Special Weapons = A-4A/B/C/E/F/L/M, TA-4F Weapons Systems (Mfg.-Installed Provisions): The elevator behind the bombs is used to bring them up to the flight deck. Mk-82 bombs without fuzes ready for loading aboard VA-144 Roadrunner Skyhawks 07AUG69. The Mark 11 is presently undergoing evaluation at the Naval Aviation Ordnance Test Station, Chincoteague, Virginia, and is expected to be operational in 1959. Navy by Flier Industrialist, Howard Hughes. Frank Markquaret, a Naval Ordnance Engineer in the Bureau of Ordnance, conceived the Mark 11 gun and POD.

Stroop, Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, indicated that with the Mark 11 gun and POD meeting the firepower requirements of future attack aircraft, there will be a gain in aircraft structural simplicity, since there would be no need for internal fixed guns. Ease of rearming, replacement of the gun, and maintenance are notable features which add to the practicability of the gun. Its primary application is in air-to-ground attack, where its controlled variable rate of fire makes it extremely effective. This new weapon, which will offer a significant contribution to Naval Air Attack Capability, is carried and fired in an external pod which is fitted to the bomb rack of carrier-based aircraft. This gun, called the Mark 11, was shown to Naval Aviators and representatives of the press at the Third Annual Naval Air Weapons Meet, held at NAAS El Centro, California.

Navy today unveiled a new pod-mounted weapon, a 20mm aircraft gun capable of firing 4,000 rounds per minute. Mark 11, 20mm Aircraft Gun, in the Mark 1 POD, attached to the bomb rack of a Douglas A4D-2 aircraft, April 14, 1958.

Photo from Phil Thompson, former RAN Aviator.Ī-4M = 2 US MK12 20mm cannon (400 rounds)Ī-4N, some A-4H = 2 French DEFA 553 30mm cannon (300 rounds) It does display aiming circles to assist in judging 'lead', a poor substitute but better than nothing. The original A-4 Gun-sight, only one generation removed from WWII type gun-sights, had no radar to calculate 'lead' (how far ahead of a turning target to aim).

Photos us navy vietnam war bombs