EC-121 Warning Star- Talos armed *finished*

[sandiego89]

EC-121 Warning Star, Talos Armed.

"When you really need to reach out and touch someone" 

1/144 scale.

The United States desired long-range detection and intercept systems to deal with Soviet bombers coming "over the top" and developed a series of land, sea and airborne system to deal with the threat. The Navy WV-2 and US Air Force EC-121 were developed from the classic Constellation as part of this airborne picket force. 

To provide a long-range intercept capability, several Navy EC-121's were fitted with the massive ship-based Talos missile.  In practical terms, the carriage greatly impacted the aircraft's operating range and endurance but was very much noted by Soviet analysts.  The system got a new lease on life in the Vietnam war and achieved several kills over North Vietnam, and significantly more "mission kills" when the powerful illumination and beam riding radar is thought to have deterred numerous North Vietnamese sorties.

The Kit: 1/144 Minicraft. 

         

[ChernayaAkula]

Sounds great! 

[sandiego89]

I have never built anything in the Constellation family before.  Looks like she would be a tail sitter, so a bit of lead weight added.

Scratched up a bit of cockpit detail.  The canopy glass is MIA!  Oh no   

   

[Joe C-P]

Love the Constellation, and not just because my wife's name is Connie.   
I like the concept, too.   

[sandiego89]

As for the missile, a 1/72 Exocet (no small missile in itself) scales really well for a 1/144 scale Talos! Some math was required. 

[sandiego89]

MIGHT make it across the finish line.  Rattle cans in 100% humidity are not helping my case.

[sandiego89]

Finished.

Talos armed EC-121, at Da Nang, Vietnam.

"317" was credited with two MiG kills (and two probables) during the war, including a MiG-19 at 64+ miles. 

Minicraft 1/144

[PR19_Kit]

Awesome job Dave. 

It looks suitably lethal, and I bet that Mig-19 was a tad surprised! 

[sideshowbob9]

A great idea, well executed! 

[Weaver]

Nicely done - that looks great!

Awesome job Dave. 

It looks suitably lethal, and I bet that Mig-19 was a tad surprised! 

The USS Long Beach launched a pair of Talos at two MiG-17s flying over North Vietnam on one occasion. The MiGs didn't even attempt to evade before they were hit. The supposition is that they saw the missiles go up higher than them and assumed they wern't the target. The Talos's up-and-over trajectory totally misled them.

[PR19_Kit]

The USS Long Beach launched a pair of Talos at two MiG-17s flying over North Vietnam on one occasion. The MiGs didn't even attempt to evade before they were hit. The supposition is that they saw the missiles go up higher than them and assumed they wern't the target. The Talos's up-and-over trajectory totally misled them.

Was that the first ever attack on anything by a nuclear powered vessel? One of my bosses was a weapons officer on the Long Beach during the Viet Nam business, I wonder if he fired the Talos?

[Weaver]

The USS Long Beach launched a pair of Talos at two MiG-17s flying over North Vietnam on one occasion. The MiGs didn't even attempt to evade before they were hit. The supposition is that they saw the missiles go up higher than them and assumed they wern't the target. The Talos's up-and-over trajectory totally misled them.

Was that the first ever attack on anything by a nuclear powered vessel? One of my bosses was a weapons officer on the Long Beach during the Viet Nam business, I wonder if he fired the Talos?

Possibly: it was certainly the first shoot-down of an aircraft by a SAM fired from a ship.

BTW, I got it slightly wrong: it wasn't two MiGs on one occasion, it was one each on two occasions, a few weeks apart.

Your boss might indeed have fired it, but then the Long Beach had a LOT of weapons: 166 Terriers and 48 Talos. In the days before VLS, that was impressive.

[sandiego89]

The USS Chicago also got a MiG kill with Talos.

Wow that's quite an impressive (and expensive!) number of missiles expended by the Long Beach.

[Weaver]

The USS Chicago also got a MiG kill with Talos.

Wow that's quite an impressive (and expensive!) number of missiles expended by the Long Beach.

Sorry, just for clarity: those numbers I quoted were the magazine capacity, not the number fired.

[PR19_Kit]

The Long Beach was a big ship for sure, more radar sets than you can shake a stick at!