperature hurt us lower down. Temperature at altitude tends to be bl**dy cold anyway, if you know what I mean.

The lead weight, IIRC, was purely balance, wasn't it?

[AdLib]

Interesting picture LJ. 002+ with the ARMs?

[Lima Juliet]

Courtney

Yes, I believe it was weight as CSAS couldn't cope IIRC. I was, am, a big fan of the Lincolnshire Land Shark, and will spring to its defence on unfair criticism, but there were some barking things that went on with it for short spells of its 25 years in service; like uncontained engine let-goes, Radar mods that took an age to fix against some of our likely adversaries, the fitment of too small a flare in GW1 (and the lengthy retrofit), the re-measurement of everyone for the single and twin stickers that were over 6ft tall (and the subsequent grounding of those found too big that had flown in it for years), the retiscence to fit AMRAAM/ASRAAM until way too late, the TRD lash-up, the early austere AMRAAM "wishile", the JTIDS fleet-within-fleet, the Stage 1+ fleet-within-fleet, the CSP fleet-within-fleet, are all debacles I care to forget!

I was sad when I waved goodbye to the old girl at LEU earlier this year at the weekend thrash in the Mess and the hangar.

BTW, just read your blog with great interest and I hadn't realised that you had the uneviable task to ID Stu and Norm at TPMH - what a dreadful thing to have to do as a Flt Cdr :(

Happy New Year, mate, and I hope 2012 is good to you.:ok:

LJ

[Lima Juliet]

AdLib

M004+ as seen on Courtney's website...

http://www.projectoceanvision.com/vox/images/chapter10/f3-alarm.jpg

LJ :ok:

PS. If you look closely you will see the BOL launcher with it's chaff dispenser which was fitted on left and right inboards.

[Geehovah]

I was responsible for the clearance "paperwork" to introduce the system into service for Deny Flight in the 90s. The original fit didn't have the lead weight so it must have been introduced after my time. As you say Courtney, it was the TPs who demanded a counter balance to keep CSAS happy. Luckily I managed to persuade "Their Airships" that a Phimat was sufficient. We didn't have too much time available as the Americans were threatening to remove us from the ATO at the time! Thinking positive, had we not had Phimats to steal from the Harrier fleet, it really would have been a lead weight on the pylon!

Incidentally, I was also responsible for the system when it ws introduced onto the then Harrier GR5. When I think of the cost of the original Staff Requirement (613), I'd say £180 is a bargain.

LJ, the original GW1 fit was also a case of what was on the shelf so ALE40 it had to be. Bear in mind, from concept on a PC to test vehicle took only 4 days. The SR was way behind schedule so the Vinten dispenser fit was rushed ahead but would never have made the "kick off". One of these days I'll write a book to explain why the system forced the later compromises! I lost count of how many times I had to say well it's better than nothing.