quote:
From the recent TR deployment.
For what it's worth, those photos predate the Roosevelt's deployment by a long shot. The ones I saved to my hard drive from the binaries newsgroup are dated 1 Sept 2001. Since the TR pulled out of port a week after Sept 11th, I'm doubting they were taken then.
That's how bad internet rumors get started, like Dale Snodgress' tactical demo pass on the USS America misconstrued as some dude on the Stennis who got grounded after showboating.
Not sure what kind of launcher rails the Hornet uses, but the LAU-128 that we have on the F-15E uses a rotating cam-lock to secure CAP-9s in place after they're slid on from the front. If that lock isn't rotated, and the airplane experiences a rapid deceleration (like a trap), it's gonna slide off the front of the rail.
Also, I'm not altogether sure that's a blue missile -- it looks like a yellow band around the warcranium section and a brown band around the rocket motor section. Plus, in the AF at least, our captive heaters do not have rollerons on the fins like the one pictured does.