Evaluation of the Conformal Carriage Concept on the Performance and Basic Static Longitudinal Stability of the F-4E Aircraft.

Wind tunnel testing was conducted with a five-percent scale model of the F-4E aircraft to determine what effect high density weapons mounted on the fuselage would have on the speed-range performance, and basic longitudinal static stability of the F-4 aircraft. The weapon models simulated cylindrical bombs of approximately 500 pounds each and were attached to a fuselage-mounted Glove Pod, or conformal carriage pallet, in a three by six matrix. The results are compared with a typical F-4 operational configuration of twelve 500-pound general purpose bombs (MK82 Snakeye) mounted on multiple and triple ejector racks. The results show that significant improvements in aircraft performance and basic stability can be realized for an approximate 9000 pound payload in a conformal array as compared with an approximate 6000 pound payload carried in the conventional manner. (Author)